Scheduled to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, this one-day symposium wexplored an important but still widely overlooked aspect of the Festival and its legacy: namely, the disproportionately large creative input of those from (mostly) Jewish immigrant families and of former refugees from Nazism – many of them imprisoned behind barbed wire as so-called ‘enemy aliens’ only eleven years earlier.
In so doing, it invited a closer critical scrutiny both of the nature and extent of that input and of the complex issues of postwar cultural renewal, national memory and identity, patriotism and assimilation, both then and in the present – and by extension highlight the creative contributions of more recent immigrants and their descendants to this contemporary British life.
Comprising a lively mixture of illustrated talks, discussions, a concert and an exhibition, the symposium programme aimed at both a general and a specialist audience.
The project was initiated by Monica Bohm-Duchen, founding director of Insiders/Outsiders, an ongoing celebration of the contribution made by refugees from Nazi Europe to British culture, and organised in partnership with St John’s Waterloo. Restored after being bombed during WWII, it became the official church for the Festival of Britain and home to two major paintings by German-Jewish émigré artist Hans Feibusch. The symposium and concert formed part of “Now I make a leaf of voices“, a series of events celebrating St John’s Festival of Britain heritage, which runs between July and December 2026.
The symposium also had the support of Counterpoints Arts, a leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change in the present.
I. Welcome by organisers, including short talk about the history of St John’s Waterloo by Euchar Gravina, Artistic Director of St John’s Waterloo and a message from Monica Bohm-Duchen.
II. Introductory lecture by Dr. Harriet Atkinson (Harriet Atkinson – The University of Brighton), author of The Festival of Britain: A Land and Its People (2012) and essay on ‘Artists, Refugees and the Festival of Britain’ in Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their Contribution to British Visual Culture (Insiders/Outsiders – Lund Humphries). Will also include discussion of small but significant Afro-Caribbean presence at Festival.
III. Lecture on émigré architects and landscape designers associated with the Festival by Alan Powers, author of chapter on architects in the Insiders/Outsiders anthology and co-editor of Festival of Britain (2001/11).
IV. Lecture on the émigré designers by Dr. Anna Nyburg (Dr Anna Nyburg | Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies), author of essay on ‘Émigré Designers’ in Insiders/Outsiders anthology.
V. Lecture on the émigré designers by Dr. Anna Nyburg (Dr Anna Nyburg | Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies), author of essay on ‘Émigré Designers’ in Insiders/Outsiders anthology.
VI. Rivka Isaacson, Professor of Molecular Biophysics, Kings College London, on the relationship of science and the arts during the Festival – particularly the use of x-ray crystallography in the creation of patterns and designs and the role of Austrian-born biochemist Max Perutz.
VII. Q&A with Dr Harriet Atkinson, Alan Powers, Dr Anna Nyburg, Naomi Games and Professor Rivka Isaacson
VIII. Lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen, independent art historian, on the émigré painters and photographers.
IX. Lecture by Sarah MacDougall, Head of Collections and Special Projects, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum (Ben Uri) on the émigré sculptors.
X. Dr. Rachel Dickson, Consultant Editor, Ben Uri Research Unit (buru.org.uk), on the Anglo-Jewish Exhibition – Art Section held at the Ben Uri in 1951.
XI. Q&A with Sarah MacDougall and Dr Rachel Dickson.
XII. Panel Discussion. Robert Winder (author of Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain and trustee of the Migration Museum, London), K. Biswas (cultural critic and commentator), Morwenna Roche (archivist at South Bank Centre) and Dr. Charlotte Grant (editor of Cultures of London: Legacies of Migration). The session will be chaired by Dr. Harriet Atkinson.
