Material Culture: Process and Theory 

19th Jul 2021 10:00am - 22nd Jul 2021 4:00pm 

Venue: part in-person at London College of Fashion/part online

Date: 19-22 July 2021

 

Image credit © Ben Whyman

This workshop will consist of sessions spread across four days, face-to-face and online. It aims to expand the participants’ understanding of collecting and archiving through the analysis of selected garments and a focus on material object handling practices. These experiences will support participants in addressing questions and practices they may encounter as part of their PhD research.

The workshop, hosted by Centre for Fashion Curation, is intended for the growing number of PhD students engaging with archives of historical and contemporary dress, costume for performance and related accessories. Deriving from a range of educational and practice backgrounds, the specialist skills inherent in textile object handling, photographing and storing may not be part of their existing knowledge. Although this course will not generate fully knowledgeable experts in archival techniques, its intended outcome is to provide an introduction to the complexities of historical dress handling and insights into the practice of material culture and museology.

The training will be delivered by eminent academics (from practice-based and theoretical perspectives) at London College of Fashion. Social distancing will be observed in all face-to-face sessions. Online sessions will be recorded where possible for students to review.

Places are limited to 10 students (to ensure social distancing practices). To apply, please email: cffc@arts.ac.uk with a brief descriptor of your PhD project, and why and how this workshop would benefit your research (selection of attendees will be based on this). 

Please note that if for any reason you can't attend the in-person sessions, you can still attend the online parts of the course and access recordings of the rest, so please enquire if this is the case.

 

A series of face-to-face workshops and online lectures

Face-to-face sessions (F2F): London College of Fashion, 20 John Princes Street, London W1G 0BJ

Online sessions (O): Teams meetings

 

Due to ongoing COVID-19 safety precautions, we will not require you to touch objects from the LCF Archive, and in the shoe workshop you will only be required to handle your own objects. In Gesa Werner’s workshop, we will provide you with one object and tissue paper that you will work with on your own. All Face-to-Face (F2F) sessions will be run in a large room to maintain social distancing rules.

 

	Morning	Afternoon
Monday 19 July 2021	10.00 – 11.00 Introduction: Material Culture: process and theory Ben Whyman, Manager, Centre for Fashion Curation (O)	13.00 – 16.00 Gesa Werner, V&A Museum, preventive conservation and mounting: Handling, Packing and Preparing objects for photography (F2F)   Gesa Werner, mounting and display specialist (textiles) at the V&A Museum, will teach you basic object handling and packing techniques, and ways to prepare objects for photography that will be useful for your studies
Tuesday 20 July 2021	No session	13.00 – 15.00 Susanna Cordner, LCF Archivist: Introduction to the LCF Archive and its objects (F2F)   A session with Susanna Cordner, exploring archive objects and a discussion around archives and their uses for research
Wednesday 21 July 2021	No session	13.00 – 16.00 Amy de la Haye (Prof, Dress History and Curatorship, LCF) Telling Stories with Shoes workshop (F2F) Please bring two/three of your own shoes (single, you don’t need the pair) that mean something to you in some way. You will handle your own shoes only – we will not require you to handle other people’s shoes
Thursday 22 July 2021	10.00 – 12.00 Alison Moloney (Research Fellow; Curator, International Programme), Erica de Greef (independent researcher, South Africa) and Wanda Lephoto (The Sartists, South Africa) Decolonising Objects (O)   A discussion exploring an ongoing project of an archive of European clothing in the Museum Africa (Johannesburg) collection and the decolonisation of objects	13.00 – 15.00 Donatella Barbieri (Senior Research Fellow, LCF) and Felicity Colman (TBC) (Professor of Media Arts, Associate Dean of Research, LCF) New Materialism (O)   Observations around new materialism and objects     15.15 – 15.45 Workshop Conclusion and evaluation Ben Whyman (O)