Retail theatre: art students celebrate Heal’s at 200

Students from the UCL Slade School of Fine Art took up residence in the windows of Heal's flagship store in February to create a unique piece of retail theatre. Sir Ambrose Heal, founder of the iconic furniture store, had a keen interest in fine art and attended classes at the UCL Slade School of Fine Art. Heal's has been at the forefront of modern British design for 200 years and worked with UCL as part of its bicentenary celebrations from 1'7 February. The inspirational design project saw interactive art installations being created day and night by 18 Slade students in Heal's 27-metre showcase window on Tottenham Court Road. The short film below features some of the students at work: Nina Rodin produced a multi-layered abstract forest of trees painting on the glass of the windows in a continual marathon seven-day session Jayne Wilton created the installation 'Catching Breath' in which 200 breaths were caught as copper plate etchings, acid washed and displayed as a large-scale collage Julia Vogl created the installation ?200 Units For 200 Years? comprising 200 small wooden shapes and tessellating decals based on archive Heal's prints John Aiken, Director of the UCL Slade School of Fine Art, said: ?I think increasingly students are becoming very conscious that they have to look outside the institution and engage with the wider public. We thought it would be interesting to transport the activity of the Slade into Heal's for a week to open the celebration for the 200th anniversary to encompass all the activity that is happening at the Slade.' Up until the 1980s Heal's held an exhibition space, the Mansard Gallery, on the fifth floor of the Tottenham Court Road store which was opened in 1919 by Ambrose Heal.