A number of in-person sessions were held at Raven Row Studios, intended to forge creative connections across the city of London, between individuals who identify with ‘feeling isolated’ in respect of their cultural identity and lived-experience.

We know that if left unchecked, the isolation that many speak of was likely to increase, if the potential communities that could strengthen their practices remained atomised.

Some individuals had also expressed a desire to be proactive in helping us address the situation for the benefit of future students and we believed that what we could learn from this project would help to influence this.

These sessions were open to BA Fine Art students at Goldsmiths and Kingston Universities – and individuals of all backgrounds, genders, sexualities, religions and race were welcome. We asked that before applying,you considered your relationship to marginality and be mindful of the experiences of others when participating in these sessions.

Session 1: Pairing, Wednesday 13th February, 10-5pm Raven Row, E1

In this session Goldsmiths and Kingston students met to share experience and work out what connections might exist between them. Were there areas of overlap in their practice? Did they share similar questions? How were they making work? What sources do they draw from? What resources do they use, what resources could they share?

During this session, we attempted to listen and work out who needs to be in conversation with one another. The experimental aspect of this day was that we do not know if our exchange will be fruitful, but we hoped that meeting would spark something.

We also had lunch together – as this was a crucial part of the process of sharing, talking and listening.

By the end of this day – we formed pairs, groups, clusters, each forming a WhatsApp group to start sharing work and ideas. We worked in the workshop space at Raven Row, which offered enough room to accommodate smaller working groups as well as holding large group conversation.

Session 2: Process, Wednesday 27th February, 2-5pm Raven Row, E1

In this session, those who decided to work together started to draw upon their Particular Realities with the view to make work collaboratively or curate existing work.

On this day, those who paired, grouped or clustered shared what they had been discussing and brought work into the room. ‘Work’ here can be in any form; we also encouraged live intervention, music and texts.

We had lunch together again – as part of the process of sharing, talking and listening.

Session 3: Response, wk beginning 18th March 2020, Kingston School of Art.

The ‘Dean’s gallery space’, located in a small open space close to the Student Office and adjacent to a main thoroughfare on the Knight’s Park Campus was booked for us for two weeks 18th – 31st March. It provided us with a great opportunity to showcase collaborative endeavours that are born of A Particular Reality. It’s particular location in the hub of the School of Art Campus presented a potential for the results of our experiences to be shared with staff and students from other courses.

An informal crit session followed the student led symposium on Wednesday 27th March. This enabled us to reflect on the project, the works made and future propositions.