March 2024

Welcome to the March 2024 edition of CAMC Curates, the newsletter for the Centre for Arts, Memory and Communities. CAMC Curates provides monthly updates from our postgraduate and staff researchers about recent news, events and publications. 

RECENT NEWS | RECENT NEWS | RECENT NEWS

Bodleian Library, Oxford: two panoramic views of the interior and a key. Line engraving by D. Loggan after himself. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Dr. Alice Leonard has formed a partnership with the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford for a funded PhD studentship to work on the project, 'Atlantic Stories, Colonial Legacies and the Bodleian Library, 1650-1800'. This project examines the legacies of English transatlantic colonialism as preserved in the collections of the Bodleian Libraries. The doctoral researcher will be investigating the history of the Bodleian collections and the Library’s own institutional history, bringing to light the forms in which the Library has preserved an archive of imperial power.

Plans are underway for Coventry's Early Modern Grammar School Exhibition. Doctoral student Madeleine Bracey and Dr. Alice Leonard have formed a partnership with the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum to curate an exhibition of Coventry's Early Modern Grammar School. This is the topic of Madeleine's PhD research. The School, founded in 1545, was home to an extensive scholastic library. The exhibition will showcase the many, but as yet unexplored, sources which survive from the school, including for the first time a rare medieval manuscript edition of The Book of Mandeville.

Members of CAMC showcased their research at The Classical Association Conference 2024 -- the largest annual event for Classics in the UK, with contributions from Helen Lord, Kirsty Harrod, Adeola Eze, Georgina Home, and Dr. Victoria Leonard.  

Dr. Rachel Matthews travelled to Duke University in North Carolina to participate in the Local Journalism Workshop, which brings together academics, practitioners, and third sector actors to consider the present and future of local journalism. This annual event is supported by social investors the Knight Foundation and brings together people mainly from across the US working in local journalism. Rachel presented on her conceptualisation of local journalism as social infrastructure. The workshop is a collaboration between the Dewitt Wallace Centre for Media and Democracy, Duke University and the Centre for Innovation and Sustainability in Local Media, University of North Carolina.

Gendered Innovation Living Labs (GILL) 2nd Newsletter Released. As the project enters its second year, we've come a long way in promoting our mission for Gender Responsive Smart Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The second project newsletter is now available to read here! GILL is an ongoing partnership with European Network of Living Labs (ENOLL) led by Andree Woodcock and involving efforts across CAMC and Coventry University. 

José Dias presents papers at two international conferences. The first, 10th Annual Conference of the School of Performing Arts of the University of Malta, themed “Subject/Object/Practice/Place: Connecting Creatively Through the Performing Arts” between 20-22 March. Dias presented his paper on his Off-Screen project developed last year, on musicking archive film and reinterpreting collective memory in Coventry. Between 3-6 April, José will be at the 8th Rhythm Changes conference, Jazz Encounters, in Graz. He will be presenting his paper “Silent Film as Dynamic Visual Score for Live Music Improvisation of the Jazz Idiom.” His research investigates the practice of accompanying silent film as a platform for exploring the narrative, evocative and innovative nature of improvised music of the jazz idiom, and observing how it can enable collaboration between artists from different performative artforms, foster audience engagement and promote collective reflection upon our common past and present.

Anthony Luvera discussed his socially engaged research on BBC Radio Nottingham. The interview was broadcast on BBC radio stations across the Midlands. Listen here!

PGR NEWS | PGR NEWS | PGR NEWS

Image caption: PGECR Country House Group conference image and logos.

Sarah Capel presents her research at the PGECR Country House Group conference at Birkbeck University.  Sarah's paper will present a close reading of two of the most significant textile fragments uncovered at the National Trust's Oxburgh Hall in 2020. The paper, illustrated by artwork including embroidery and prints on paper, demonstrates how a practice-based approach can help us understand how surviving fragments can embody memories and stories of their history.

Congratulations to Madeleine Bracey and Adeola Eze who are both headed to University of Virginia's Rare Book School. The Rare Book School provides continuing-education opportunities for students from all disciplines and skill levels to study the history of written, printed, and digital materials with leading scholars and professionals in the field. Madeleine has been awarded  a Directors' Scholarship to attend a week-long course at the Rare Book School. Adeola has been awarded a RBS scholarship by the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia (BSUVA) to attend the course, ‘The Photographic Book since 1843’ by Richard Ovenden. This is a fantastic opportunity for both to participate in an internationally recognised training scheme and to learn from leaders in the field of book history and bibliography.

Adeola Eze brought "The Literary Brain" to Rumble Museum's Explore Your Brain Sixth Form Conference at Cheny School Oxford.  In her workshop "Beyond the Book: Memories' Role in Shaping Literary Worlds," Adeola explored with students how writers create the worlds in their novels by drawing on memories. The workshop emphasized how recollections give the stories life and go beyond the actual pages. Adeola provided students a brief but powerful look at the important part memories play in writing.

Representing the UK at The Venice Biennale. Shaniece Martin has been chosen by the British Council as one of its Venice Fellows 2024 at this years 60th La Biennale di Venezia. This will give Shaniece the opportunity to live in Venice for the month of October and work as an Exhibition Ambassador at the Biennale whilst working on her own creative project inspired by this years Biennale theme 'Foreigners Everywhere'. 

Image caption: Talking Sculpture: Dialects of Making Symposium Thursday 21st March 10am - 4.30pm

PhD Candidate Hannah Honeywill exhibited work alongside Talking Sculpture Making (TSM) group members and participated in the closing panel for Talking Sculpture: Dialects of of Making Symposium at Vessel Gallery hosted by York St. John University. In collaboration with the artist group TSM, the symposium positioned a distinctly community-driven and collaborative practice to extend the overdue conversation positioned by the exhibition in Vessel of the same name. In refusing historical practices which have denied women artists space, the positioning of community building is integral to the ongoing feminist repositioning of abstract sculpture. Talking Sculpture: Dialects of Making supports a national and intergenerational dialogue of abstract sculptors working across the UK today, and holds space for ongoing discussion. This method builds on TSM’s commitment to exhibiting as a space to initiate dialogue. These discussions have been recorded and made accessible through TSM’s website. The symposium will continue this action, recording the conversations held within the panel discussions so to reach a further public audience.

JOIN our dynamic group of scholars and practitioners. Applications now open for a variety of funded PhD studentships. Click here to scroll through exciting CAMC research projects with research opportunities.