Material City is an Arts Council-funded project based in the city of Bristol that develops dialogue between contemporary art, archaeology and material culture studies. It is a collaboration between Situations - http://www.situations.org.uk - and the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Bristol University - http://www.bris.ac.uk/archanth/

The programme has two current strands:

1) Workshops on Archaeology, Art and Materiality (2006-2007)
The strand is a series of networking events promoting dialogue between archaeologists, artists and curators around the theme of materiality, especially in relation to site-specificity and context. A programme of 'conversations' and workshops between arts, archaeologists and others is being held in conjunction with Arnolfini Gallery, funded by the Arts Council. So far, 3 conversations have taken place: between artist Paul Rooney and archaeologist Dan Hicks, between artist Ergin Cavusoglu and geographer Tim Cresswell, and writer Iain Sinclair on the artist Francis Alÿs. Transcripts of the conversations are published here - http://www.situations.org.uk/research_situation_papers.htm

The themes addressed in these conversations will be explored further at the CHAT 2006 conference in November 2006 at the University of Bristol will also explore intersections between archaeology and art - http://www.bris.ac.uk/archanth/events/chat2006.html


2) Studentship on Art, Archaeology and Urban Renewal (2006-2009)
Secondly, the project is hosting a PhD studentship in The Public Value of Art and Archaeology in the Context of Urban Renewal (from September 2006), funded by the Great Western Research group and industry partners the Bristol Alliance. Taking as its starting point the broader discourse around public art, patronage and the role of artists in urban renewal on the one hand, and debates over the public understanding and public value of heritage and archaeology on the other, this studentship will make use of research methods drawn from contemporary art, archaeology and ethnography to study the changing material and social environment of the Broadmead urban regeneration in central Bristol. Further details: Material City, Bristol

Contact details: Claire Doherty - claire@situations.org.uk, Dan Hicks - Dan.Hicks@bris.ac.uk

These pages are hosted by the MetaMedia Lab at Stanford University - http://metamedia.stanford.edu/

return to MetaMedia projects - http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/projects/metamedia/485

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