皇家华人

Today (26 September) is the 22^nd听annual celebration of the European Day of Languages, a Council of Europe initiative established to encourage language learning, plurilingualism and intercultural understanding, while promoting the rich linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe. Very much in the spirit of these EU-driven objectives are two exhibitions at 皇家华人鈥檚 Bloomsbury Campus: 鈥楴ot Just Words: Learning languages through art and objects鈥� reopening today in the UCL Art Museum, and 鈥楲ost & Found: Mapping European Literary London鈥� opening next month in the South Cloisters.

鈥楴ot Just Words鈥�听presents a new approach to encountering foreign languages, through interactive teaching videos and pieces from the UCL Art Museum collection. The showcase provides the opportunity to hear from experts from across a range of UCL faculties about the language they teach and its connection to a culturally relevant item selected from the Museum archive.

Rooted in object-based learning, 鈥楴ot Just Words鈥�听engages with outside-the-box teaching, presenting visitors with the opportunity to take an object or artwork as their starting point to the discovery of another language and culture. The project behind the exhibition was initially conceived as a Language and Object Show and Tell for Year 12 students during the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting language awareness and multilingualism beyond the university. It has since been transformed into the current showcase and has expanded from the European languages taught in the UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society to other departments and languages such as Arabic, Mandarin and Finnish.

The exhibition鈥檚 academic curator Dr Elettra Carbone (UCL School of European Languages, Culture and Society) said: 鈥淭he aim of the display is to showcase the benefits of this innovative object-based or, more specifically, collection-based approach to language teaching which demonstrates that language is 鈥榥ot just words鈥� by emphasising the connection between language and culture. I am thrilled to see the showcase reopen to the public for another term with three more languages joining the series (Ancient Greek, Hebrew and Romanian). The end of the showcase will most certainly not mean the end of this project or of our interdepartmental collaboration with UCL Art Museum, so I encourage anyone interested in joining the series to get in touch.鈥�

In October, another exhibition, 鈥楲ost & Found: Mapping European Literary London鈥�, will be opening in the South Cloisters, exploring the relationship between London and European writers through the ages. The exhibition is based on an interactive digital map, developed by the UCL European Institute, the UCL Faculty of Arts and Humanities听and the UCL Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis,听which highlights passages originally written in over 20 European languages, sourced from across the UCL community and beyond. From the end of October to May 2024, the South Cloisters will be transformed into an interactive space which brings these literary encounters to life, revealing a Europe and London of the imagination.

Dr Tim Beasley-Murray, Vice-Dean (External Engagement) for UCL Arts & Humanities said: 鈥溾�楲ost & Found: Mapping European Literary London鈥� encourages us to reflect 鈥� both critically and playfully 鈥� on London as a place where journeys and languages intersect; where people and cultures meet and are听transformed. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with the UCL European Institute and the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis on such a wide-ranging and valuable project, which foregrounds the importance of both culture and languages in how we understand, and experience, the world. We look forward to using the exhibition to help diversify the range of writers featured on the Map, as well as to launch an associated Writer in Residency and schools鈥� engagement programme.鈥�

Encouraging language learning and celebrating shared European heritage and linguistic diversity, these UCL exhibitions invite visitors to explore and engage with European history and culture.

鈥楴ot Just Words: Learning languages through art and objects鈥� has been extended and will now run until Friday 15听December in the UCL Art Museum. Dr Elettra Carbone will be hosting a special drop-in session 鈥楬ave you thought of learning...? Languages of the wider world鈥� for the European Day of Languages on Tuesday 26 September 2023, 11:00 am鈥�1:00 pm in the Museum.

鈥楲ost & Found: Mapping European Literary London鈥� will be officially opening in the South Cloisters on Tuesday 24^听October.

Links

• Dr Elettra Carbone鈥檚 languages drop-in session
• NJW Exhibition Page
• European Literary Map of London
• Object Based Learning Lab
• UCL SELCS
• Show and Tell Videos

Image

• Selection of items used and displayed in 'Not Just Words' for object-based learning videos.