Padd Solutions

The exhibition description says it would explore "the relationship between art and advertising", so what I thought the exhibition would be about was an in-depth look into why past advertisements from BJL were created, the inspiration behind them, the creative process, the idea, the history, and how it is influenced by art.

However, it was not like this. The exhibition is very much for the general public. People who have absolutely no knowledge of advertising. One display included an explanation of what a brief is and how it is tackled, together with some examples of scamps. This would no doubt be interesting for people who aren't in the advertising industry and don't know how an ad is put together, however it was not really something that we could learn anything from.

Some of the displays were quite vague and I couldn't really understand how they linked to advertising, such as an inflatable Earth (where you wrote on an Elastoplast what you wanted to make better about the world and stuck it on the globe) and a wooden stand with teacups on it. It reminded me of a Vis Com student project, and nothing like what I expected for a professional exhibition.

What confuses me most is that despite it being an exhibition which is definitely tailored towards the general public rather than creatives, they intend to hold workshops with creative teams throughout the course of the exhibition which would suggest that they expect advertising students to attend. It seems odd to have a workshop programme in place but then to have an exhibition which is tailored for people who aren't in the industry. You know?

The silver lining though is that we did get to speak to a creative team from BJL who told us of their experiences in the industry. They were busy sat at a table working on some of their briefs. They gave us some advice regarding putting together a book, what creative directors are wanting to see from students and how they find working in industry. We also got to look at some of their work, and the art director's book. It was really informative talking to them, which was probably worth the trip alone. Well, that and this:

All in all, the exhibition was disappointing as we expected it to provide more for students such as ourselves to learn from. The saving grace was speaking to the creative team who were able to fill in so many gaps that were left open by the exhibition itself.

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