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Rise Early, Be Industrious offers a series of colourful stage-like sets that invite investigation and playful interaction, whilst focussing on different ideas about education, with special attention to experimental models, their histories and contexts. Drawing on examples such as the educational remit of the BBC, the modern Spiritualist movement in the early 20th century and World’s Exhibitions, Olivia Plender is interested in the specific ways in which societies imagine knowledge and its transmission.

For the first time, the exhibition shows a series of Plender’s room-sized installations, which include drawings, banners, and videos, as well as newly produced works, focusing on her research into the role of TV for mass education and experimental arts education in the UK. Other works investigate a contested side of participation – a culture of “self-improvement” and the neoliberal claim of “life-long learning”.

Olivia Plender’s exhibition at Arnolfini is the second episode in a series of three exhibitions, in collaboration with Milton Keynes Gallery (20 Apr – 17 Jun) and CCAGlasgow (13 Oct – 15 Dec).