A group of students are petitioning London's Royal College of Art to delay their final degree show due to the coronavirus outbreak, rather than having an online-only version.
The students launched the petition entitled "No to the Virtual Show" following the university's decision to move all courses and annual degree shows to digital platforms.
"An art or design degree without a physical degree show is not an art and design degree," said the petition.
The petition, which has accumulated over 4,000 signatures since it was launched last Friday, argues that the shows provide a vital platforms for students working in non-digital mediums such as sculpture, painting or performance to present their final projects for assessment, as well as bringing them to the attention of the press, galleries and collectors. "Our education is not transferable to online platforms"
The students argue that it is not possible to accurately represent their work on a screen.
"My degree show project is an immersive, room-size video installation with a virtual reality component," one second-year masters student in contemporary art practice told Dezeen.
"The work highly depends on the viewer's physical experience, so it would be impossible to simulate it adequately online. After two years of work, taking on thousands of pounds in loans, and working side jobs around the clock in order to realise my project at the RCA, to say it is a huge disappointment puts th...