Topographies of the Obsolete is an artistic research project that focuses on the closed Spode Works in Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
The first workshop Resurrecting the Obsolete took place in September 2012 in the Spode Factory, Stoke on Trent, UK organized by Bergen Academy of Art and Design, Norway (KHiB).
KHiB was invited as a Research Fellow Partner Institution by the British Ceramics Biennial 2013 and the first workshop included 33 staff and students from KHiB, The Royal Academy of Art Copenhagen, Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel, Sheffield Hallam Univerisity, University of Nottingham Trent and invited alumni/artists from KHiB. Together we explored the Spode site’s histories, industrial space and infrastructure.
The workshops have uncovered a variety of methods and strategies exploring the complexity of the site from different perspectives and practices particular to each of the artists/students involved. We had a great variation of expressions ranging from the performative intervention based to installation and object based work.
The second of the research residency took place in March 2013 as the artistic research project Topographies of the Obsolete. The third workshop takes place in August 2013.
In September a number of participants from the research project will present their works during the British Ceramics Biennial 2013.
This site will act as a meeting point for participants and others interested in our progress.
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Gwen Heeney Reflections on the Spode Workshop March 2013
Monday, 8 April 2013
"The Site is the Question" Airspace Gallery, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent.
Topographies of the Obsolete receives funding from the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme.
Some additions to the reading list.
Wedgwood and the Wilsons. A. N. Wilson, article in CRAFTS, December issue 2012.
Dust, the archive and Cultural History. Carolyn Steedman.
The Secret Life of Dust, from the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of little things. Hannah Holmes.
Our Mutual Friend. Charles Dickens.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Monday, 1 April 2013
Andrew Brown
- Post-industrial landscapes
- Exploring moments in time, being ‘present’
- Thresholds and spaces betwixt and between
- Retracing steps
- Design direct embodied experience
- Solitary vs. collective
- Making use of what is there
- The particular effectiveness of sound