The 2018 ArtLab Summer Workshops with the Abbey Ruins

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From June to July 2018 ArtLab@Reading International delivered a series of workshops in Reading Primary Schools in response to the works created by our artist in residence Lada Nakonechna for the Abbey Ruins.

Over six weeks the ArtLab worked with 21 classes of year 4, 5 & 6 pupils (nearly 600 8-11 year olds!) from around Reading exploring the intersection of art and technology and imaging the past and future of Reading and the Abbey Ruins.

The pupils worked with the ArtLab artists Wendy McLean, Adam Stead and  Jon Lockhart and art students from the Reading School of Art to explore material histories, artefacts and relics. Using a mix of everyday materials and interactive technologies they developed creative responses to the past of the Reading Abbey and imagined potential futures. ArtLab’s workshops explore how creative practice and technologies enable us to imagine travel in time and space, to consider the many local and international journeys, both taken and yet to come, which criss-cross nearly 500 years lived in a state of ruin.

The one day workshops took place over 6 weeks and were delivered each day by teams of 4; a staff member and 3 student co-researchers.  In total 11 students from Art worked on the project from development through to delivering workshops.

Find out more and see some of the results on the ArtLab blog and on the Reading Museum Website