I used the Mircoteach as an opportunity to explore how object based learning could be used to activate contemporary London archives. ‘London’s Lost Objects’ would be targeted at Fashion Communication students with the final outcome being to devise an exhibition.
The object I sourced was a Nike rucksack from contemporary Grime Archive No Licence, based locally to LCC, housed in a soon to be demolished Business Park. I chose the object because it included the symbol of the river. This was used to facilitate a conversation about participants’ relationship to the Thames and connection to physical landscape, drawing on the recent London floods and the reignited interest in mudlarking contextualise the conversation.
In terms of learning outcomes, I hoped the format would encourage the participants to consider how they, as future curators, could give value to their own knowledge and experience and also to explore how they might work as a curatorial team. I wanted to introduce them to lesser known London archives, and to reflect on how objects gain archive status, who decides?
By framing the session in relation to current news, I aimed to address the timely nature of curation for exploring the relationship between clothing and the city.
My initial plan was to do the session using a Miro board but when I arrived at the classroom I quickly realised I needed to switch it up for the small group. I borrowed tracing paper, and drew the outline of the Thames across the table participants sat around, adding comments via post it notes.
It was l pleasing that it succeeded in drawing out the unexpected nuance of their own experience; “My studio is by the creek, there are turtles”. “I live by Isleworth, I watch the seals that inhabit the river at this time of year”. In the peer feedback, one participant commented that the workshop “galvanised the group”.
Tutor feedback was equally supportive, “ The everyday object, and the everyday memory, or association, of walking to school, of journeys and maps, again are very inclusive methods to allow you to access student’s lived experiences. This is only possible with tutor permission not to be an expert, but to be ourselves ‘ordinary’, we can say ‘I don’t know’ and practice saying ‘I’m not sure’ ‘I wonder if…’ ‘Maybe it is’ ‘Perhaps this could be…’ and so on…gradually encouraging our students to see us in themselves and build identity relations with us.”
It was helpful to get suggestions as to how I might to lead from a different position, as opposed to from within the group, that being directive is permissible too and does not equal dominating.
‘You might also choose to step in and out of this position and be more directive at times, so as to ensure we don’t become one-sided or overly habitual in our ways of being a teacher. That may be a way to stretch this method. Give a lecture! Suddenly our students perceive us entirely differently;
London’s Lost Objects would ideally be a workshop series, with a selection of artefacts revealing untold stories about our evolving city. The format could be used to connect more critical conversations around regeneration and its impact on London youth culture in a further iteration, working with UAL Collections, such as the ILEA Archive held at Camberwell, The Elephant Vanishes at LCC.
See the Microteach session plan here.
References
Malcolm, R (2022) Mudlark’d: Hidden Histories from the River Thames Thames and Hudson
Grout, H (2019) UAL) Archiving critically: exploring the communication of cultural biases Spark Vol 4 / Issue 1 pp.71-75