Professor of Documentary Practice, Dr Pratāp Rughani, asks what happens to art and education in a time of heightened polarisation?

Join us at London College of Communication to hear from Pratāp Rughani and his journey through Filmmaking to Arts Research. [Sold Out]

Welcome by UAL’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Karen Stanton.

Introduction by Professor Emeritus Jonathan Dollimore.

Presentation followed by an in-conversation with Mark Sealy OBE, Professor of Photography – Rights and Representation, UAL.

Lecture: 5.30pm – 6.45pm

Reception: 6.45pm – 7.45pm

What happens to art and education in a time of heightened polarisation?

As the drift towards ‘toxic othering’ today spills from social media to British streets (echoing the 1970s – hopefully not the 1930s) what can our communities’ artists and creative practitioners; audiences, students and teachers do to tilt our cultures towards reconnection, repair and healing?

At this pivotal moment, Documentarist, Professor Pratāp Rughani, explores how this central challenge animates his practice in film, writing and photography, exploring the dynamics of dialogue in many cultures across forty years.

He unfolds paths out of conflict, with off-ramps that shape the dream of deeper ‘becoming’ and the hard yards of daring to listen more deeply to another, especially when we disagree. The evening includes a first glimpse of the new film installation “Impossible Conversations” asking: what connects us more deeply than what threatens to divide?

Is it by understanding our deeper vulnerability, responding to pain and trauma in self and other, that our shared humanity can be newly revealed?

“Designing storytelling for dialogue has a poetics and politics that is joyfully unpredictable. Looking ahead, I’m asking: what might it take to fashion a new restorative ethics of storytelling, to nurture empathy, rooted in communication ethics and focused on rebuilding the connective tissue of our culture as we are tested anew.”