Hello! We are the Tate Arts and Culture group, part of the Digital Futures Grand Challenge.

Josef, Doroteya, Chloe, Beth, Shim and Thurstan

This morning we started the day listening to Gabriella introducing the challenge and telling us about archiving. We then gathered in our enquiry group and ‘broke the ice’ before trying out the Tate’s Art Maps platform, taking the time to discuss the purpose of the project and the Tate’s aim in creating it.

We attended interesting presentations by Naome from Arts and Culture at the University of Exeter, who took us through the theories of archiving, and Dr Matt Hayler, who discussed blogging and digital media. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to look at Turner sketches close up and learn a little more about Turner.

Looking at the University’s Turner engravings

Equipped with the background information necessary for our challenge, we started thinking about the final outcome of our project. We created a plan for the week, dividing the tasks among the group. We’ve chosen to focus on one particular engraving of Turner’s work, which depicts the Quay here in Exeter. Tomorrow we will be visiting the locations depicted and interviewing Exeter locals and Professor Sam Smiles, an expert at the University on Turner and his work.