Artist Workshop Opportunity
Reconfiguring Ruins: Materialities, Processes and Mediations
Monday 12th & Tuesday 13th January 2015 Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), London
Travel Bursaries available
Deadline: Tuesday 16th December 2014, 10am
Reconfiguring Ruins brings together the School of Advanced Study, University of London, the Open University, Newcastle University and Sheffield University, The NewBridge Project in Newcastle and the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) in London.
We invite artists to participate in a workshop as part of Reconfiguring Ruins: Materialities, Processes and Mediations. This opportunity is for visual artists and filmmakers whose practice is concerned with the theme of ruins, or those who have an ambition to develop work that explores this theme.
The workshop will include a series of talks, presentations and critical discussions, as well as two site visits to urban ruins, chosen for the contrast between their location and the different cultures that surround them.
The workshops will investigate how ruins are re-configured across time, space and media. The focus of the workshops and our wider research and practice will be on the following questions:
• Is the lens through which we tend to see and encounter ruins Euro-centric? If so, how can different geographies contribute to a richer understanding of the other cultures around and the alternative natures of ruins?
• Can the skills and approaches from different disciplines contribute to better understand the presence and the temporality of ruins? If so, what channels are commensurate with developing such understanding?
This workshop is part of a wider project (see below for details), which includes a further workshop taking place in Newcastle upon Tyne at The Newbridge Project in June 2015 and the commission of a new artistic work exploring the themes discussed, which will be exhibited at the University of London, Senate House,,and the NewBridge Project Space. Whilst this will not be limited to those attending the workshops, it is a valuable opportunity to develop ideas towards a proposal. A call for proposals will be launched in Spring 2015.
How to Apply
The workshop will take place at the Museum of London Archaeology, Mortimer Wheeler House, 46 Eagle Wharf Rd, London, N1 7ED on Monday 12th January, 12-6pm and Tuesday 13th January 9:30am-5pm. There are two travel bursaries of £100 available for artists based outside of London to attend.
To apply please send a CV, up to 3 images of (or a link to) recent work, a statement outlining why you wish to attend the workshop and how you think it will benefit and expand your practice (Maximum 1 Page A4) and if you wish to apply for a travel bursary.
Please send the following to admin@thenewbridgeproject.com Deadline: Tuesday 16th December, 10am
More information on Reconfiguring Ruins: Materialities, Processes and Mediations:
Funded by an AHRC ‘Care for the Future’ Developmental Award, Reconfiguring Ruins brings together academics from the School of Advanced Study, University of London, the Open University, Newcastle University and Sheffield University to work across disciplines, geographies and media. Our project partners are the New Bridge Project (NBP) in Newcastle and the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) in London.
Our project aims to critically reflect on the contemporary explosion of interest in ruins across the arts and humanities by re-connecting the theoretical and methodological metaphors which draw on ruins and ruination (e.g. ‘excavation’, ‘archaeology’, ‘palimpsest’) with the materiality of the ruin; the processes by which ruins emerge, change, and are sustained; and the different kinds of actors that engage with ruins.
The aesthetic of ruins privileged in the romantic concept of Ruinenlust (illustrated by, among others, Tate Britain’s ‘Ruin Lust’ exhibition, March-May 2014) captures a particular Western gaze on ruins as a concept, site and process. Our cross-disciplinary and cross-period approach questions the meaningfulness of ruins from other perspectives, and asks whether the imagination of ruins can be a generative and pre-figurative means of engaging with future change as well as thinking about interactions with the past. Conversations at workshops in London (12-13 January 2015) and Newcastle (4-5 June 2015) between academics, artists and practicing archaeologists, among others, will form the basis for a range of critical and creative work.
More information on Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA):
MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) have an experienced and innovative archaeology and built heritage practice. They have been providing independent, professional heritage advice and services for over 40 years across the UK and internationally on schemes both large and small. Their commercial services are designed to help their development, infrastructure and construction sector clients to meet planning process requirements swiftly and expertly, with the certainty and value they need.
As a charitable company MOLA’s aim is to inspire people to be curious about their heritage. They have award- winning community engagement and education programmes, which are founded on partnership and participation. The research conducted as part of the planning and development process takes place alongside their own academic research strategy and they set out to share the knowledge and information generated with the widest audience in ways which strengthen communities and create a sense of place.
Reconfiguring Ruins is supported by an AHRC ‘Care for the Future’ Developmental Award.
