QMUL Network: Conversation on Sustaining Craft Practice in the Digital Era
Event Information
About this event
This promises to be a vibrant conversation that will draw on international perspectives to explore contemporary craft practice and economy. Facilitated by feminist craftivist practitioner and researcher Dr Katja May (Goldsmiths), the panel will consider the role of communities of belonging and how craft’s quality of hand-made, intimate connection is maintained across digital, development and diversity divides. Panellists include Professor Nick Bryan-Kinns (QMUL), who will discuss his AHRC funded project, 'Digital platforms for craft' undertaken in collaboration with Hunan Uni, China; Dr Karen Patel (Birmingham City University), who will discuss her AHRC project 'Craft Expertise' or 'Supporting diversity and expertise development in the contemporary craft economy'; craft practitioner Yemi Awosile, who is active in the development of digital craft economies in Africa; and Suzanna Petot, who is a curator, writer and co-organiser of the interdisciplinary project Decorating Dissidence.
This event is organised by QMUL Network, a centre for the creative and cultural economy, directed by Professor Morag Shiach in the School of English and Drama. Network works to facilitate knowledge exchange and collaboration between the creative industries and research interests at QMUL, towards building a resilient, sustainable and socially inclusive sector.
#QMConversations
Visit the Queen Mary Conversations Week website for the full programme of events
Image credit Decorating Dissidence.
Organiser Queen Mary Arts and Culture
Organiser of QMUL Network: Conversation on Sustaining Craft Practice in the Digital Era
In 2020, Arts and Culture at Queen Mary University of London invited UK-based artists to converse with academics from across the university. A dentist spoke to a sculptor. A mathematician to a choreographer. A dramatist to an opera singer.
While an unforeseen pandemic limited human contact for many of us, these artists and academics found ways to talk. They held conversations about climate change, mental health, housework, racism, childcare, justice, wellbeing. They exchanged knowledge. Expertise. Then the artists set to work. The results are original artworks and creative responses that could not have happened without conversations between academics and artists. They remind us of the power of art and the impact of connecting deep thinkers across fields.
The richness of these exchanges provides the inspiration for Queen Mary Conversations Week, which will run from 9 to 16 April 2021. Curated by the Arts and Culture team at QMUL, the events will cover a diverse range of topics from the histories of boxing, to the art of teeth, the future of mobility and the performance of zombies. We welcome you to join us: to push the boundaries of knowledge, to create new collaborations, to trade in talk. To celebrate the art of conversation.
https://conversations.qmul.ac.uk/conversations-week/
#QMConversations
This project was funded through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Higher Education Innovation Fund
