The Townshend Studio
Intro
The Townshend Studio is a creative space for learning, collaboration, experimentation and play. Established at the University of West London in 2024, the studio is inspired by and built upon the musical and artistic legacy of Ealing, with a goal of promoting and encouraging creative practice for all.
- For any enquiries, please contact thetownshendstudio@uwl.ac.uk.
The space
The studio is a collection of instruments used by Pete Townshend, co-founder of The Who and Ealing School of Art (now UWL) alumnus, who described his time at the School as “a revelation”. The collection is comprised of 12 principal synthesisers, plus many other instruments which have been used by Pete throughout his career.
That was the stuff I was trained to do – to think differently, to think outside the box.”
– Pete Townshend
Townshend studied with radical teacher, artist and pioneer of new media, Roy Ascott, who led the ‘Groundcourse’ at Ealing School of Art in the 1960s – a programme that encouraged students to re-think their relationship to their work, audiences and environment, and consider the potential of engaging in “decision-making play” with spectators as active participants in the act of creation.
Townshend’s experience on the graphic design course at Ealing gave him the tools to develop an identity for The Who, too:
I came up with target t-shirts, Union Jack jackets, the arrow over the ‘O’ in the name The Who … it taught me about presentation and the importance of the client (in my case the audience for music).”
Pete Townshend on being a University of West London alumnus & his experience of Ealing Art College
We asked Pete some questions about his time at Ealing Art College and how the experimental and innovative teaching methods helped set him up for a successful career.
The synthesisers
The Townshend Studio is home to some of the most influential instruments in the development of electronic music, making them available for study, play, and the exploration of new musical ideas in the boundary-pushing spirit of Ealing.
Find out more about the synthesisers in the collection, spanning six decades and featuring legendary instruments from Moog, ARP, Roland and more.
The story
Find out more about the unveiling of The Townshend Studio on Thursday 10 October at the University of West London.
Creative cybernetics for the 21st century
The Townshend Studio is designed to unite legacy and contemporary technologies, inspiring people through the forward-looking example of Pete Townshend and his teacher Roy Ascott.
Ascott’s teaching was rooted in cybernetic theory, and relating ideas around feedback, participation and systems of communication and control. In ‘The Construction of Change’, Ascott wrote:
We investigate our world best by seeing first the system or process before evaluating the ‘thing’. Cybernetics is concerned with the behaviour of the environment, its regulation and the structure which reveals the organisation of its parts.”
Pete Townshend has worked closely with the University’s academic and technical staff to design and build a studio which will empower students, artists and researchers to fully explore the cybernetics-inspired vision of Roy Ascott through the connection of hardware, software, people and space.
The Townshend Studio will promote inclusive creative practice with a range of teaching, community and research-based activities. It will seek to explore the potential for creative practice to inform and inspire beyond the arts and into the fields of science, technology, health, humanities and social science. Crucially, it will be an ideas hub for creative connections and collaborations locally, nationally and worldwide.
Links
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Synthesisers at the Townshend Studio
Find out more about the Townshend Studio's synthesiser collection, donated by The Who's Pete Townshend, which includes some of the most influential instruments in the development of electronic music.
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London College of Music
One of the leading music and performing arts institutions in the UK, formed over 130 years ago. Our courses are designed to discover and nurture new talent.
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Music and performance
Explore our innovative music courses at the London College of Music, including performance, composition, music technology and audio production.
