Internationalising Design History: Facing the World Differently. Seventy years on from the Britain Can Make It Exhibition.

25 May 2016

Friday 7 October 2016

In 1946 the exhibition, Britain Can Make It, was held at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. The exhibition reflected a desire to reaffirm Britain’s global position in design and manufacturing after World War Two.  This symposium examines this desire in the context of colonial legacies and the parallel ambitions of its former allies and enemies to capitalise on the potential of design to make a difference. Focusing on specific themes, we ask how could Britain make it as the world realigned and reconfigured politically, economically and culturally? What were the implications of its imperial models of design practice, education, exhibition and professional organisation? And what of now and the future: can Britain still make a distinctive and ethical contribution? Alongside this, we hope to reassess the Britain Can Make It exhibition and the myth-making processes that have ensured its position within the history of design in Britain.

Programme

09.50 - 10.00  Introduction: Professor Cheryl Buckley, 
10.00 - 11.00  Keynote: ‘Britain Couldn't Make It - From Empire To Island, The Collapse Of British Industry’, Professor Jonathan Woodham and Dr Paddy Maguire,  
(Chaired by Professor Catherine Moriarty)

11.00 - 11.30  Coffee

Beyond Britain Can Make It:  Adaptation and Interpretation 
(Chaired by Dr Harriet Atkinson)
11.30 - 11.55  Dr Eleanor Herring, ‘BCMI and Government-Sponsored Design Today’?
11.55 - 12.20  Mary Ann Bolger, ‘Ireland Can Make It?’
12.20 - 12.55  Dr Paddy O’Shea, ‘Business by Air: The BOAC’
12.55 - 13.05  Discussion
13.05 - 13.50  Lunch

Design and Anxiety? New Readings of Britain Can Make It 
(Chaired by Elli Michaela Young)
13.50 - 14.15   Liz Tregenza, ‘Clean, Uncluttered and in Good Taste?’ 
14.15 - 14.40   Kevin Guyan, ‘Locating Masculinities at Britain Can Make It, Seventy Years On’
14.40 - 15.15   Dr Christine Atha, ‘Class Anxieties at the Britain Can Make It Exhibition: The Uses of (Design) Literacy* (*with apologies to Richard Hoggart)
15.15 - 15.25   Discussion
15.25 - 15.45   Tea

Re-claiming, Re-imagining and Re-presenting: International Scopes and National Preoccupations in Design 
(Chaired by Zeina Maasri)
15.45 - 16.10     Professor Lou Taylor, ‘Paris v London: Summer 1944 - Summer 1947: the Struggle for Domination of Couture, Fashion Textiles and Ready to Wear in the Aftermath of World War 2’
16.10 - 16.35     Dr Rikke Jacobsen, ‘Britain Can Make It and the Danish Design and Cabinetmakers’ exhibitions’
16.35 - 17.00     Dr Yasuko Suga, ‘Adopting the Language of Britain Can Make It: Industrial Display at Kobe Fair, 1950’
17.00 - 17.10     Discussion
17.10 - 17.30     Final remarks: CB, HA, ZM, EMY

17.30                Drinks