Studio Brief 2 - The Land Travelling Exhibition - Initial Research

General Research

The festival aimed to highlight British design and art
Marked the Centenary of the Great Exhibition in 1851
Newly elected Labor government encouraged the idea and suggested it would be ' a tonic to the nation'
The emblem for the festival was 'Britannia' by Abram Gaines
The typeface called 'Festival' by Phillip Boydell was commissioned for the event
The exhibition would include the whole country by having a Land and Sea travelling exhibition which would visit various cities across the country, with the main event in London
King George VI opened the event in a speech outside St Pauls cathedral naming it as 'a visible sign of national achievement and confidence'
The Royal Festival Hall was built especially for the exhibition and is the only structure to survive.

Leeds Exhibition

Roundhay Park and Temple Newsham were considered as sites but Woodhouse Moor was chosen
It was opened by The Princess Royal on the 23rd June 1951
It included a funfair, exhibitions and army demonstrations
Roundhay Park had a firework display and parachute jumping from a balloon
Kirkstall Abbey had outdoor plays and a ballet
British Music was played at the town hall
The shops had a competition where 766 prizes were to be won
It was not designed to be a replica of the London Exhibition instead there was an emphasis on Industry and Production and the skill of the country
It covered an area of 35000 square feet and was the largest transportable exhibition ever built with 5000 exhibits
Searchlights were directed upwards to create a red glow visible for miles

Parts of the Exhibition

- Invention, Discovery and Design - which highlighted how science and industrial design go together in order to create everyday objects
- People at Home - aimed to show how furnishings could enrich people lives
- People at Play - this included sports, toys,hobbies and leisure and fashion wear
- People at Work - designed to highlight the importance of industry and technology
- People Travel - Explored air,rail,road and sea travel