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Future curators

17 May 2005

Students from UCL's MA in Museum Studies and MA in Cultural Heritage Studies have drawn upon the university's rich history and varied collections to curate three distinct exhibitions.

Building UCL 'Building UCL: Pioneers, Principles and Progress' is on display in the North Cloisters'; 'Jeremy Bentham: a New Look at the Old Radical', can be seen in the South Cloisters; and 'Rewiring the World: Engineering & Communication from Bell to Bluetooth' is on display in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

Many of the buildings that make up UCL are named after individuals who have played a significant role in the development of the university since its foundation in 1828. 'Building UCL: Pioneers, Principles and Progress' - which was devised, curated and designed by a ten-strong team - celebrates these innovators and situates them in the wider history of UCL.

The exhibition is divided into six sections: 'Foundation', 'Firsts', 'Invention, Innovation and Discovery', 'Women', 'Diversity', and 'Today and Tomorrow' and is made up of documents, drawings portraits and Nobel prize winning inventions drawn from UCL Special Collections. Here, visitors will discover that the Kathleen Lonsdale Building - now home to the Department of Geology - was named after the Nobel Prize winner and UCL's first female professor, Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, and find out how the generosity of patrons such as Felix Slade and Sir Herbert Bartlett helped establish their eponymous schools.

Jeremy Bentham

'Jeremy Bentham: a New Look at the Old Radical' explores the life and work of the celebrated utilitarian philosopher and in the process debunks the myths that Bentham was the founder of UCL and that his preserved body was wheeled into college meetings. The exhibition, appropriately situated next to the Bentham auto-icon in the South Cloisters, examines his political and legal philosophy together with his ideas on education. The exhibition includes a specially designed model of the Panopticon, Bentham's revolutionary design for a prison, as well as photographs and recently published books. The inclusion of a time line places Bentham's writings in their historical context and illustrates their worldwide influence in a time of flux and revolution. The 15 students who worked on the installation were supported by the Bentham project, whose work focuses on publishing and studying Bentham's writings.

'Rewiring the World: Engineering and Communication from Bell to Bluetooth' examines the social impact of telecommunications using the Department of Electrical Engineering's broad and intriguing collection of phones, videophones, mobiles and transmitters. Phones dating back to the 1930s are on display alongside the faddish 'trim' phone of the 1960s; and a huge brick-like mobile phone of the 1980s, rubs shoulders with one of today's pocket-sized Bluetooth phones.

Developments in the telecommunications industry have been closely linked with UCL research, from Bell's 1876 invention to the present day, and these are clearly shown on a timeline. A section of the exhibition entitled 'The Future of the Phone' looks at research UCL is currently carrying out into the fourth generation of mobile phones, which will be able to carry ever larger amounts of data and move seamlessly between different kinds of application. The exhibitions are an integral part of the MA in Museum Studies and MA in Cultural Heritage Studies programmes and provide the students with an excellent opportunity to gain hands-on experience of curating exhibitions. Each student takes on a different curatorial role, reflecting their career interests, which range from Content Manager to Designer. The three exhibitions, which are on display for 12 months, act as a showcase for the diversity and quality of UCL's collections and allow students, staff and visitors the opportunity to view works that are not normally easily accessible.

Images: Top - Building UCL: Pioneers, Principles and Progress. Middle - Jeremy Bentham: a New Look at the Old Radical. Bottom - Rewiring the World: Engineering & Communication from Bell to Bluetooth.

To find out more about the MA Museum Studies or the MA Cultural Heritage Studies use the links below.


Link:
MA in Museum Studies
MA in Cultural Heritage Studies