- About
- Convenors
- Programme 2017-18
- Past events
- Previous Themes
About
- Things: Material Cultures of the Long 18th Century [2011-13]
- Things: Comparing Material Cultures 1500-1900 [2013-14]
- Things that Matter [2014-15]
- Things – (Re)constructing the Material World [2015-16]
- Embodied Things: Histories of Cognition, Practices, & Theories [2016-17]
Imaginative Things: Curious Objects 1400-2000 [20017-18]
Following a highly successful year in which the Things seminars explored objects and embodiment, during 2017-18 we further our investigation into the connection between material culture and the mind. We explore how objects affect cognition not just in virtue of their functional characteristics or their more obvious ties to human practices, but also through their ability to generate awe, curiosity, whimsy, and drama due to their construction and materials as well as their symbolic significance.
Imaginative Things examines of objects which may at first appear merely ornamental and fanciful, but which can in fact trigger forms of divergent and creative thinking, as well as a diverse range of emotions that lead to original insights. Things such as these influence cognitive processes via the action of visual and aesthetic stimuli, as well as through the way they engage physically with space and exert agency upon the body.
We renew our commitment to a nuanced interdisciplinary approach and the desire to bridge the gap between academic researchers with practitioners. Furthermore, this year we dedicate at least one session per term to a ‘workshop’ style seminar, where the discussion of a topic is followed by a ‘making session’. Our aim is to integrate academic investigation with a hands-on appreciation of materials and practices complementing a merely theoretical appreciation of creative processes. Our opening session on Wednesday 11th October constitutes a first example of this new exciting format. We will explore the practice and art of paper marbling with independent artist Hayrettin Kozanoglu and literary scholar Dr Mary Newbould. Future workshops include topics such as leatherwork and taxidermy. Turning the audience into active participants will provide a valuable opportunity to gain different perspectives on materials and practices, fostering a direct engagement which takes into account the emotional as well as intellectual responses objects trigger through sight, sound, touch, and smell.
Imaginative Things will be run in collaboration with Dr Marta Ajmar at the V&A Research Institute, consolidating a successful partnership which began during the last academic year. Together we will maintain the traditional configuration of Things in Cambridge, while holding one session in Lent and Easter terms at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. This will grant us privileged access to a multitude of objects from the museum’s collection. Our discussions will be complemented and enriched through viewing as well as handling original artefacts. These sessions will thus provide the audience with an extensive, multifaceted, and multi-sensorial understanding of how studying the whimsical side of material culture opens the way to a deeper understanding of objects. Looking into the histories of materials, as well as our mental, emotional, and physical engagement with them, and the cognitive processes involved in creating, interacting, remembering will reveal the power of these Imaginative Things both today and in the past.
Administrative assistance: gradfac@crassh.cam.ac.uk
Convenors
Convenors
Abigail Gomulkiewicz (PhD Candidate-Faculty of History)
Laia Portet-i-Codina (PhD Candidate-Faculty of History)
Annie Thwaite (PhD Candidate-Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
Valerio Zanetti (PhD Candidate- Faculty History)
Previous Convenors
Stephanie Azzarello (PhD Candidate-Department of History of Art) [2015-17]
Heidi Carlson (PhD Candidate, Faculty of History) [2015-17]
Irene Galandra Cooper (PhD Candidate, Faculty of History) [2015-16]
Sophie Pitman (Faculty of History) [2014-16]
Katherine Tycz, (Department of Italian [2014-16]
Michelle Wallis (Department of History and Philosophy of Science) [2012-16]
Margaret Carlyle (SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept of History and Philosophy of Science) [2014-15]
Katie Reinhart (Department of History of Art) [2014-15]
Lesley Steinitz (Faculty of History) [2013-16]
Michael Ashby (Faculty of History) [2012-14]
Dr José Ramón Marcaida (Department of History and Philosophy of Science) [2013-14]
Dr Brian Murray (CRASSH) [2013-14]
Kathryn Schoefert (Department of History and Philosophy of Science)
Sally Woodcock (Department of History)
Susannah Brooke (Faculty of History) [2011-13]
Molly Dorkin (Department of History of Art) [2011-13]
Simon Layton (Faculty of History) [2011-13]
Eoin Phillips (Department of History and Philosophy of Science) [2011-13]
Hank Johnson (Department of History of Art)
Lucy Razzall (Faculty of English)
Jonathan Yarker (Department of History of Art) [2011-13]
Founders of the group in 2011-12
Katy Barrett, Co-Secretary (Curator of Art Collections, Science Museum)
Sophie Waring, Co-Secretary (Curator of Chemistry, Science Museum) [2011-14]
Adrian Leonard Treasurer, (Affiliate Research Student, Winton Centre for Financial History) [2011-12]
Faculty Advisors
Dr Victoria Avery (Keeper of Applied Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum)
Dr Marta Ajmar (Deputy Director of V&A Research Institute (VARI))
Dr Abigail Brundin (Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, Cambridge)
Dr Katy Barrett (Curator of Art Collections, Science Museum)
Dr Spike Bucklow (Hamilton-Kerr Institute)
Dr Melissa Calaresu (Faculty of History, Cambridge)
Dr Craig Cessford (Dept of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge)
