Pavilion of Protest Exhibition
Florence Hall, RIBA Building 66 Portland Place, London
25th October - 18th November 2011
25th October - 18th November 2011
An exhibition exploring the costs of an architectural education and the hardship that some students endure while also showcasing the enormous ability that exists in UK schools of architecture.
This pavilion is clothed in analogy and metaphor. Behind a mountain of debt sits a hard-working architecture student, purposefully etching away at the drawing board. This student is so engulfed by debt that they cannot be seen. This is the truth of all too many students today. The quiet architect sits hidden within this forest of ‘others’, each column’s height determined by a single students amount of debt. Zap have survey results of over 1400 architecture students, each with their own burden of debt, each with their own circumstances. Tiny glimpses of the architect offer little insight into this world. The amount of beautifully crafted drawing spilling out from the structure flows on the floor with complete volatility, ready to be walked on at any moment. Eighty eight students will work throughout this 4 week exhibition, creating a drawing worth £88,672 – the average amount a prospective first year student can now expect to pay for an architectural education.
The exhibition will be at the Florence Hall at the RIBA, 66 Portland Place - the headquarters of the governing body of Architects. This in itself is a provocative move which is mutually compelling for both the RIBA and the student body. ZAP are keen to work together with the RIBA to extinguish a naive ‘us’ versus ‘them’ philosophy and remind those in power (employers, mentors, policy changers and implementers) that student-worth is governed by said decision makers. The inspiration for this project derived from bags of receipts the two have collected throughout 7 years of architectural education with a view to creating an art piece with the receipts. This was deemed a commentary on the expenditure of an architecture student versus the remuneration expected once qualified. This became topical in 2011 with the governments ambition to treble tuition fees and the architectural press exposing firms that exploit the ‘unpaid intern’. ZAP began to create reactionary drawings about how architecture is turning into a sport where only the bourgeois can afford to participate. This pavilion synonymous with student’s backgrounds and birth-rights; which inherently offer no insight or asset to great design - in fact in some cases, it is a tool which detaches the designer from the building user. It is easy to criticise current systems and waste energies academically moaning. ZAP want this exhibition to reach a wider audience and to visually entertain. The exhibition should visually convey the mindset of the ‘creative’, with an underlying message for those who wish to engage with it. The preferred poetic analogy of this enterprising exhibition was offered by a 2nd year student who completed the online survey. It read “Jamie Oliver did not change national opinion or governmental policies on healthy school dinners through preaching to chefs and dinner ladies. He changed policy through speaking to the nation via the medium of an engaging and entertaining television show, which embarrassed the government into engaging with the problem and addressing child obesity". ZAP love this comparison.
