The University of the Arts London Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation is a forum for historical, theoretical and practice-based research in architecture, art, communication, craft and design. Find out more about TrAIN.

Find out more about research at the University of the Arts London.

Current Projects

  • Afterlives of Monuments

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    South Asia is famous for its monuments, past and present. This research project has been developed through a series of international conferences and seminars, culminating in the publication of a special issue on The Afterlives of Monuments in South Asian Studies, published by Taylor and Francis as volume 29 issue 1, spring 2013. It builds on an international conference (CSM, London, 2010) funded by the British Acad...
    Find out more about Afterlives of Monuments

  • The Birth of Cool

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    The Birth of Cool considers the individual and group stylepractices in different parts of the African as prisms of cultural and social commentary. Based on case studies of either complete looks or a single garment, with a daterange from the late 19th century to the 21st century, thebook considers expanded notions of place, heritage and auto/biography.
    Find out more about The Birth of Cool

  • Translating and Writing Modern Design Histories in East Asia for the Global World

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    This project aims to develop a network of native design historians in East Asia (Japan, Korea, PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan) led by the core members Yuko Kikuchi (PI at CCW), Wessie Ling (COI at LCF) and Yunah Lee (University of Brighton). The central concern is the re-examination of East Asian design histories from their local perspectives...
    Find out more about Translating and Writing Modern Design Histories in East Asia for the Global World

  • Russel Wright and Asia: Inter-Asia Modernities and Transnational Design History During the Cold War

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    Dr Yuko Kikuchi has been awarded the British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant for two years for her project work. She will investigate the influential American designer Russel Wright (1904-76) and his less well-known design projects in Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Hong Kong) during the 1950s-60s at the time of the Cold War.
    Find out more about Russel Wright and Asia: Inter-Asia Modernities and Transnational Design History During the Cold War

  • Research on the Art of Maud Sulter

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    Deborah Cherry has won a Grants for Arts award from Arts Council England for the research and development of an exhibition of the work of Maud Sulter.
    Find out more about Research on the Art of Maud Sulter

  • UK-Japan lecture series ‘Tokyo Futures, 1868-2020’

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    From the middle of the nineteenth century, Japan, like the rest of the world, was shaken by the transformations that followed its encounter with industry and empire. The country entered a new era, named after the Meiji emperor, and embarked on an ambitious programme of modernization, centred on Tokyo, its new capital.
    Find out more about UK-Japan lecture series ‘Tokyo Futures, 1868-2020’

  • Black Artists and Modernism (BAM)

    Black Artists and Modernism (BAM), is a three-year research project led by University of the Arts London (UAL) in partnership with Middlesex University, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). BAM will investigate the artworks of Black-British artists and the works’ relationship to modernism. The term ‘Black-British’ t...

    Black Artists and Modernism (BAM), is a three-year research project led by University of the Arts London (UAL) in partnership with Middlesex University, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). BAM will investigate the artworks of Black-British artists and the works’ relationship to modernism. The term ‘Black-British’ t...
    Find out more about Black Artists and Modernism (BAM)