#arts attack

For about four week between March and April I was involved in direct action against the university. UAL announced that it is cutting 580 places across foundation.. FOUNDATION! The grounding in art education, the last remnants of a free, experimental creative education. Cutting these places is an attempt by university management to sweep the opportunity of creative empowerment  out from under the feet of prospective students. It will make an art education even more exclusive and inaccessible ... 

This seemed to be the thoughts a lot of people were having so momentum gathered quickly and the reception area at Central St Martins was taken over by students for just under four weeks.

For me, one of the most exciting elements of the occupation was this reclaiming of space... the privately owned reception spaces, usually an office for Arts Com, the company used to make profit from students art work... was transformed into a space for debate, action, creativity and collective working and thought.