Tag Archives: november 2014

Events

Birkbeck and Bloomsbury Campus Events 2014, 24-30 November

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26 November – 18:00-19:30 – Surviving Art History: Pictorialist Photography and Artistic Reputation

Venue: Room 112, Gordon Square

Booking: no booking required

David F. Martin will discuss the idea of artistic reputation as it applies to the pictorialist movement in the Western United States in the early part of the 20th century.

Many of the photographers involved had international reputations during their lifetimes but have languished in obscurity since because of racial, gender and institutional biases. David F. Martin (Seattle, Washington) is an independent curator and writer specialising in the art history of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest as well as New York State. Many of the artists he focuses on were women, gay and lesbian, Japanese Americans and other minorities active between 1890-1960. He is the author of A Turbulent Lens: The Photographic Art of Virna Haffer (University of Washington Press, 2011) and Shadows of a Fleeting World: Pictorial Photography and the Seattle Camera Club (University of Washington Press, 2011).

27 November – 11:30-13:30 – Birkbeck Food Group – The Difficult Dinner Party (Nicola Humble)

Venue: 10 Gower Street, Paul Hirst Room

Booking: Contact Alex Colas – a.colas@bbk.ac.uk

Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/birkbeck-food-group-the-difficult-dinner-party-nicola-humble-tickets-13672929099

In the second Autumn term meeting, Professor Nicola Humble (University of Roehampton) will speak on ‘The Difficult Dinner Party’.

Nicola Humble is Professor of English Literature and the University of Roehampton. She specialises in the literature and cultural history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her particular interests include middlebrow fiction; the literature, culture and history of food; historiography; women’s writing; and children’s literature.

27 November – 17:00-18:00 – The Truth, the Half-Truth and Something like the Truth: likeness and verism in trecento portraiture

Venue: B112, Gordon Square

Booking: no booking required

The Murray Seminar on Medieval and Renaissance Art
Dr Laura Jacobus, The Truth, the Half-Truth and Something like the Truth: likeness and verism in trecento portraiture

The Department of History of Art at Birkbeck presents a new series of seminars on medieval and renaissance art, supported by the Bequest established in memory of Professor Peter Murray, the Department’s founder. In the first series, beginning this autumn, Birkbeck scholars present aspects of their research.

28 November – 18:00-20:00 – BiGS Event: Gendering Representations of the Financial Crisis

Venue: 402 Malet Street

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gendering-representations-of-the-financial-crisis-tickets-14084957487

When the Financial Crisis of 2008 first hit with the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, news coverage, expert testimony and policy reports were all remarkably, if perhaps unconsciously, gendered: Christine Lagarde quipped that ‘if Lehman Brothers had been ‘Lehman Sisters,’ today’s economic crisis clearly would look quite different’. Harriet Harman agreed that if the City and Wall Street were to have a more feminine ethos, maybe financial crises would be fewer and further between (Independent 2009). Other commentators were even more direct: ‘more women on Wall Street equals less ridiculous willy-waving and ego and greed inspired risk-taking’, said Melissa Whitworth in The Telegraph (2010); and New York Magazine ran the headline ‘What if women ran Wall Street’, hypothesising that ‘having women around… prevents extreme behaviour—or irrational exuberance’ (New York magazine 2010).
In this seminar – the first of a BIGS series on Gender and Austerity, Louise Owen and Kate Maclean discuss their work on gendering representations of the financial crisis, with a focus on popular culture responses to this notoriously complex event, that has – some have argued – constituted a coup d’état. Louise will explore two well-known theatrical responses to the crisis, Lucy Prebble’s Enron (2009) and David Hare’s The Power of Yes (2009), examining their approaches to the category of gender, and the role these play in mediating understandings of (post)industrial transformation. Kate will look at cinematic responses to the crisis, specifically the corporate drama Margin Call (2011) and the comedy The Other Guys (2010), focussing in particular on gender, risk and the construction of the ‘Wall Street Alpha Male’. The event will be Chaired by Lynne Segal, who will discuss the significance of these analyses to how the ensuing recession and austerity measures have disproportionately affected women.