Professor Mary Laven (Faculty of History, Cambridge)
Dr Justin Rivest (Faculty of History, Cambridge)
Professor Ulinka Rublack (Faculty of History, Cambridge)
Professor Simon Schaffer (Dept of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge)
Dr Jason Scott-Warren (Director of the Centre for Material Texts, Faculty of English, Cambridge)
Dr Emma Spary (Faculty of History, Cambridge)
Professor Nick Thomas (Historical Anthropology, and Director of the Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology, Cambridge)
Dr Sophie Waring (Curator of Chemistry, Science Museum)
(Previous) Faculty Advisors
Professor Maxine Berg (Department of History, University of Warwick)
Dr Richard Dunn (Curator of the History of Navigation, National Maritime Museum)
Dr Catherine Eagleton (Curator of Modern Money, British Museum)
Professor Ludmilla Jordanova (History, University of Durham)
Dr Larry Klein (Faculty of History)
Dr Kim Sloan (Francis Finlay Curator of the Enlightenment Galleries and Curator of British Watercolours and Drawings before 1880, British Museum)
Dr Chris Wingfield (Curator for Archaeology, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology)
Programme 2017-18
| Things Material Cultures |
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Paper Marbling 11 Oct 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Buildng Hayrettin Kozanoglu (Artist), Mary Newbould (Cambridge) – Things |
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Leather 25 Oct 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Thomas Rusbridge (Birmingham), Philip Warner (National Leather Collection) – Things |
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Feathers 8 Nov 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Buildng Stefan Hanß (Cambridge), Jose Ramon Marcaida (Cambridge) – Things |
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Precious Stones 22 Nov 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Buildng Tom Blaen (Exeter), Silvia Weidenbach (V&A Gilbert Collection Resident/ Artist) – Things |
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Silk 24 Jan 2018 3:00pm - 4:30pm, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road London, SW7 2RL Time TBA Zara Anishanslin (Delaware), Lesley Miller (Victoria and Albert Museum) – Advance booking is required. Limited places – Things |
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Uncanny Objects 7 Feb 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Caroline van Eck (Cambridge), Emily Fitzell (Independent Artist,Cambridge)-Things |
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Hallucinogenic Smells 21 Feb 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Cecilia Bembibre (UCL), Mark Jenner (York) – Things |
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CANCELLED: Eating Contests 7 Mar 2018 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Eric Rath (Michigan) – Things |
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Living Theatre 2 May 2018 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Teresa Grant (Warwick), Mervyn Millar (Independent Artist/Puppetry Director & Designer) – Things |
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Colours and Texture 16 May 2018 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Judith Clark (UAL), Regina Lee Blaszczyk (Leeds) – Things |
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Objects of Knowledge 30 May 2018 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Neil Kenny (Oxford), Edwin Rose (Cambridge) – Things |
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Re-examining the Renaissance Object 13 Jun 2018 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Jane Partner (Cambridge), Irene Galandra Cooper (CRASSH, Cambridge) – Things |
Past events
| Things Material Cultures |
|---|
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Artefacts 11 Oct 2011 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Professor Simon Schaffer (HPS, Cambridge) and Professor Nick Thomas (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge) |
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Botany 25 Oct 2011 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Dr Kim Sloan (British Museum) and Dr Charlie Jarvis (Natural History Museum) |
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Telescope 8 Nov 2011 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Dr Richard Dunn (National Maritime Museum) and Dr Alexi Baker (HPS, Cambridge) |
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Money 22 Nov 2011 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Dr Catherine Eagleton (British Museum) and Dr Martin Allen (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) |
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Fashion 24 Jan 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH Prof John Styles (University of Hertfordshire) and Amy Miller (National Maritime Museum) |
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Advertising 7 Feb 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH Dr Philippa Hubbard (Adam Matthew Digital) and Jenny Basford (University of York) |
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Porcelain 21 Feb 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH Dame Rosalind Savill (Wallace Collection) and Dr Anne Gerritsen (University of Warwick) |
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Artist’s Things 6 Mar 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH Dr Katie Scott (Courtauld Institute of Art) and Dr Hannah Williams (University of Oxford) |
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Food 1 May 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Dr Melissa Calaresu (University of Cambridge) and Dr Emma Spary (University of Cambridge) |
