Free week-long nostalgic display documenting design and lifestyles of the last 40 years opens at the University
People can take a trip down memory lane with the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) next week through an exhibition charting old newspapers, retro packaging and forgotten Polytechnic artefacts.
Office Ephemera is a 40-year archive that takes people back to the days when public information posters were politically incorrect, Dixons was a popular high street brand and Lancashire Polytechnic ashtrays were a coffee table must around campus.
It is the work of three design lecturers from the University who have combined artefacts from UCLan’s library with their own personal items to present a visual nostalgic nod to how times have changes.
"Through this exhibition, we can see how the high street has transformed, how our consumer habits have evolved and how public attitudes have changed."
Curator Andy Bainbridge said: “It’s really an exhibition of things that people tend to throw away, such as bags and packaging, but when you look back on them you realise their value in capturing that moment in time. Through this exhibition, we can see how the high street has transformed, how our consumer habits have evolved and how public attitudes have changed.”
Other exhibits include tourist information leaflets from the 1970s, design students’ work from Lancashire Polytechnic and national newspapers dating back 30 years.
Andy added: “Most of the work was saved for design students to use for reference, the Google of the time if you will. I’m going to update the exhibition’s content every day so it’s an ever-changing display and very much worth a visit.”
The free exhibition will run in UCLan’s PR1 Gallery in Victoria Building from the 6 – 12 September. For more information visit the event’s Eventbrite link and follow #PR1Gallery on Twitter.