28 November – 18:00-21:00 – BIMI Annual University of Pittsburgh Lecture Keynote Speaker: Michael Temple

Venue: Birkbeck Cinema, Gordon Square

Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/bimi-annual-university-of-pittsburgh-lecture-tickets-12951376917

“Richard Roud: critic, curator, author”

In this talk Michael Temple will present “Decades Never Start on Time”, the anthology of Richard Roud’s critical writings that has just been published by BFI Publishing.

Arriving from Boston in the mid-1950s, Roud (1929-1989) became a programmer at the National Film Theatre and the London Film Festival, before going on to be director of the New York Film Festival, chief film critic for the Guardian, a regular contributor to Sight & Sound, and the author of several important film books such as his monograph on Jean-Luc Godard and his biography of Henri Langlois, A Passion for Film.

The anthology Decades Never Start on Time includes significant amounts of previously unpublished material as well as selections from Roud’s published writings in various newspapers, magazines and books.

The story of Roud’s multifaceted career and personal journey through the film culture of the 1960s and 1970s is an important episode in the history of film criticism and the history of film festivals.
The talk will feature a number of archive clips and a discussion with film critics and film programmers.
The talk will be followed by a reception in the Peltz Gallery from 8-9pm. Copies of “Decades Never Start on Time: A Richard Roud Anthology”, edited by Michael Temple and Karen Smolens, BFI, 2014, will be available for purchase.

28-29 November – 10:00 – 17:00 Lean Start-Up

Venue: G10 Gordon Square

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lean-start-up-registration-13821710107

Are you an aspiring entrepreneur?

Lean Start-Up enables entrepreneurs to reduce the cost of developing new products and services by ensuring that they do not waste time and money designing features that customers do not want. Since 2008 the best and biggest US tech start-ups have used Lean Start-up to get their new businesses developed, launched and funded. Now most of London’s leading universities, incubators and accelerators teach the method and most UK early stage venture capital investors now expect start-ups they fund to have used the Lean Start-Up process.

BEI in partnership with Capital Enterprise is providing a free of charge 2 full-day workshop for students who want to acquire a practical understanding of how they can apply lean start-up tools and principles in starting and developing a highly successful and sustainable business.

By the end of the two days attendees will understand:

Customer Development- How to develop and validate a “Good” start-up concept
Latest start-up terminology such as MVP, Pirate Funnel, Product-Market FIT
Lean start-up essential Techniques
Business Model Generation
How to “Roadmap” from idea-to prototype-to launch

News - Wider Issues, Politics, Society

Anatomy of a Demo – The People’s Assembly Against Austerity – 19 November 2014

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It was getting dark. I was knackered. My back ached from jumping over barriers and chasing police officers. My feet ached from walking and running. My shoulder throbbed from being struck by the camera of  an overzealous TV cameraman. My laptop was refusing to connect to the nearest WiFi network. I took a selfie with my phone and grimaced at the bright orange paint in my hair and on my cheek. It was spattered over my jacket, shoes and borrowed camera. I had Parliament Square mud all over the knees of my jeans. I scrolled through the 619 images I had snapped during the day. Satisfied, I bit into my homemade chicken wrap, and absent mindedly began scraping at a globule of orange paint on my left shoe.

Nine hours earlier, at about 9am, I was firmly ensconced in Malet Street. I had my packed lunch and a borrowed camera. A hastily created ‘Press’ vest too. Just in case. This was my first demonstration as an observer/aspiring journo, and I couldn’t have picked one which is more emotive for students. In this age of austerity, students are suffering. Not just now, but in the future too, with most expected to be saddled with in excess of 40 grands worth of debt after graduating. Thus, The People’s Assembly Against Austerity – under the ‘student’ nomenclature – organised the demo for 19th November.

Malet Street at 10am was cold and forlorn. A few organisations had pitched stands, and placards (in their hundreds it seemed) were being prepared. As the minutes passed, crowds began to gather. I had initially thought there might be a poor turnout, perhaps influenced by the lack of NUS support. This was not to be, and, by departure time, the atmosphere was festive (not as in Christmas) and good natured chanting was accompanied by the ferocious waving of some humorous and creative placards and flags. Police presence was minimal to say the least.

I stationed myself at the front of the march. Keen for a ‘story’, I was conscious of a small group of masked youths, and surmised that they may behave in an interesting way. I latched myself to them for most of the march. It was impressive how well the march had been organised and marchers deployed with great efficiency. I thought it great that students had the opportunity to vent their anger, despair and annoyance at student debt and education fees.

