Totnes and Dartington - Soundart Radio 102.5 FM
About the image: Dartington Train Station 1976. Black and white 35mm film. Dartington College of Arts was one of the most radical arts institutions in Europe. Founded in 1961 as part of the wider Dartington Hall experiment, it grew out of a philosophy that fused modernism, rural regeneration, and progressive education. The college became internationally known for its experimental approach to performance, its rejection of traditional hierarchies, and its insistence that art should be a lived, critical practice rather than a product. By the 1970s and 80s, Dartington had become a magnet for avant‑garde theatre-makers, composers, choreographers, sound artists, and writers. Courses such as Performance Writing, Visual Performance, and Music were deliberately porous — disciplines bled into each other, and students were encouraged to treat the entire estate as a laboratory. Many staff were practising artists with international reput...