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Decorative Textiles 15 May 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Dr Mary Brooks (York Museums Trust) and Dr Tara Hamling (University of Birmingham) |
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The Ship 29 May 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Dr James Davey, Dr John McAleer and Dr Quintin Colville (all National Maritime Museum) |
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The Body 12 Jun 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Dr Sam Alberti (Royal College of Surgeons) and Faramerz Dabhoiwala (Exeter College, Oxford). |
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We Need to Talk about ‘Things’: Concluding Colloquium 27 Sep 2012 - 28 Sep 2012 All day, CRASSH |
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Thinking Things 9 Oct 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Abstracts available: Jonathan Lamb (Vanderbilt University) and Elizabeth Eger (King's College London) |
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Worshipping Things 23 Oct 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Mary Laven (University of Cambridge) and Maia Nuku (University of Cambridge) |
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Stilling Things 6 Nov 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Hanneke Grootenboer (Oxford) and Joser Ramón Marcaida Lopez (Cambridge) |
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Curing Things 20 Nov 2012 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Simon Chaplin (Wellcome Library) and Christelle Rabier (London School of Economics) |
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Altered Things 22 Jan 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Dr Luisa Calè (Birkbeck) and Dr Adam Smyth (Birkbeck) |
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Model Things 5 Feb 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Prof Simon Schaffer (University of Cambridge) and Dr Anna Maerker (Kings College London) |
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Re-materialising Things 19 Feb 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Jane Wildgoose (Kingston University and Keeper of The Wildgoose Memorial Library) and Dr Mary Brooks (Durham University) |
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Royal Things 5 Mar 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Dr Cordula Van Wyhe (University of York) and Desmond Shawe-Taylor (Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures) |
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Printed Things 30 Apr 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground Floor Dr Sean Roberts (University of Southern California) and Dr Elizabeth Upper (UL Munby Fellow) |
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Paper, Making, Things 14 May 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground Floor Dr Elaine Leong (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin) and Dr Helen Smith (University of York) |
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Handling Things 28 May 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground Floor Dr Melanie Vandenbrouck (National Maritime Museum), Felicity Powell (Artist), and Ben Carpenter (University of Wolverhampton) |
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Painted Things 11 Jun 2013 12:30pm - 2:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground Floor Dr Matthew Hunter (McGill University) and Professor Mark Hallett (Paul Mellon Centre). Part of the Things: Early Modern Material Cultures Seminar serie |
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Reconstructing Things 24 Oct 2013 1:30pm - 3:30pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Ulinka Rublack (Cambridge) and Spike Bucklow (Cambridge) at Things NB * This session will be on Thursday at 1.30pm |
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Housing Things: Soane and Watts Gallery 6 Nov 2013 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Tim Knox (Fitzwilliam Museum) and Nick Tromans (Watts Gallery) at Things |
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Carved Things, Carved Identities: Africa 20 Nov 2013 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Sally-Ann Ashton (Cambridge) and Jean Michel Massing (Cambridge) at Things |
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Artefacts: Oceania and Museum of AA 4 Dec 2013 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1, Ground floor Nick Thomas (Cambridge) and Anita Herle (Cambridge) at Things |
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Inventories of Things 15 Jan 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Jason Scott-Warren (Cambridge), Nancy Cox (Wolverhampton) at Things |
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Polite Things (to Talk About): Conversation Pieces 29 Jan 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG2, Ground floor Lawrence Klein (Cambridge), Kate Retford (Birkbeck) at Things |
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Romantic Things 12 Feb 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH, Seminar room S1, First floor* Sarah Ann Robin (Lancaster), Sally Holloway ( Royal Holloway, UL) at Things |
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Domestic Things 26 Feb 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, NB: Lecture Block Room 5, next to Lady Mitchell Hall (Note change of venue) Tara Hamling (Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham), Catherine Richardson (Kent) at Things |
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Reading Things 12 Mar 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH, Seminar room SG1 * (NB different room today) Jim Secord (Cambridge), Kristina Lundblad (Lund) at Things |
