HND Visual Communication students have created an Instagram exhibition of their work as a substitute for the regular end of year show, held annually at Forth Valley College’s Stirling Campus.
Due to the lockdown and Coronavirus epidemic situation the annual show featuring work from Creative Industries students at the college, will not be taking place in it's traditional form. But a second year group of HND Visual Communication students have worked in collaboration to set-up an innovative exhibition of their photographic work called Exordium. An online version of the full End of Year Show - incorporating work from Art and Design, Media and Communications students - is also understood to be in development.
Exordium is “the beginning or introductory part, especially of a discourse or treatise” and the students decided on it as the name of the show as it is the new beginning to their careers, now that they have finished college and will be starting a new chapter in their lives.
Beginning on Friday 5 June the exhibition will officially run for a full week, though may well go on for longer. The show will comprise of 81 pictures from nine students - nine photos on each individual carousel - and is free for the public to view at @exordiumexhibition on the social media platform or the https://www.instagram.com/exordiumexhibition/ link.
Student Hayley Bryce, said: “After the closure of the college we quickly realised that we wouldn’t be able to have a traditional exhibition like we had hoped for, so after some discussion we can to the decision that an Instagram page could be a unique and modern way to showcase our designs. We never expected one of the hardest parts to be finding a name, but it was quite the challenge! We settled upon “Exordium” which in simple terms means new beginnings, we found this fitting as we start our new journeys into the design world.
"As a group it was challenging to keep the communication flowing especially since we all don’t have the same social media platforms, but we chose one member of the group to be in charge of the organisation which made things a lot smoother! This year has been quite the challenge for us all, but we have all proven that in tough times we can count of each other for the support we need. We are all so proud of each other for creating this event even through the challenging times everyone is facing and to turn something negative into something so positive."
Lecturer Brian Smith, said: “In an extraordinary year by anyone’s measure, there was some doubt when the college closure came about at the end of March, if there would be any way to run the usual Degree and Exhibition Show for the graduating students of 2020. Priorities changed overnight and the focus was ensuring that every student was able to complete their courses.
“In the background though, through discussion on the new Microsoft Teams system that everyone was rapidly adapting to, the students asked if they were able to look into doing something for themselves in place of the usual physical exhibition in the Stirling Campus.
“And so, the idea to use Instagram and to work together remotely to co-ordinate a digital exhibition was hatched and over recent weeks, alongside the not inconsequential task of completing course work, Graded Units and as well as all of the unique pressures and stresses that the current situation has brought to them all, they worked on preparing their own work for online display alongside the material to promote the event.
“The fruition of all of this will be available online from Friday 5 June for all to see, and we hope that it reaches as wide an audience as possible. As a team, we were already hugely proud of the group’s achievements this year, through their participation in a number of 'Live Briefs’ that threw them in at the deep end, working directly with clients and not just us as lecturers.
“With this though they’ve taken that above and beyond all our aspirations, and we are all immensely proud of each and every one of them for their dedication and motivation throughout this hugely testing period. We’d encourage as many people as possible to visit, share, like and to leave any comments they can, in appreciation of all of their great teamwork."
