This exhibition was conceived and curated by the 2019 MA TRANS Class. Our remit was to create an exhibition that explored the notion of ‘socially engaged’ art. We built the elements of the exhibition around these ideas and chose to take advantage of the space around us to put our ideas about art into practice and provide a week-long series of events, including debates, artist talks, children’s art events, concerts and a book launch.

Socially engaged art encompasses an extremely wide range of artistic practice, and this was reflected in the varied artistic practices of us, the curators. We decided to manifest this variety in the form of a giant, handheld loom, with several different coloured tissues. Over the course of the exhibition, the loom was used to weave a rug, illustrating the collaborative nature and common points running through our various disciplines.

A mobile bar and storage space was conceived to help adapt the space to each event. Lino ‘islands in several shades were printed with different questions about art, social engagement, collaborative practice and feminism. These were then used to document the discussions held during the events and provide a written ‘trace’ of our exhibition.