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Popular Culture Blog Posts - Page 15 of 17 - The Open College of the Arts

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Dreams of your life thumb

Dreams of your life

Over the last few days there has been much discussion in the OCA office about a web experience commissioned by Channel 4 called Dreams of Your Life. The experience (or game if you like) was commissioned to support the release of a documentary funded by Film Four, Dreams of a Life. The experience asks you […]

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Thought bubbles thumb

Thought bubbles

There was a time when comics were just for kids and artists made images for grown ups. I’m not sure if that many artists have been able to make the switch to working for a younger audience, but certainly illustrators and other narrative based artists have been able to successfully address a more adult audience. […]

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TYPOLONDON thumb

TYPOLONDON

Love it? Hate it? As a designer, you can’t avoid it. Indeed, you wouldn’t want to – your love affair with typography will prove to be one of the most enduring and intense. Sounds dramatic? Perhaps, but as any aspiring graphic designer will tell you, typography is IMMERSIVE. There are a few key dates in […]

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I wanted your soft verges but you gave me the hard shoulder thumb

I wanted your soft verges but you gave me the hard shoulder

Back in the 1960s, Penguin Modern Poets brought out a poetry collection called ‘The Mersey Sound’. Its cover design soon became a classic and a generation were introduced to the poetry of Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten. Beat poetry had combined with Pop Music and Liverpool was the place to be. The driving […]

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Royalty and mugs always go well together: Steve Bell thumb

Royalty and mugs always go well together: Steve Bell

Award winning cartoonist Steve Bell has a long relationship with the Guardian newspaper, not least with his regular IF cartoon strip that has featured in the newspaper since 1981. It’s a sharp and irreverent narrative of those in power, often portrayed alongside penguins, farmyard animals and the occasional badger. In a short film (4min) Bell […]

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Shall we get Facebook 'friendly squares' and wear them with pride? thumb

Shall we get Facebook 'friendly squares' and wear them with pride?

Fotografiska, the Swedish photography museum, has self censored images on its Facebook pages to avoid them being deleted by Facebook for contravening its rules on nudity. The museum currently has a show of around 200 Robert Mapplethorpe images. The image produced by the museum has itself become art, and sent a flurry around the art […]

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A Seat in the Memory – can you help? thumb

A Seat in the Memory – can you help?

Almost eight months into the four year part time masters degree in Fine Art, James Kowacz, one of OCA’s current MA students, is embarking on a fascinating participative project,  ‘A Seat in the Memory’.  He is looking for people to contribute to it.  Whether you are a photographer, artist or creative writer, you can contribute […]

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Street art in Lisbon thumb

Street art in Lisbon

Portugal has a strong decorative tradition in its streets. Ever since the Moors introduced the vibrant tile tradition of the azulejos, houses have been faced in ceramic patterns. As a first time visitor to Lisbon I was struck by the visual quality of this work, often showing its age, overlaid by graffiti, or in the […]

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I love u will u marry me thumb

I love u will u marry me

Sheffielders love or loathe it, but Council workers must have a sentimental streak, since some dramatic graffiti has remained in place (for years) on a link bridge at a precarious height on Sheffield’s iconic example of brutalist 60’s architecture, Park Hills Flats, which sits resplendent above the city’s railway station. In fact recently the graffiti, […]

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