May half-term is on the horizon – and we look forward to welcoming families at the V&A for a series of joyous events. From free making workshops and sculpture sessions to Caribbean storytelling, there’ll be plenty of chances to get social, to have fun drawing, or even play with augmented reality! Pop down to V&A South Kensington at the start of the week to celebrate the Windrush generation and the beauty of the Caribbean, through art-making and storytelling sessions.
With Make-Its taking place monthly on the last Saturday of the month, and also on either side of a school holiday, why not start your May half-term off at a Make-It workshop!
Inspired by the exhibition Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance, there will be two Make-It: Sculpture workshops around May half-term. These Make-Its are a chance to explore sculpting with plasticine and clay. Sculpt your favourite celebrities or create a relief sculpture just like Donatello. On Saturday 27 May join Sculptor Wilfrid Wood for a hands-on workshop to explore faces through sculpture. On Saturday 3 June 2023 join Artist Jess Miller for a hands-on workshop for an introduction to clay relief.
Celebrate Windrush 75 with us through the sharing of stories and the chance to explore of art, design and culture inspired by Caribbean culture.
On Tuesday 30 May, there’ll be Drop-in Design: Celebration Wall Art taking place in the garden. Led by designer Tihara Smith, you’ll be invited to get inspired by objects from West Indian living rooms, and the museum’s collection, to create embroidery inspired by Caribbean culture. In this hands-on creative activity, you’ll get to use fabric and sewing to create your own wall art to display at home.
On Wednesday 31 May, pop along to Families Storytelling: Caribbean Tales, where author and storyteller Wendy Shearer will be sharing folktales from the Caribbean islands, peppered with magic and memories.
Towards the end of the week, get inspired by Korea! Hallyu! The Korean Wave celebrates the influence of Korean pop-culture on the world. It embraces award-winning Korean films, popular K-Dramas on streaming sites and K-Pop topping the charts worldwide. In the Design Studio, you can explore art and technology by joining the drop-in activities developed by Seoul-based digital and design studio the Commoners.
On Thursday 1 and Friday 2 June 2023, you can join in with the Drop-in Design: Digital Tal-nori. In this free workshop, you can explore the Korean heritage of mask performance, known as Tal-nori. You’ll get to design your own Tal-nori mask, then use an app to interact with your design in augmented reality.
If you’ve ever wanted the chance to explore being a video artist, then Meet again The More, The Better, is an interactive artwork, produced by Commoners, that allows you and your family to create your own video art. You can then share your videos, and collaborate with others in a virtual gallery. Meet again The More, The Better was commissioned by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea. It’s an interactive artwork that was inspired by Korean artist Nam June Paik’s artwork of the same name, which was developed for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. A gigantic monument to Korean and global culture, it’s an 18.5m tall TV tower made from a stack of 1,003 screens. The screens stream video of locations from around the world.
During the drop-in activity, you can experiment with the idea of restoration, exploring the old and new. You can adjust the video feed in the interactive artwork, either to restore it, or to transform it into your own video art creations.
If these events sounds good to you, to find out about more upcoming events and activities for families, please sign up for our Families e-newsletter.
