Utopia: In Search of the Dream
- Submitting institution
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University of Newcastle upon Tyne
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 249021-199790-1285
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
- BBC4
- Month
- August
- Year
- 2017
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- Yes
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- Yes
- Additional information
- Utopia: In Search of the Dream is a series of three 60-minute documentaries written and presented by Prof Richard Clay. First broadcast in August 2017 on BBC4, now available on Amazon Prime. Utopia is based on Clay’s analysis and synthesis of key utopian writings over the centuries.
Utopia can be seen as a response to Thomas More’s work Utopia (1516). It takes a purposefully broad and imaginative approach, using the contrasting meanings embodied in More’s two spellings: ‘eutopia’, meaning ‘better place’ and ‘utopia’, meaning ‘no place’ - a place that cannot exist. Primarily using modern or contemporary examples, Clay examines a series of issues, including: how utopian visions originate, their intentions as blueprints for fairer worlds, and what social change they really invoke; and, utopia as a state of mind using examples of instances where people have immersed themselves within a perfect moment, of epiphany or transcendence, or through pushing the boundaries of artistic expression.
An aim of Utopia is also to explore the cultural history of ‘eutopia/utopia’ from the perspective of the Digital Humanities, through digital technology and its social implications, showing its complicated cultural and social history and the dangerous prevalence of all-pervasive and theoretically un-grounded visions in the Digital Humanities.
Based initially on Clay’s desk-based research, Utopia is an example of research through the practice of documentary film making. Interviewing, amongst others, artists, architects, poets, playwrights, digital leaders, scientists, musicians, monks, provoked Clay to ask new questions about utopia. As such, interviews constantly shaped the course of future inquiry during the filming process.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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