As the march wended its way through Bloomsbury and down Holborn onto the Strand, the first small pockets of conflict occurred. It was at the front of the march and perpetrated by the masked-up wannabe anarchists, outside MacDonald’s and Top Shop — no surprises there. These pit-stops passed without major incident, and it was only when we arrived at Parliament Square the inevitable violence erupted. This, I thought, was a shame. We were only a few yards away from the rally point, where the intention was for speakers to address the assembled marchers. Surely one of the major, if not the most important, part of the demo?

Instead, our be-masked chums decided to clamber over the police barriers (fine, I thought), jump up and down shouting anti-capitalist slogans (no problem) and then proceeded to tear down the metal mesh fencing to get onto the grassed area of Parliament Square. Not only do I not have a problem with people demonstrating, I think it slightly abhorrent that demonstrations on Parliament Square are prohibited. So, whilst I perhaps understood the reasoning behind wanting to demonstrate on Parliament Square (although I’m not sure some of the demonstrators did) I didn’t really understand the violence which went with it, and the sad sight of a 60 year-old City of Westminster heritage warden cowering at the sight of dozens of black clad guys surrounding him to kick, push and smash their way on to the square.

I joined them on the Square, perversely proud as I was one of the first dozen journos who breached the lines. After declaring a victorious occupation, the smattering of demonstrators who joined the masked marauders evidently got bored quickly.

There was some flare-ignition, giving the Square an eerie war-zone atmosphere, exacerbated by some slightly unhinged individuals attempting to create a barricade — what they intended to barricade, I have no clue — on the square out of concrete blocks, fencing and railings.

They were, however, foiled by lack of interest. Soon most people began to drift over to the rallying point, to get involved and listen to the speakers. I actually ached to do this, but my desire for front-line journo action made me stick with the anarchist crew.

Disorganised and with very little apparent knowledge of the issues of the march, this small group led a larger group on a mini-tour of government and political bases. Oh, and a Starbucks!

At each point, damage and skirmishes with the police (no helmets, no shields, and not too many batons) ensued with vigour. Anti-cuts chants changed into anti-police chants. At Tory party HQ, I snapped away as several of the masked dudes planned to smash a wheelie bin into police lines. Which they did. Our next stop was the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which was declared by one of the pseudo-anarchists to be the ‘Department for Education’. Despite the massive signage declaring otherwise, the massed crowd seemed to concur. Scuffles ensued, paint was thrown and placards chucked. Several tried to get into the building (and do what exactly?) whilst chanting ‘scum’ at the four security guards desperately trying to hold the doors shut. These are the ‘working men’ to whom these people were claiming allegiance earlier.

Again with a lack of direction and apparent boredom – helped by the arrival of riot cops I assume – the next stop was a small Starbucks. Yes, it’s incredible and unacceptable they’ve avoided their tax. Yes, it’s fairly annoying to see them on every street corner. But their tax affairs and ubiquity surely could not justify paint chucking, window smashing and throwing a Barclays bike through the doors?

All along Victoria Street, more scuffles followed, until eventually a sort of semi-kettle took place. The balaclava and mask wearing contingent legged it successfully, and after half an hour, most people drifted away.

I was personally enthused by the day – it’s exactly the sort of stuff I’d like to do. I think I need to learn how to write impartially to become a journalist, but I couldn’t understand a lot of the behaviour. Frightened Starbucks staff, the cleaners who have to tidy up afterwards, the street sweepers and the glaziers. They are the working class. They should be on our side. It’s easy to see why they perhaps are not – the media (myself included) will only ever go where there is something newsworthy, but when such excellently attended and organised student demos are used as an excuse for bizarre acts of violence which prove nothing, it is only ever these incidences which will get into the news.

As I scraped paint off my shoe, I felt somewhat deflated, although proud of my battle scars.  It had started as a great day. Full of fun, and friendliness. For most people, I’m sure it continued that way. I hope it did. It was just a huge shame that the issues of the day were, and will have been, ignored to some extent – students had a great opportunity to show some reserve and strength, and put forward their very cogent and necessary arguments. Unfortunately, to coin a Daily Mail-esque phrase, ‘a few idiots spoiled it for everyone else’.

