The Creativity of Difference News from the School of Art, Architecture and Design

Inaugural professorial lecture by Dr. Jos Boys.

Date: 24 April 2019

The Cass is delighted to announce The Creativity of Difference, the inaugural professorial lecture by Dr Jos Boys taking place in The Wash Houses on the 1 May at 6pm.

The Cass has been working with Dr. Jos Boys, co-director of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project over the last two years, to co-explore how we can open up the multitude of different ways of being-in-the-world to students, both as a potential design generator and as a key part of personal development. DisOrdinary is a platform bringing together disabled artists and built environment/design students, educators and practitioners for creative dialogue and action; and artists from the group have now regularly engaged with Foundation students to investigate relationships between difference, identity, creativity and inclusion.

These collaborations have prototyped co-partnered activities that were funded by Arts Council England. They include making ‘soundmarks’ and other kinds of body mapping; doing audio-descriptions as a way to look more closely at the world around us, as well as understanding more about how blind people experience space; and the production of “objects that act in the spaces between body-identity and the wider world”, such as masks and/or body extensions. Here, identity and diversity are understood as complex and vital aspects of creativity in art, design and architecture; with projects aiming to help foundation-level students to creatively and critically engage with their own and others’ multiple identities.

In her inaugural visiting professorship talk, Jos will describe this work, within the larger context of The DisOrdinary Architecture Project, and discuss the possibilities for re-thinking art, design and architectural education and practice.

Free, All Welcome!