"The five rules of cool are originality, innovation, authenticity, a sense of style and being unique. Goldsmiths College is a leading cool brand that not only is cool in itself, but helps to shape the future of cool. With a really unique, strong and desirable reputation, the achievements of the College and its graduates speak for itself." - Stephen Cheliotis, Superbrands Brand Liaison Director.
The College is almost painfully trendy at the moment. In a recent edition of the UK version of The Apprentice the task was to sell art. One of the groups was frustrated by their inability to translate their corporate language into something attractive to the artists. Bitterly a member who looked decidedly Oxbridge mused: "So what if I didn't go to Goldsmiths fu**ing College!"
But based on my experiences in Spring Review Week, where PhD students from across the College come together to present the status of their research, Goldsmiths is a fascinating place that seems to attract extremely innovative and interdisciplinary thinkers. Now it is entirely possible that they all arrived there by a similar route to my own, by clumsy coincidence, but that might also be how it has maintained its reputation for cool. There is nothing so uncool as something or someone who can't stop acting as if they are cool. Now all I've got to hope is that the coolness doesn't rub off before I graduate in two years. There is also nothing so uncool as someone or something that used to be cool but still keeps pretending.
