Cross-Cultural Collaboration for Social and Climate Justice: A Workshop Series Between LCC and Mahidol University

Abstract: This proposal outlines a cross-cultural workshop series aimed at fostering collaboration between students of LCC and Mahidol University, focusing on social justice, climate change, and visual practices. The project involves the creation of an animated online comic book for social media and augmented reality, culminating in street exhibitions and a miniature social media campaign. By engaging in this collaboration, students will enhance their experience and employability and contribute to UAL’s social purpose and mission and UAL’s strategy.

Introduction: The International Relations Unit (IRU) at UAL seeks proposals for international projects that enhance the student experience and employability, address social purpose missions and develop sustainable partnerships. This proposal presents a cross- cultural workshop series between LCC and Mahidol University students to collaborate on a project addressing social justice, climate change, and visual practices, ultimately creating a factual animated online comic book for social media and augmented reality.

Plan: The project involves UK and Thai’s students collaborating to create an animated AR street art installation in London and Bangkok, utilizing the Exquisite Corpse technique and Artivive platform. Over four weeks students will explore social and climate justice themes, refine visual representation skills, and document their progress through a group blog, culminating in a short demo. Final deliverables include the group blog, an animated AR graffiti piece, and a 15-30 second demo showcasing the AR creation in both cities. The workshop series encourages students to play, experiment, and challenge common ideologies of practice and theory.

Aims: This activity aims to enhance the student experience and employability and address UAL’s social purpose and mission through cross-cultural collaboration. It includes connecting academic work to real-world applications, encouraging interaction with diverse industry cultures and parameters, exposing students to various research parameters and visual languages, and cultivating awareness of students’ unique attributes to showcase to employers. The project also promotes equality, diversity, and inclusion while exploring environmental and social issues from students’ backgrounds and experiences. It also enhances employability by exposing students to diverse industry cultures, parameters, and visual languages, fostering awareness of their unique attributes to showcase to employers, and providing a blueprint for future workshops, supporting research, knowledge exchange, and enterprise development.

Evaluation: We discussed the challenges and positive outcomes of cross-cultural collaboration involving MA and BA students between LCC and Mahidol University. Challenges included differences in learning levels between MA and BA students, coordinating timetables across different time zones and academic calendars, and aligning learning outcomes between the two universities. Despite these challenges, the collaboration facilitated valuable cultural exchange, student leadership through MA students directing and teaching key elements to BA students, staff collaboration by allowing staff from both institutions to exchange knowledge and learn from each other’s teaching methodologies, and alumni engagement by involving past students in the workshops, enriching the learning experience and providing networking opportunities.

Conclusion: The cross-cultural collaboration proved to be a fruitful endeavour that fostered cultural exchange, student leadership, staff collaboration, and alumni engagement. The experience can serve as a model for future collaborations, where lessons learned can be applied to improve and expand upon the initiative. Through this collaboration, LCC and Mahidol University students can contribute to changing the world through creative endeavours and fostering reflection on the societal impact of education following the UAL Strategy 2015-22