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Photographic Things 23 Apr 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG1 Annamaria Motrescu-Mayes, (Cambridge), Elizabeth Edwards (De Montfort, Leicester) at Things |
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Thinking with Things, 1500-1940 25 Apr 2014 9:00am - 6:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG2 Online Registration is closed. |
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Things: Cambridge Graduate Workshop 1 May 2014 1:00pm - 7:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG1 & SG2 |
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Gendered Things 7 May 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG1 Maya Corry and Victoria Mills (Cambridge) at Things |
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Bodily Things 21 May 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG1 Anna Maerker (London), Margaret Carlyle (Cambridge) at Things |
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Potent Things 4 Jun 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Seminar room SG1 Elizabeth Haines (London), Juliette Kristensen (London), Matthew Paskins (UCL) at Things |
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Reading Institutional and Domestic Things 8 Oct 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Jane Hamlett (Royal Holloway), Alastair Owens (Queen Mary) at Things |
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Household Things 22 Oct 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Julia Poole and Craig Cessford (Cambridge) at Things |
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Explosive Things 5 Nov 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Simon Werrett (UCL), Haileigh Robertson (York) at Things |
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Collected Things 19 Nov 2014 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Chris Wingfield (Cambridge), Leah Clark (Open University) at Things |
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Printing Things 3 Dec 2014 12:15pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Adam Smyth (Oxford), Nicholas Smith and Colin Clarkson (Cambridge) at Things |
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Devotional Things 14 Jan 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Maya Corry (Cambridge) Christian Kühner (Freiburg) -Things |
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Anonymous Things 28 Jan 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Sara Pennell (Independent scholar), Roisin Inglesby (Victoria & Albert Museum ) -Things |
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Drinking Things 11 Feb 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Angela McShane (Royal College Art), Nigel Jeffries (London Archaeology ) -Things |
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Postcolonial Things 25 Feb 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Robbie Richardson (Kent ) -Things |
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Moving Things 11 Mar 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Lisa Jardine (UCL), Evelyn Welch (KCL) -Things |
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Gifted Things 22 Apr 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. Timothy Wilson (Oxford), Sarah Haggarty (Cambridge) ~ Things |
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Containing Things 6 May 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. Anne Secord (Cambridge), Lucy Razzall (Cambridge) ~ Things |
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Reproduced Things 20 May 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. Helen King (Open University), Michelle O’Malley (Sussex) ~ Things |
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Sexy Things 3 Jun 2015 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. Will Fisher (New York), Jen Evans (Hertfordshire) ~ Things |
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Matter and Materiality in the Early Modern World 12 Jun 2015 9:30am - 6:00pm, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building. Conference ~Things |
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Fragments 14 Oct 2015 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Ben Outhwaite (Cambridge)- Things |
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Conservation 28 Oct 2015 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Penny Bendall (Ceramic Conservator), Spike Bucklow (Cambridge)- Things |
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Jane Austen 18 Nov 2015 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building *NB Different room* Hilary Davidson (Independent Scholar), Kathryn Sutherland (Oxford) – Things |
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Taste 25 Nov 2015 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Emma Spary (Cambridge), Iona McCleery (Leeds)- Things |
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Alcohol 20 Jan 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Richard Stone (Bristol), Deborah Toner (Leicester)- Things |
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Architecture 3 Feb 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Donal Cooper (Cambridge), François Penz (Cambridge) -Things |
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Interiors 17 Feb 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Antony Buxton (Oxford), Ulrich Leben (Waddesdon Manor)- Things |
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Religion 2 Mar 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Joanne Sear and Deborah Howard (Cambridge)-Things |
