Archive - Material Culture and Participation (Part 1)

About this event

Archive: Material Culture and Participation is a two-part series examining the potential of archive and the ways in which new heritage and activities are derived from its contemporary relevance.

Katie Waring will present Multicultural Heritage at the Crossroads: Documenting the Chinese Arts Centre’s Residency Programme. In 2021, esea contemporary (previously the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art) carried out a cataloguing project to process archival records relating to Chinese Arts Centre's artist-in-residence programme in the early 2000s, with support of CREATURE at the London Metropolitan University. The Multicultural Art Institutions at the Crossroads project processed documentation created by the organisation and the artists involved in the programme, comprising both physical and born-digital materials. The work was largely carried out during the COVID lockdown when access to the gallery was limited. The talk will look at the history of the organisation’s residency programme and explore the challenges of processing a hybrid collection remotely.

Gina Pierce will discuss Democratising the Textile Archive. Museums and archives are committed to the preservation of our cultural heritage and so are ever seeking new ways to ensure they stay relevant to contemporary demands. Her research proposes that by becoming a resource of creative opportunity they can have a meaningful impact. Through a series of participatory projects, this presentation demonstrates how the contents of our design history institutions can be disseminated, allowing for new interpretation and contributions from outside of academia. These interventions enable the democratisation of the contents of the collection, so the archive is imbued with a contemporary relevance. The participatory projects are undertaken using the Parker Knoll archive in the Special Collections at London Metropolitan University.

Speakers

Gina Pierce is a printed textile designer and has recently completed a practice-based PhD at UCA developing strategies for the democratisation of the textile archive. Past projects undertaken to engage a wider public with the archive include curating Fabric of the City, exhibition and symposium and the Big Blanket. She is a Senior Lecturer at London Metropolitan University.

Katie Waring Katie Waring is the archivist at esea contemporary, the UK’s only non-profit art centre specialising in presenting and platforming artists and art practices that identify with and are informed by East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) cultural backgrounds.

Moderator

Professor Wessie Ling is a Professor of Transcultural Arts and Design at the School of Art, Architecture and design at London Met and the Director of CREATURE.