Category: News

CERAMIC SHELL BRONZE CASTING – THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF FIRE AND THE FURNACE

The Faculty of Telšiai (Vilnius Academy of Arts) is hosting a Cirrus express course: “Ceramic shell bronze casting – The Transformative Power of Fire and the Furnace”.

Teachers: David Snoo Wilson and Tom Railton (Royal College of Art, UK)
Level: BA/MA
Teaching period: from the 8th April to 19th April 2019.
ECTS: 3 ECTS
Number of available place for Cirrus students: 4
Muziejaus st. 29a, Telšiai (270 km away from Vilnius), Lithuania

The Jewellery and Metal department of the Academy of Arts will host a workshop on the process of lost-wax casting in bronze, using the ceramic shell method. The course will be taught by David Snoo Wilson and Tom Railton, formerly of the Royal College of Art foundry. Students from all Cirrus institutions are invited to attend the course.

Course Content:

The materials will cost 15 Euro for each participant after arrival.

The course aims to provide an introduction an understanding to the methods and materials of ceramic shell bronze casting; students will be guided in safely taking their sculpted or cast wax form towards a finished, small bronze object or sculpture. This includes:

-Overview of the foundry process
-Mould making
-Wax working
-Using ceramic shell for investment
-How to set up a small foundry
-pouring of hot metal
-finishing and basic patination

The course is led over ten days, allowing time to experiment with materials and process, so the scale of the sculptures should be manageable within the time: the size of a hand or smaller. Students will develop their ideas, each applying the principles to their own practice towards a new work in the medium, discussing and displaying them together.

Students are asked to direct their work towards the chosen theme: ‘Alchemy and Foundry: The Transformative Power of Fire and the Furnace’. During the course, talks relating to the content will take place.

Applications should include your name, surname, home school, study year and level, a motivation statement (max 250 words), a link to your portfolio and CV and phone number.
All applications should be sent to r.vaitkute@gmail.com

Deadline to apply: the 6^th of March, 2019
Decisions on selection are announced by 12^thof March, 2019

 

About the teachers:

David Snoo Wilson is a founder and artist that has been teaching  bronze casting for the last 10 years, most recently at the Royal College of Art, London, UK. Uniquely at the heart of his studio practice is the beautiful alchemy of melting metal. Specialising in bell casting and surrounding technology, he uses a mobile foundry to cast bells in many locations outside of the traditional industrial set up, creating a spectacle and a show.

 

Tom Railton is a multidisciplinary Sculptor who has exhibited internationally; he currently works for the Royal College of Art and teaches throughout the UK.

 

 

 

Title of course: A More Sustainable Future
Teaching period: March 25th – 29th 2019
Teacher: Elisa Palomino
ECTS: 2
Number of available place for CIRRUS students: 3
Level: BA
Requirements: Student applicants should be design students registered in a fashion/textile programme
Grant available (per student): 660 EUR travel / 70 EUR weekly allowance
Application deadline:  12 February
How to apply: Please send a motivation letter (max 350 words) about why you are interested in taking part in this course, to katak@lhi.is

 

Photo: Natalie Malric

Course description:Sustainable practices are now becoming part of mainstream fashion and they are being seen as an opportunity rather than a challenge for the fashion industry. The advancements of sustainable textile development are allowing designers to further their visions on fashion.Designers are now able to choose or develop their own sustainable materials taking care of the environment.

The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.

This workshop provides an overview of the new alternative materials available, the concept of craft and how to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals through your design work.

The workshop is intended to explore contemporary sustainable materials and material sourcing, offering you a wider perspective to help you discover your individual approach to contributing to more sustainable practices.

The workshop will be a combination of lectures, group exercises and practical design exercises.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title of course: Re///Action
Teaching period: February 18-23, 2019
Teacher(s): Martin Foessleitner
ECTS: 1.5
Number of available place for CIRRUS students: 4
Level: BA and MA
Requirements:User Testing Support Course for Graduating Students (for those who are planning to graduate this year)

Application deadline:  January 25, 2019

How to apply:
Send ashort motivation and CV to inta.rubule@lma.lv with subject title:
“CIRRUS expressReAction”

Course description:Based on the individual topic of each students thesis,

we will have a close look on tools for capturing and understanding people´s behaviour and reaction but even before: how to design a participative design process, what is the impact of mock-ups, why does an iterative approach is so helpful, how to organize, do and present all documentation.
At the end each participant should have a customized toolbox for working.

Additional information:Teacher Martin Foessleitner (MBA Vienna University of Economics and Business) – founder and managing director of High-Performance Vienna GmBH; board member of International Institute for Information Design; board member of designaustria; jurymember of the European Design Award. Experience sharing and teaching at Sigmund Freud University Vienna, Danube University Krems and University of Applied Sciences St.Pölten in Austria.

 

 

 

Foil printing workshop “Overprint”

Dates: 21 – 25 January 2019 in Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn
Grant available: 330 EUR travel/660 EUR Iceland + weekly allowance 70 EUR
ECTS: 2

Short course description

The aim of workshop is to explore the possibilities of foil-print and foil-tooling technologies, as well re-using printed matter in creating an artist book. The students will be introduced to techniques such as hand tooling, cliché print, foil drawing, digital foil-print and other foil transferee possibilities.

