ELECTRONIC MEDIA

There are two dedicated studios with Mac Pro's running a full range of software from Raster and Vector based, image-text and photo-manipulation packages (Creative Cloud) to digital video (Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X Premiere, DaVinci, After Effects), animation (including Maya and Cinema 4D), sound (Audition, Logic Pro, Ableton), internet and interactive media (including Flash, Dreamweaver, Max/msp & jitter). Studio peripherals include scanners (A3 flatbeds, A4 flatbed, dedicated film scanners (Nikon & Flextight) for 35mm and medium format); animation rostrum for stills or video cameras; DVCam deck; an SSD capture deck for 4K files; a CD/DVD duplicator. There are a number of large 4K colour critical displays suitable for video and stills edit for screen and print output. There is also access to large format colour printing and cold-press mounting machines (as part of the Slade digital print studio). The Slade website has space to host a full range of online student projects and includes webcasting facilities for audio and video. Entirely networked, the studios have full access to the www and internet, forming a hub of the UCL high-speed hub linking through ethernet and wirelessly via UCL Eduroam which is available throughout the Slade building and campus wide.

FILM

There is provision for both Super 8mm and 16mm formats. Super 8mm equipment includes two cameras, splicer, a super 8mm Steenbeck flatbed table and projectors. 16mm equipment includes cameras (an Arriflex ST, an Arriflex SR and 2 Bolex) with provision for animation, a 16mm Steenbeck flatbed table, pic sync and 16mm projection. The Steenbecks and pic synch are in a dedicated film edit suite.

KNOWLEDGE BASE

The Slade Knowledge Base is an online resource for students and staff to share useful information for studio work in all subject areas at the Slade School of Fine Art. All documents are accessible while connected to the UCL network. Slade Knowledge Base is at http://ucl.ac.uk/slade/know/.

PHOTOGRAPHY

There are a wide range of camera formats including analogue cameras (35mm, medium format, large format) and digital cameras (compact, 35mm Canon DSLR and mirrorless) with a wide range of lenses. Other equipment available includes tripods, light meters, portable flash kits, portable continuous lighting and other peripherals. Darkroom facilities include black and white film processing and printing for all formats, colour printing with RA4 processing machine up to 50cm wide and b/w mural printing. There is also access to film scanners, large format colour archival inkjet printing and professional cold-press mounting machines (as part of the digital print studio). A large, fully-equipped photographic studio is bookable for individual projects with profoto flash units and accessories, backdrops, product table, cubelite and large studio tripod. For documentation of two-dimensional work there is a flat copy system in a dedicated room which is suitable for both analogue and digital tethered use.

PRINT

Facilities include workshops for etching, with three copper plate presses facilitating traditional and photo-mechanical intaglio techniques; screen printing is fully equipped, with three vacuum tables, power wash out and backlit developing unit and uses water based inks and direct photo-stencils; lithography has one large direct press for stone and photo plate methods; there is an albion press for relief and surface printing and a fully equipped bindery for the preparation of artists' books, with power guillotine, nipping presses and a titling press; digital print facility with A3+ and large format printers for high quality printing with colour managed workflow integrated with the electronic media facilities.

SCULPTURE

The workshop has an extensive range of metal-working facilities, ranging from lathes to fabrication, forging and welding equipment and a foundry for casting bronze and aluminium. Wood-working facilities include a band saw, planer, drill press, table saw and router. In addition specialist tools and a range of hand power tools are available. The metal and wood workshops are supplemented with facilities for mould-making, wax preparation, stone carving and other traditional techniques. A computer suite enabling 3D modelling and a computer navigated cutter complete the facilities in sculpture.

SOUND

There are two bookable spaces containing specialist audio equipment: a larger recording and mixing room with a 5.1 surround system, and a smaller editing room with a stereo system.
The larger room centres around Genelec monitors and an RME multi-channel audio interface, and contains an isolation booth for recording speech, vocals, and quiter sounds, an array of digital and analogue synthesizers (classic and contemporary), MIDI and CV control, and some legacy equipment for analogue-only workflows. The smaller room centres on Focal monitors with an SSL control surface and compact MIDI keyboard, while both rooms offer Logic, Ableton, and Reaper, along with a range of plugins, software instruments, and sample libraries from developers such as Waves, Izotope, and Native Instruments.

There is a wide range of audio equipment available to borrow from the equipment store including portable sound recorders, microphones (including condenser and dynamic vocal/instrument, shotgun, binaural, lapel, wireless, contact/EMI transducers, and hydrophones), audio interfaces, monitor and hifi speakers, and relevant accessories.

VIDEO

There are a wide range of cameras that cover both 4K and full HD formats (BlackMagic, Sony, Canon DSLR, GoPro/Osmo action), video tripod, electronic gimbals and a steadicam, tracking kit with crane/dolly/track, audio recording and support equipment, provision for digital video editing in two computer labs and four editing suites with Final Cut Pro, Final Cut X, Adobe CC and DaVinci software plus image editing and web design applications. There is a transfer facility between video formats (VHS, Hi-8, Mini-DV and DVD) and a film/video/green screen production studio with continuous lighting.

UCL ART MUSEUM

UCL Art Museum is an experimental space for interdisciplinary interrogation of the image. Located at the heart of UCL’s main Bloomsbury campus in a traditional print room, the Museum is uniquely positioned to support interdisciplinary research and teaching. The collections consist of many unique groups of material of international importance dating from the 1490s to the present day. A selection of these is on permanent display in the public and semi-public rooms in the college, including paintings, sculptures and murals. Works in the reserve collections are available for viewing by appointment. These include prize-winning student work from the Slade School of Fine Art, prints and drawings by old master artists such as Dürer, Rembrandt, Turner and Constable, and sculpture models by the renowned Neo-Classical artist John Flaxman – the largest group of works by this sculptor in any collection. 

UCL INFORMATION SYSTEMS

UCL Information Systems provides central IT facilities, cluster rooms and network, together with a wide range of IT support activities and training. All students are issued with their own computer account including email when they enrol.

UCL LIBRARY

Slade students have access to all 16 UCL libraries, but the principal print collection for Fine Art and History of Art is in the Main Library, just a few seconds walk from the Slade. It has a dedicated Art Subject Librarian, Liz Lawes. The Art collection comprises books, exhibition catalogues, magazines and audio visual material relating to the history and theory of Fine Art practice, including historiography, museology, curating and the art market; philosophy, aesthetics, criticism and cultural studies; topical, chronological and geographic sequences; applied and performing arts, graphics, costume and theatre; film and cinema studies; photography; art techniques, colour, materials, and conservation. Take an online tour of the Main Library to see the Art reading room and find information on Getting Started with UCL Library Services.

The Library also has extensive online collections of ebooks and ejournals, as well as numerous bibliographic databases in all arts, humanities and social science subjects. Databases also include those that stream film, including arthouse cinema, TV and radio broadcasts. The Art Subject Guide lists all the most relevant resources and gives links to training materials on literature searching and reference management. The Library’s print and electronic collections can be searched using Explore, the online catalogue. LibrarySkills@UCL offers an extensive collection of quides and training courses to develop your library and information literacy skills and help you make the best use of UCL’s libraries and resources.

The Library’s Special Collections also holds the Small Press Collections, consisting of Little Magazines (non-commercial literary periodicals), the Poetry Store (small edition pamphlets and ephemeral items featuring avant-garde writing and visual work), the Alternative Presses (underground newspapers with a political/countercultural emphasis), and a collection of reference material relating to the history of small press activity in the twentieth century.