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  • I Cling to Virtue

Toran, Noam and Kular, Onkar, 2010, Show, Exhibition or Event, I Cling to Virtue

Abstract or Description:

Kular’s work centres on design as a means of engaging with social and cultural issues. Commissioned and exhibited by the V&A Museum, this was a mixed-media collection revealing the trajectories of the Lövy-Singh clan, a fictional East London family of mixed descent. It comprised 26 sculptures and two video pieces, developing the previous explorations of the MacGuffin in narrative (Kular REF Output 2). A catalogue with 28 fictional reminiscences, a genealogy and time line positioned the family’s experiences in geographical locations and historical events. Novel use of rapid-prototyping co-opted an industry process to confuse the experience of artefact and artifice.
The design explored the historical, literary and cinematic traditions of the family saga and its relationship to memory and artefact. It presented an archive of objects derived from the flawed, biased memory of the (fictional) curator. A coherent story is replaced by one that is multiple and fragmentary. Kular and Toran (RCA) ‘produced’ the family by mixing their own genealogies with those of renowned 20th-century families, both real and fictional, such as the Magnificent Ambersons and the Rothschilds, positioning family members in everyday situations or key historical moments represented by an object and a ‘memory’ triggered by the object.
Concept development was undertaken jointly by Kular and Toran. Kular’s archive research emphasised commonwealth immigrant histories and British 20th-century political events. His production contribution was in 3D modelling, rapid prototyping and display, leading production of the two films and development and editing of the narrative texts.
The work was accompanied by a catalogue (2011), was reviewed in ICON Magazine (2010), discussed in an article by Hayward, Jones, Toran and Kular in Design and Culture (2013), and featured in The White Review (No. 2). It was re-exhibited in the group show ‘Politique Fiction’ at la Cité du design, Saint-Étienne, France (2013).

Events:
TitleLocationDatesType
I Cling to VirtueVictoria and Albert MuseumSept 18 - Oct 10, 2010Museum/exhibition
Subjects: Creative Arts and Design > W100 Fine Art
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies
Creative Arts and Design > W800 Imaginative Writing
Creative Arts and Design > W900 Others in Creative Arts and Design
School or Centre: School of Design
Date Deposited: 18 Nov 2011 10:41
Last Modified: 28 Nov 2019 15:24
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/667
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