ICID Students Complete Arts Internship at Loughborough University and Curate Their First UK Gallery Exhibition
In summer 2026, nine students from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) took part in a five-week arts internship at Loughborough University’s School of Design and Creative Arts in the United Kingdom. Led by Professor Ming Turner and supported by Taiwan’s Ministry of Education through its “學海築夢” overseas internship programme, the group comprised three students from the Institute of Creative Industries Design (ICID) and six from the Master Program on Techno Art.
Centred on the theme “Ecologies,” the internship explored the intersections of creativity, design, nature and people, extending these enquiries to materials, culture and the environment. Through fieldwork in the British countryside, students collected natural objects, created artworks using unfired earth and constructed a “world of hills.” They also explored fabric as a carrier of memory and responded to their surroundings through creative writing and sound recording. These explorations culminated in five series of works spanning multiple media.
The resulting exhibition, Unbounded — Coexistence, was open to the public at MPND Gallery in Loughborough on 18–19 August. Jointly organised by MPND Gallery, Loughborough University and NCKU, it marked the students’ first exhibition in a UK gallery. The opening evening welcomed members of the local arts community, students and faculty. One of the most popular attractions was an interactive activity inspired by the Taiwanese prize game chuo chuo le, in which visitors poke through paper-covered compartments to reveal small surprises. For the activity, students painted stones collected from a farm with Taiwanese motifs and offered them as gifts, introducing visitors to Taiwanese culture through play.
From fieldwork and art-making to exhibition curation, students applied their skills across media to curatorial practice and workshop design. Collaboration with UK students and faculty also strengthened their intercultural communication skills, broadened their international arts perspectives and helped them build new connections. After the exhibition, the painted stones remained with visitors in Loughborough. What the students brought back to Taiwan was a way of working: observing, making, engaging in dialogue and presenting their work, starting from scratch in an unfamiliar environment. How this approach develops in their future practice remains something to look forward to.