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Paint 27 Apr 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Christine Slottved Kimbriel, Jose Ramon Marcaida (Cambridge)- Things |
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Art and Science 11 May 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Stella Panayotova, Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb (Cambridge)- Things |
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Slaves 25 May 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building James Poskett (Cambridge), Stefan Hanß (Berlin)- Things |
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Bronze 8 Jun 2016 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Victoria Avery (Cambridge), Andrew Lacey (Artist and Independent Scholar)- Things |
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Encounters. 5 Oct 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building (NB Different date) Marta Ajmar (V&A Museum), Roger Kneebone (London), Fleur Oakes (Independent artist)- at Things |
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Armour 26 Oct 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Fitzwilliam Museum today Victoria Bartels (Cambridge) – at Things |
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Passageways 9 Nov 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Jacqueline Nicholls (Independent Artist), Daniel Jütte (CRASSH, NYU) – at Things |
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Knowledge 23 Nov 2016 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Michael Wheeler (Stirling), Gunther Rolf Kress MBE (UCL) -at Things |
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Collecting 25 Jan 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Sean Silver (Michigan), Ruth Scurr (Cambridge) -at Things |
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Curiosities 8 Feb 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Site visit to UL Visit to UL, Jill Whitelock (UL) -at Things |
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Dress 22 Feb 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar room SG1, Alison Richard Building Rebecca Unsworth (QMUL/V&A), Elizabeth Currie (Central Saints Martins) -at Things |
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Death 15 Mar 2017 12:00pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building (NB Different date) Emily Rose (Harvard), John Robb (Cambridge) -at Things |
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Food 3 May 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building David Gentilcore (Leicester), Richard Fitch (Historic Royal Palaces) at Things |
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Porcelain 17 May 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Fitzwilliam Museum Site Visit Fitzwilliam site visit with Helen Ritchie (Dept of Applied Arts) at Things |
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Hands 31 May 2017 12:30pm - 2:00pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building James Daybell (Plymouth) at Things |
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Curiosity and Cognition: Embodied Things 1400-1900 16 Jun 2017 9:30am - 6:30pm, Seminar Room SG1, Alison Richard Building Embodied Things: Histories of Cognition, Practices, & Theories. |
Previous Themes
2016-17 Embodied Things: Histories of Cognition, Practices, & Theories
We would like to propose an overarching theme of ‘embodiment’ in connection with material culture as a framing device for the Things seminars in 2016-17. The aim of this innovative approach, which is at the cutting-edge of current scholarship, is to further investigate human understanding of the world vis-à-vis objects. These seminars will examine a wide range of embodied practices, focusing on the historical and theoretical underpinnings of this larger theme.
The point of departure focuses on the significance of embodiment in all processes of cognition and learning, moving beyond an obstructive divide between ‘mind’ and ‘hand’ – between ‘intellectual’ and ‘manual’ knowledge. In particular, we will probe the interaction of objects in relationship to the body and explore issues regarding sensorial experiences. This new approach will allow us to probe the connection between humans and objects in the wider understanding of culture. Discussions will focus on diverse topics including the making of objects and the skills required, artisanal epistemology, and the languages of embodied knowledge from 1400-1900.
We seek to break down the divide between the Humanities and Sciences, and this theme will bring together speakers from diverse disciplinary backgrounds within academia and beyond, such as museum curators, conservators, artists, performers, medical experts and scientists. The seminars will engage with topics from Art History, Musicology, History, Archaeology, Anthropology, History and Philosophy of Science, Medicine, Psychology, and Biology amongst others, in order to foster discussion and the development of ideas within and between each discipline; for instance, we have invited Victoria Bartels to speak about the embodiment of the use of armour in the Renaissance, for a site visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum.
In 2016-17, we intend to collaborate with Marta Ajmar (Victoria & Albert Museum Research Institute) who will be a visiting scholar in Cambridge, and Roger Kneebone (Imperial College) to convene the seminars. Together, we will keep the traditional Things format with a two-speaker minimum, but alternate each ‘conventional’ seminar with a new style of sessions, including on-site visits, performance-based seminars, and roundtable-style presentations and discussions. The traditional format will continue monthly, with the new sessions complementing them on alternate weeks.
