ESC Students Take Over Towner Eastbourne

Creative students from East Sussex College’s Eastbourne campus visited the Towner in Eastbourne (6 November) to showcase their stunning work ahead of the Turner Prize 2023.

Towner Eastbourne serves as the venue for the prestigious Turner Prize 2023, a global pinnacle in recognising contemporary art. Renowned as one of the foremost awards in the visual arts worldwide, the Turner Prize is dedicated to fostering public discourse on emerging trends in contemporary British art.

Creative students enjoyed a guided tour of the Towner, where they had the opportunity to admire the remarkable creations of featured artists in the exhibition - Jesse Darling, Barbara Walker, Rory Pilgrim, and Ghislaine Leung. The unveiling of the Turner Prize winner is scheduled for December 5, 2023.

Prior to their visit to the Towner, students designed and constructed their very own personal manifesto for Eastbourne in the form of a placard. This was a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate their creative values in the Towner alongside such a prestigious exhibition, the Turner Prize.

Talent Accelerator hosted a creative careers talk in the Towner cinema - a chance for students to get a glimpse of where they can take their careers in the industry. They also had the opportunity to hear from Eastbourne Alive’s Sarah Dance ahead of their Instagram student takeover of their account.

Danylo Tsaplin and Indigo Zingel, Art & Design Foundation students, gave the College an insight into their artwork and how they found their experience at the Towner with Eastbourne Alive and the Turner Prize 2023.

Speaking on this opportunity, Danylo said, “I’m very excited to see the galleries! I was really interested in that so I’m happy that I’m here. My work is inspired by the statement ‘Get Involved’ because I think every conflict and misunderstanding has been because of a lack of information. If everybody gets well informed, and does their research, there will be less misunderstandings and conflict. I’ve really enjoyed all of this to be honest. It’s really different from what I’ve seen in Ukraine, so I’m happy with the course and what has happened.”

Asked about her excitement about being involved in this project with the Towner, Turner Prize and Eastbourne Alive, Indigo said, “It’s been very exciting to be honest! I love being a member of this community and just like being involved in this stuff, visiting this place, and having fun! My work was inspired by road signs if that makes sense. I like how it’s 3D and is different from the default flat placard. I worked in screen printing to create aspects as well, which was quite an interesting feature."

Matt Kemp, Head of Curriculum for Creative Industries at ESC Eastbourne, said, “We are working on a number of projects with Towner, Eastbourne Alive and the Turner Prize. This is a really exciting time for the town and for the students and staff at the College.

“Art and Design, Music and Media students have been involved with a range of activities as part of the Turner Prize coming to Eastbourne. Art and Design students visited the exhibition today, took part in workshops and planned an intervention which was really exciting. Media students are going to be broadcasting from the exhibition and interviewing those involved with Towner, Eastbourne Alive and the Turner Prize.”

If you’d like to find out more about ESC’s Creative courses, please click here.