The Dissolution Guild

This event is open to UAL staff and students only. Please bring your ID card on entry to this event.

The Dissolution Guild is a research-led performance by artist Gayle Chong Kwan, expanding on her ongoing project The Taotie (2024), developed as part of the 20/20 initiative led by the Decolonising Arts Institute, UAL and currently on show at Compton Verney.

‘The Taotie’ (2024) is an installation of photography and sculpture, an annual ritual, and a communal procession that explore colonial and institutional hauntings and collective memory connected with significant sites in London. She developed the work through research on the myth of the through the devouring and protective taotie, and in Compton Verney’s Neolithic bronze funeral and miniature portrait collections.

In the ‘The Dissolution Guild’, Gayle Chong Kwan develops these concerns in relation to the histories of the area around London College of Fashion, UAL - the places and sites that have been destroyed or changed, and the crafts, skills, and making knowledge that are no longer in use. From exploring the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, in which local Stratford Langthorne Abbey was destroyed in 1538, also resulting in the loss of its mills, tanneries, weavers and bakeries. She will also explore more recent histories of the displacement of small industries in the lead up to the Olympic Games and the community responses and initiatives, and the making, craft skills, garments, patterns, and accessories connected to London’s livery companies or guilds that are no longer in use.

Gayle Chong Kwan will lead students and staff on walks around the area of LCF to explore its lost histories, and in creative sessions to explore lost craft knowledge and making skills. The project will culminate in a participatory event and walk which will take place at the LCF After Dark event on Thursday 13th November. Tickets available here.

Spaces for this event are very limited, so booking is essential. If you can no longer make it, please cancel your ticket order so that another student or staff member can attend.

This event will take place in person at:
London College of Fashion
Room 117, 105 Carpenters Road, E20 2AR.

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Host or Publisher London College of Fashion, UAL