Building on the success of the traditional Things discussion-based seminar, next year’s sessions will also include more site visits and performative aspects to increase audience engagement. Visits may include the Fitzwilliam Museum to see manuscripts in the Founder’s Library in conjunction with a presentation on-site by speakers to explore historical human interaction with manuscripts. Other site visits could include an object session at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to view fan capes. To incorporate a performative aspect, some sessions would include speakers demonstrating the embodied practices discussed in their presentations. For instance, we will invite Victoria Bartels (University of Cambridge) on Renaissance armour, Professor James Daybell (Plymouth University) on gloves, and Professor John Rink (University of Cambridge) on musical performance. These demonstrations combined with comparative papers will provide the audience with a comprehensive examination of how studying material culture through the lens of embodiment facilitates a deeper understanding of objects and their use, and of humanity’s historical interactions with ‘things’.
2015-16 Things – (Re)constructing the Material World
‘Things’ is now a firmly established part of CRASSH and the interdisciplinary community of Cambridge, having been founded in 2011. In 2015-16, we are focusing on the theme of construction and reconstruction in response to an exciting turn in material culture studies, where scholars have been thinking more about production and collaborating with craftspeople and museum professionals to develop a deeper understanding how objects were made, as well as used and consumed. We want to stretch the definition of ‘reconstruction’ even further, to explore how scholars are bridging gaps in the archive, crossing disciplinary borders, and collaborating with practitioners outside of academia in order to ‘reconstruct’ ideas, spaces, and ‘things’ from the past.
Many of our speakers will be exploring how objects were made and crafted and how knowledge of construction can help us to understand more about how things were used and valued in the early modern world. Some of these speakers will be reconstructing these processes step-by-step in laboratories, workshops, and performance spaces, and we look forward to learning from their practical expertise and experiments.
Conservators and curators have a different approach to ‘reconstruction,’ and we hope to hear more about how they repair damaged objects and imaginatively bring their collections to life through artistic collaboration and interpretative installations.
Some of our speakers will be performing less literal kinds of ‘reconstruction’. We are looking forward to learning how scholars have filled in gaps in their archival sources in innovative ways – employing interdisciplinary methodologies, new approaches to biography and historical fiction, the history of emotions, literary reading, visual analysis, and thinking with ‘things’ to reconstruct the material world.
While our speakers come from a diverse range of backgrounds – as makers, academics, and museum professionals – they all share a deep interest in objects and place ‘things’ at the heart of their work.
2014-15 Things that Matter
In the 2014-2015 academic year, we are pushing the already popular series in new and innovative directions. Considering the “material turn” in scholarship, this year’s series will emphasise the importance of materiality in object study, and we have thus entitled the next year’s seminar: Things that Matter, 1400-1900. This play-on-words emphasizes the need to focus scholarship on the material composition of an object in addition to the object’s relevance, appearance, and use. A deeper awareness of the matter will allow speakers to emphasize how the economic, cultural, and physical attributes of certain materials and their meanings contributed to understanding the value and connotations of objects in their original contexts.
2013-14 Things: Comparing Material Cultures 1500-1900
With the dawning of modernity came the age of ‘stuff.’ Public production, collection, display and consumption of objects grew in influence, popularity, and scale. The form, function, and use of objects, ranging from scientific and musical instruments to weaponry and furnishings were influenced by distinct and changing features of the period. Knowledge was not divided into strict disciplines. In fact, practice across what we now see as academic boundaries was essential to material creation. This seminar series uses an approach based on objects to encourage us to consider the unity of ideas of this period, to emphasise the lived human experience of technology and art, and the global dimension of material culture. It does this by inviting pairs of speakers, often from different institutional backgrounds, to speak to a particular kind of ‘thing’ or a theme that unites disparate ‘things’. Previous ‘Things’ seminars have concentrated on the early modern period generally and the long eighteenth century in particular; this year we have taken the step into the nineteenth century, the era that brought us the mass production of ‘things’. Our aim continues to be to look at the interdisciplinary thinking through which material culture was conceived, and to consider the question of what a ‘thing’ is, with the ultimate goal of gaining new perspectives on the period 1500-1900 through its artefacts.
