On the top floor of Lifton 4 there is a small room, cube-shaped and painted white. The day that I’m lucky enough to see it in person, it holds ‘Junction’, a piece created by student Anna Mcquillin. By the time you’re reading this there will be another piece in the room, and tomorrow there will be something different in its place…and the next day…and the next. Welcome to The Debut Series.

Working on a first come first served basis, the project is open to fine art students from the university, who simply book a day to showcase their work, and then have free reign over what they do with the space.

Installation, performance art, and video have all featured already, each in their own unique and interesting way.

But unlike most galleries, viewing The Debut Series comes with a twist. Public access to the room is very limited, so a photo of each piece is posted daily on Twitter, creating a virtual gallery where everyone can view the artists’ work. Through this, the series is effectively creating an online conversation, exploring the subjectivity of art, as well as instilling a sense of confidence in the students who display their work. This project gives them the chance to get out of the studio and have a platform from which they can move on to displaying more of their pieces. Plus, it is putting art on the map around the university, a course that is perhaps disregarded or side-lined by others.

Its growing popularity since the start of term means that the room is fully booked for this semester but students can continue to ‘debut’ their work for one day until the end of the year. Follow and re-tweet this brilliant student-run project which is getting art out there into the university.

@TheDebutSeries

 

Alice Rafter