OPINION30 March 2010

TNS and MESH win big!

TNS and MESH Planning took the prizes at the annual RLF fringe event at the conference but surely art is the main winner.

The RLF (Research Liberation Front) event this year was designed to liberate art from research. They set up a gallery of objects taken from the research world to see if they could be counted as art and the overall feelings seemed to be a resounding yes….

Many research companies contributed things such as respondent drawings from groups, videos of research being done online, early stage concepts developed for research and diaries from respondents lives. These were arranged in a gallery space at the Young Vic Theatre and judged both by popular vote and by a professional art critic.

The winner of the popular vote was a piece from TNS showing respondent generated feedback about the Cadbury’s Flake brand and some of these quotes bordered on the saucy! The piece itself was very nicely laid out and had clearly impressed both the client and the assembled crowd.

The art critic chose a piece from MESH which was a book made from recycled questionnaires. Beautifully bound it apparently subverted our understanding of research!!

As ever a fun night out from the RLF and a welcome juxtaposition to the main conference event…..

@RESEARCH LIVE

3 Comments

14 years ago

I find this very interesting, as a qualitative specialist with a background in design. Perhaps we are a bit too focused upon text (as in written words) and should explore the deeper meaning of imagery. Are there any links to see the artworks? Also, I was wondering if the art critics know they were art from the research world or was it mixed in with other pieces? www.subvista.wordpress.com

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14 years ago

All research work, try the rlf web site - not sure if the art work is up www.researchliberationfront.com There will be a video posted to youtube at some point, I will mention in a future blog....

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14 years ago

Steve and Martyn, Video is now online. Check it out here: http://bit.ly/aF6bVe

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