Organization of the course

• Presentation of techniques and materials
• Practical tasks, experimenting, idea sketching
• Making micro edition of artist-book in group work

Leaders: prof. Lennart Mänd (department of accessory design and bookbinding EKA), prof. Liina Siib (department of Graphic Art EKA)

Number of available places 2

Requirements: course is open to BA and MA students but applicants should have finished at least 1 year at the bachelor level in design or art.

Application deadline: 12th December, 2018

How to apply: Send your full name, name of home school and name of the program you study in and a motivation letter(max 1 page), digital portfolio or homepage or some samples of you previous work to lennart.mand@artun.ee

 

 

 

 

2 seats are open for CIRRUS network. Grant: 70 EUR weekly + 660 EUR travel grant.
ALL INFORMATION HERE.

Title of course: Together: Platform
Hosting school: Iceland Academy of the Arts
Teaching period: 1st April – 9th May, 2019
Teacher(s): Ari Marteinsson, Marteinn Sindri Jónsson
ECTS: 4
Number of available places for CIRRUS students: 7
Level: BA
Grant available per student EUR: 660 travel + 70 weekly

Requirements:Student applicants should have finished at least 1 year at the bachelor level in design or architecture.

 

Application deadline: 10th December, 2018

How to apply:Send your full name, name of home schooland name of the programmeyou study in + a letter of motivation(1 page), outlining relevant skills and discussing how the student would like to benefit from the course to  ari@usestudio.dk and marteinnsindri@lhi.is.

 

Course description:

The course Together: Platform is about social design and social change in a hyper-local context, departing from the notion that change starts at home.

 

In the course students develop platforms in the context of their own learning environments, aimed at social and cultural change. The course takes place in and around the building of the Department of Design and Architecture. Students learn to iterate questions about their own circumstances using methods aimed at shared ownership and collective action. Students work in small groups and develop contextualised projects engaged with social challenges within and without the immediate environment.
At the end of the course students, should

• have developed a critical view on the role and responsibility of designers in society,
• have the ability to effect change in society in relation to a research topic,
• be able to participate in a critical discourse,
• have the independence and communication skills to actively participate in a collaboration,

 

 

URBAN SPACE GAMING
workshop (Nordplus intensive course)
Iceland University of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland
4-8 February, 2019

Workshop to be arranged at the Icelandic University of the Arts, Reykjavik, Iceland, 4th – 8th February, 2019 as a collaboration of three art universities and countries: Aalto Arts – www.aalto.fi(main organizer), Iceland University of the Arts –www.lhi.isand Vilnius Academy of the Arts, Lithuania –www.vda.lt

Five students from other CIRRUS member schools can participate in the workshop. The travel and accommodation costs will be paid by organisers. Both BA and MA students can apply.

If you want to participate, please email tarja.nieminen@aalto.fi by 12th of November 2019 a brief statement of why you wish to participate and an overview of your skill set as it relates to the topic. We are particularly interested in participants with animation skills and/or experience working with pervasive gaming / augmented reality. Applicants will get information on the selection by 19^thof November.

Students selected to participate in the workshop will get information on travel and accommodation arrangements with the acceptance message.

 

Travel dates will be:

Saturday 2nd February – Sunday 10th February, 2019

 BRIEF

In terms of civilization history, games and gaming represent one of the oldest means of human communication and interaction, and at the same time, they are more contemporary and relevant than ever.

The key element in gaming is involvement: games are social, so players interact meaningfully with each other and games often help to bridge the communication/ conversation gap. Games are not only “games” but also go beyond their immediate

purpose: they embody living popular tradition due to their ability to renew and adapt to new times and new customs. The workshop is relevant, not only because of its adaptable topic, but also educationally when considering current notions of designer´s roles as a content developer, author, producer, activist, and collaborator, and agent of change.

 

The workshop theme is communication and intervention in public space by means of participatory games and act of playing – in other words, it looks at the gamification of urban and social design. In the workshops, the participants will create concepts for different kinds of participatory games taking place within public spaces.

 

The overall aim of the workshop is to generate interaction between students and the local people as well as between the people and their surroundings.

The aspects to be taken into consideration are:

1. Public space intervention,
2. Interaction among people and between people and spaces, 3. To encourage people to improve their physical environment, 4. Explore ways to communicate e.g. on cultural and historical awareness, as well as social issues, 5. Public space appearance improvement by means of art and design, and 6. Alternative ways of mapping, guiding or way finding.

 

 

The main output of the workshop will be a number of game concepts, game mock-ups or in some cases actual games played out in the urban environment. The final presentation should involve dynamic visualizations of the concept to showcase clearly the intent and possibility of the project.

 

Some of the final game concepts may be transferable, but some of them will probably be more site specific. Ultimately, there will not be any preconceived notions of the kind of the game participants should design – the concepts could include for example, games which involve growing things, games which expand in time, games which utilize augmented reality or games which use other pervasive gaming strategies. In addition to the presentation of the final game/game concepts, there will be a blog created, showcasing the results of the workshop online.

(More info will be provided to those who will participate).