Events

Birkbeck and Bloomsbury Campus Events 2014, 17 – 23 November

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18 November – 13:00-14:00 – The impact of curiosity-driven learning on the self-organization of developmental process: robotic models

Venue: B04 Gordon Square

Booking: None required

Infants’ own activities create and actively select their learning experiences. I will review here recent models of embodied curiosity-driven learning and information-seeking, and show that these mechanisms have deep implications for development and evolution. First, I will discuss how they can self-organize epigenesis with emergent ordered behavioral and cognitive developmental stages. I will outline a robotic experiment studying the hypothesis that progress in learning in and for itself generates intrinsic rewards: the robot learner probabilistically selects experiences according to their potential for reducing uncertainty. We show that a learning curriculum adapted to the current constraints of the learning system automatically forms, and at the same time constrains learning and shapes the developmental trajectory, sharing many properties with infant development, with a mixture of regularities and diversities in the developmental patterns. In particular, it leads the learner to successively discover object affordances and vocal interaction with its peers. I will also present an experiment with a model of vocal development in the young infant, which shows how the interaction between curiosity-driven explortion of vocalization and imitation of speech sounds produced by social peers self-organizes important stages of vocal development. Finally, I will argue that such emergent developmental structures can guide and constrain evolution. In particular, they constitute a reservoir of behavioral and cognitive innovations that can be recruited later for functions not yet anticipated, including primitive forms of language.

18 November – 13:30-15:00 – State Feminism: What Have We Learned and What is Next?

Venue: B04 Malet Street

Booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/state-feminism-what-have-we-learned-and-what-is-next-tickets-13308717733

Speaker: Amy Mazur (BIH Visiting Fellow)

The Research Network on Gender Politics and the State spent over 15 years conducting a systematic cross-national study of the impact and influence of women’s policy agencies in 13 post industrial democracies across five different areas of government action. How do women’s policy agencies help women become represented in the affairs and policies of democratic government? do they actually make a feminist difference within state arenas? and what are the conditions for achieving representation and success? These are the major questions of the state feminism project.

Amy Mazur, co convener of RNGS, will present the approach and findings of the final multi method analysis, or capstone project, published in 2010 in the book by Dorothy McBride and Amy Mazur with the participation of Joni Lovenduski, Joyce Outshoorn, Birgit Sauer and Marila Guadagnini. The Politics of State Feminism: Innovation in Comparative Research (Temple University Press).

18 November – 19:00-20:30 – Morandi and Picasso lecture

Venue: Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art, 39a Canonbury Square,  London N1 2AN

Booking: http://www.estorickcollection.com/ tickets £8 (£5 members)

Support a former Birbeck School of Arts student, Jacqueline Cockburn, who will be comparing the different dynamics in the work of two of the greatest artists of the 20th Century.

Tickets are available at £8 (£5 members) by contacting the Estorick Collection 020 7704 9522.

19 November – 19:00-21:00 – Introducing and exploring the Jo Spence Memorial Library

Venue: Room B17, Gordon Square

Booking: no booking required

A topic close to our heart at the Lamp and Owl as the newsroom shares space with them!

Introducing the collection: how this material came to Birkbeck – Patrizia Di Bello
Research focus: The Hackney Flashers – Angela Stapleford
Research focus: Gender and Representation – Lorna Robertson
Collection Highlights and Your Area of Interest – What’s here for you?

20 November – 19:00-21:00 – BiGS Event: Book Launch: Queer Cities, Queer Cultures, ed. by Matt Cook and Jennifer V. Evans

Venue: Gay’s the Word Bookshop, 66 Marchmont Street, London WC1N 1AB

Booking: None required

Book Launch: Queer Cities, Queer Cultures: Europe Since 1945, ed. by Matt Cook and Jennifer V. Evans

You are invited to celebrate the publication of Queer Cities, Queer Cultures: Europe Since 1945. Complimentary refreshments will be served. Books will be available at a discount price.
Queer Cities, Queer Cultures examines the formation and make-up of urban subcultures and situates them against the stories we typically tell about Europe and its watershed moments in the post 1945 period. The book considers the degree to which the iconic events of 1945, 1968 and 1989 influenced the social and sexual climate of the ensuing decades, raising questions about the form and structure of the 1960s sexual revolution, and forcing us to think about how we define sexual liberalization – and where, how and on whose terms it occurs.

