Arts Assemble Student Works Showcase - Diverse Assessment
This is Not a Test...
Thinking Beyond Traditional Assessment
Summer Exhibition
What's All This About?
We are all here to learn, but our learning is different in so many ways. When it comes to being assessed, marked, and finally graded, the diversity of what we learnt, how we learnt it, and who we are as learners, can all too often feel overlooked by traditional systems of marking...
This Is Not a Test invites us to rethink how we show what we know. Through work made by students at the University, the exhibition will challenge conventional understandings of what academic assessment should look like. This show, curated by the Arts Assemble team, will broaden the conversation around diverse assessment. In turn, it will offer alternative perspectives on how different forms of knowledge give rise to distinct modes of learning across subjects, each privileging different strengths, and ultimately resisting uniform evaluation.
What is Arts Assemble?
Arts Assemble is an annual exhibition programme co-curated by students and staff. It aims to build students’ confidence and skills beyond academia, while giving them a voice to champion the Arts and Humanities. Each year, the summer exhibition shapes a creative space for students and staff to reflect on how we both gain from and shape our academic experience.
Now in its second year, this summer‘s exhibition theme—“Diverse Assessment”—aims to generate discussion around how students experience academic assessment and how it might be done differently to meet the different learning strengths, methods, and outcomes of Warwick’s diverse student body.
🎨 Submission Deadline: 1st of May 2026
📅 Exhibition Dates: 8th–12th of June 2026
📍 Location: Faculty of Arts Building, University of Warwick, CV4 7EQ
🥂 Launch Reception: 8th of June 2026 (drinks & snacks provided!)
Call for Submissions
We invite you to interpret and respond to the exhibition’s theme in any way you like. You can make a new work for the show or submit a work you've already made! The deadline for the first callout is the 1st of May. If you’d like inspiration, here are a few examples linked to our subthemes:
- Diverse Learners & Experience— We all experience academia differently, shaping how we approach assessment. You might submit a painting, drawing, photograph, or other creative work reflecting identity and emotional responses to exams or tests.
- Diverse Knowledge & Learning Methods—Understanding how we learn is central to assessment, yet often overlooked. A collage or multimedia work—perhaps incorporating notes, drafts, or academic text—could explore how ideas are built overtime, or reflect your learning process from first encounter to final submission. A short film or sound work might also capture alternative ways of learning, such as auditory approaches.
- Diverse Ways of Showing Knowledge— Not everyone expresses knowledge best through essays or exams. A poem or installation could offer insight into your perspective on university life beyond traditional academic forms.
Remember: These are just suggestions—we welcome any work that relates to the theme. Please include a short reflection on your piece to support the curation of the exhibition. We are happy to receive submissions of work you've already made—it doesn't need to be new work!
If you submit physical works (e.g. painting boards, sculptures, prints, etc.) that you do not need to be printed, please specify the work's general dimensions in the work description section. We'll get in touch with you regarding collecting and storing your works.
Need any help? Get in touch with us with any questions or for any guidance: Eve.Whitcomb@warwick.ac.uk or Eliot.Edmonds@warwick.ac.uk