Summer Show 2020 Opener Announced

On Thursday 10 September at 18:00 BST, The Bartlett Summer Show 2020, online for the first time ever, will open with a special speech by the school’s students.

Exhibiting students created an opening speech to reflect the extraordinary year they have been through - covering not only their resilience, perseverance and achievements but also wider, urgent issues that matter to them most.

The resulting speech will capture the diversity of the student cohort with representation from all year groups and programmes across the school – a truly collaborative effort, written, edited and produced by the students.

The Show Launch event, to be broadcast on YouTube at 18:00, will continue with speeches from The Bartlett Faculty’s Dean and the school’s Directors and Chair, followed by the announcement of this year’s prize-winners.

“The Summer Show has always been an integral part of the school; work is showcased and exhibited, and students are given prizes to celebrate the amount of hard work and effort we put in. However, this year, I believe the Summer Show is much richer than that. Through the student speech and the virtual nature of the Show, conversations that aren’t solely about the visual representation of architecture are created: diversity, inclusion, collaboration and interdisciplinarity start to come to the floor. While COVID has been incredibly stressful to us in most aspects of life, it has revealed things that we wouldn’t have spoken about otherwise.

- Tyler Ebanja, Architectural & Interdisciplinary Studies BSc, Year 2 

“In a virtual show where we can’t physically be together, our students will open The Bartlett Summer Show 2020 with a powerful speech that captures the collective voice of the cohort. It has been an emotional year and although students and staff alike have been forced to be apart, the pandemic has brought us closer together as a community. It has taught us to be kinder and more patient with each other. 

The Bartlett Summer Show is the largest and most important event in the school’s calendar for our students to showcase their innovative and thoughtful work to the public. It will be generation to remember, a generation that will bring change with their creativity and optimism. 

- Chee-Kit Lai, Director of Exhibitions, The Bartlett School of Architecture

More information

• More information about The Bartlett Summer Show 2020
• Image: Still from The Bartlett Summer Show 2020 Trailer