21-22 November – 09:30-15:00 – Skills London

Venue: ExCeL London

Booking: http://www.skillslondon2014.co.uk/site/1/Welcome.html

Skills London 2014 is the biggest jobs and careers event of the year. The 2013 event featured over 180 exhibitors with 35,000 jobs and Apprenticeships on offer for 15-24-year olds. Over 30,000 young people, their parents, carers and teachers came along and met employers, training providers, colleges and organisations.

21 November – 13:00-17:00 – ‘1979 Revisited’: The Cultural Production of ‘Structures of Feeling’ under Thatcherism

Venue: Keynes Library, Room 114, 43 Gordon Square

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1979-revisited-the-cultural-production-of-structures-of-feeling-under-thatcherism-tickets-14162405135

This working seminar will explore the mass ‘democratization’ of cultural production during the late 1970s and 1980s, from radical printshops and writers’ workshops to film co-operatives and community art projects, all of which contributed to a lively, alternative, and oppositional, culture under Thatcherism.

The seminar will also draw upon Raymond Williams’s concepts of ‘structure of feeling’ and ‘alternative’, ‘oppositional’ and ’emergent’ cultures, as a means for recovering the ‘lived experience’ of others under Thatcherism. A range of ‘grassroots’ creative practices and cultural forms will be discussed (e.g. community radio, film and video, print ephemera, badges, arts, graphic design, music).

As a ‘working seminar’, it is designed to maximise participation in discussion to explore the connections between grassroots cultural production and the ‘structure(s) of feeling’ of people’s lived experiences under Thatcherism.

Registration & coffee from 12.30pm

Facilitators: Herbert Pimlott (BISR Visiting Research Fellow) and Sophie Hope (Birkbeck)

Contributors include: Jim McGuigan, Jess Baines, Pat Holland, Anne Robinson and Patrizia diBello

Outline reading available: An introduction to Raymond Williams’s concepts will be available prior to the seminar: e-mail hpimlott@wlu.ca

22 November – 10:00-12:15 –  Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in Action

Venue: Brigade, The Fire Station, 139 Tooley Street, London SE1 2HZ

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/social-enterprise-and-entrepreneurship-in-action-registration-13725879475

Birkbeck BEI is pleased to invite all students to a special Saturday morning event at the wonderful Brigade, near London Bridge.

We have lined up two fantastic speakers, first Marsha Oza will discuss her role as a contemporary jewellery designer-maker and answer questions on entrepreneurship from students with an interest in lifestyle businesses.

We are then pleased to offer the opportunity to hear Chef Simon Boyle’s fantastic story of entrepreneurship and social enterprise, involving both Brigade and the Beyond Food Foundation. A small selection of canapés will be available for tasting, courtesy of the Brigade team.

22 November – 13:30-17:00 – Renaissance Loves II

Venue: School of Arts, 43 Gordon Square,

Booking: s.wiseman@bbk.ac.uk

The London Renaissance Seminar meets at Birkbeck regularly to discuss the literature, culture and history of the English Renaissance. It is free and welcomes all students, academics and people with an interest in the Renaissance or early modern period.

22 November – 15:00-16:00 – Lamp and Owl Digital WordPress Training

Venue: Newsroom, Gordon Square

Booking: none required

Overview of how your account works and what you need to do as an editor or contributor to Lamp and Owl Digital. We’ll meet in the newsroom and then move on to another room if numbers are sufficient.

 

Events

Birkbeck and Bloomsbury Campus Events 2014, 10 – 16 November

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10 November – 15:30 – 16:30 – Pure and Applicable Mathematics Seminar: Pierre-Philippe Dechant

Venue: room 745, Malet Street

Booking: none required

10 November – 17:45-19:45 – HM Treasury Open Evening 

Venue: 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1P 2AL (Entry via 1 Great George Street)

Booking: charles@birkbeckefs.org

  • A welcome from the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Paul Deighton
  • Keynote speaker – Second Permanent Secretary, John Kingman Deputy Director career insight Panel
  • A session with current policy advisors to find out more about the work of the Treasury and the Policy Adviser role
  • Informal networking with Treasury Officials and light refreshments.

