Anya Landolt

The End of Counterculture is a year-long publishing and research project that interrogates the contemporary meaning of the word counterculture. Once a familiar term, its meaning was widely understood to apply to alternative and oppositional ways of living and functioning in society. This project asks if the word has any relevancy to individuals and groups currently engaged in opposing the dominant capitalist culture of our times.  

Through a series of interviews, the book and accompanying posters, collect the views of five groups engaged in a variety of non-mainstream activities, including NFT creation, climate activism and countercultural archiving. The interviewees offer conflicting views and opinions on what the concept of counterculture means in the 21^st century.

The project also investigates the relationship between graphic design and consumer culture. It questions the impact of capitalism and considers the future of collectivist activity in the post-pandemic era.

‘Covid has highlighted that schools are more than just a certificate scheme’ Mrs C

In response to the pandemic in 2020, a critical discussion developed around the management of education at a time when all learning had to take place online. When interviewing teachers about their experiences, the role of ‘support’ was discussed as a key purpose of education despite the focus on exams.

Exam Support is a workshop that takes exam papers and turns them into an object of support, in this case, a bookend. Taking inspiration from the architectural surroundings of Coal Drops Yard, this workshop uses conversation and making to engage students around the support they receive at school.

This workshop was run at Store Store, Coal Drops Yard in June 2022.

Supported by the Varley Memorial Award 2021.

Contemplating the relationship between the writer and the designer, and the words that bind them together, this project was a workshop open to both disciplines.

Each participant received the same three words ('with best wishes) in a different typeface, which was the closing line of a received letter. Examining the tone of voice portrayed by the varying letters, each three words soon belonged to a specific person, their descriptions can be found in ‘With Best Wishes’.

In the second task, a reply was constructed. Reflecting on the characters whose letter they had received, the replies responded to the sort of thing that a person would say. These can be found in ‘Dear, To, Hello’.

In the final task, each participant considered how the layout of these words would affect their own letters and using footnotes described their intended design. These poetic instructions can be found in ‘Writer as Designer’.

From designer to writer and writer to designer, the tasks set encouraged the participants to look closely at the form of their words.

This workshop and publication was created for Scrawl, a writing society run by Hattie Morrison on MA Writing.

Print Out was born out of a desire to print.Inspired by the RCA archives of previous students work, we set up a society to encourage printing. Using instagram as a platform to display hidden gems in the archive we began to plan social events with accompanying printed ephemera.

After the pandemic and closure of the student bar there is a great need for social events across the RCA and this year we hosted a club night at Four Quarters in Peckham Rye and a Jazz Night on a barge in Vauxhall.

If you are joining the RCA next year and are interested in taking over the society, please get in touch!