The Idea of a University was created by a collaborative research team of students and staff from the Departments of Sociology and History at the University of Warwick.

This mixed-media installation was produced from original archival and interview data in order to map the spatial and historical generation and regeneration of the University of Warwick from the 1960s to the present day. The exhibit comprised still images interweaved with interview and documentary texts; the showing of documentary films; pod-casts from interviews; a social reading space for vistors to engage in the wider theoretical and documentary resources relating to the project, and scheduled and unscheduled discussions and encounters. The diverse materials enabled visitors and participants to explore and interrogate how ideas and ideals about the University have shaped, and continue to shape, the geographical, cultural, political and intellectual landscapes of its border location on the outskirts of Coventry.

The research has been carried out by Cath Lambert, Hannah Lever, Danny Wilding, Laura Moorhouse, Laura Evans (click here for further information on the research team).

The exhibition was curated by members of the research team. The project, entitled Spaces and Stories of Higher Education, was jointly funded by the Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research and the Higher Education Academy’s History Subject Centre.

The Idea of a University was exhibited during June 2010 in the Mead Gallery, University of Warwick, Coventry. The installation formed an artistic collaboration with Fierce!