10 November – 18:00 – 20:00 – Sports Business Centre Seminar Series

Venue: B20 Lecture Theatre, Malet Street

Booking: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/birkbeck-sport-business-centre-public-seminar-series-registration-14066271597

THIRD PARTY PLAYER OWNERSHIP (TPPO): A LEGITIMATE PLAYER FINANCING MECHANISM REQUIRING ONLY “LIGHT-TOUCH” REGULATION; OR A THREAT TO THE INTEGRITY OF SPORTING COMPETITION WHICH MUST BE LEGISLATED OUT OF EXISTENCE?

12 November – 18:00-19:00 – QUANTITATIVE INVESTMENT TALK with Dr Rodrigo Dupleich-Ulloa from Baring Asset Management

Venue: 28 Russell Square, Room 103 (enter through 26 Russell Square)

Booking: http://ow.ly/DUth5

We are pleased to announce a joint finance event between Birkbeck & Royal Holloway. Both Colleges have come together for an event with a senior speaker from the Finance community to talk about recent trends in the city (and elsewhere in the world of Finance). The first topic will be on quantitative equity investment, and will be given by Dr Rodrigo Dupleich-Ulloa from Baring Asset Management.

Dr Rodrigo Dupleich-Ulloa holds a Phd in Theoretical Econometrics from Warwick and is the Senior Quantitative Analyst at Baring Asset Management. The talk will be followed by a wine reception.

Venue: 28 Russell Square, Room 103 (enter through 26 Russell Square)

12 November – 17:00-21:00 – Birkbeck College Applied Linguistics Society Welcome Event

Venue: George Birkbeck Bar, Malet Street

Booking: None

The Birkbeck College Applied Linguistics Society (BCALS) is recruiting members for 2014/15.

If you’re interested in joining please come along to our welcome event in the George Birkbeck Bar on Wednesday 12 November from 5pm (the time happy hour starts) in the George Birkbeck Bar to find out more.

BCALS is an official University of London student society formed to bring together students interested in Applied Linguistics, communication and related disciplines (e.g. multilingualism, intercultural communication, language teaching, etc.). It is a student run society aimed to come together and promote common interests in our fields. We strive to create an open atmosphere of dialogue and community through holding social events, hosting guest speakers and open lectures and talks.

14 November – onwards – Exhibition – How We Read: Sensory history of books for the blind

Venue: 43 Gordon Square, Peltz Gallery

Booking: None required

An exhibition exploring the history of technology to help blind people read, from braille to audio books, is being shown at the Peltz Gallery for the UK’s first national festival of the humanities in November.

Dr Matthew Rubery, from the School of English and Drama at QMUL,and Birkbeck’s Dr Heather Tilley have been awarded funding to hold the exhibition ‘How We Read: A Sensory History of Books for Blind People’, during the Being Human festival, 15 – 23 November 2014.

Visitors will learn about the key people and ideas involved in the development of alternative ways of reading over the past two centuries, including the role blind people played in inventing these devices.

A variety of books will be on show in the form of embossed print, braille, talking book records, speech synthesizers, screen magnification systems, and optical character recognition reading machines.

Among the historic artifacts are embossed books by William Moon, creator of one of the first raised alphabets for blind people, and historic talking book recordings made in the 1930s for veterans blinded in the First World War. The EMI Group Archive Trust has also agreed to display the oldest surviving talking book shellac records from 1935.

Curator-led descriptive tours, hands-on activities, interactive workshops, and live performances will also encourage visitors to use sensory perception to try out alternative ways of reading with their eyes, ears,and fingers.

Dr Rubery, who is an expert on the history of the book, said: “Understanding the role played by braille, talking books, and alternative reading formats in Britain since the 1800s will increase awareness of the challenges faced by disabled people to access literature.

“Assistive reading technology has dramatically improving the wellbeing and quality of life for hundreds of thousands of blind and visually impaired readers in Britain.

“Significantly, many of these devices have never been exhibited before, making this a unique opportunity for visitors to explore this significant but largely neglected aspect of the nation’s literacy heritage.”

‘How We Read’ will be part of a national programme of festival activities, demonstrating the role of the humanities in the cultural, intellectual, political and social life of the UK.

Currently in its first year, Being Human is led by the School of Advanced Study, supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy, with the participation of arts and cultural organisations and universities across the UK.