Bodies: Art, Architecture & Archaeology

Bodies: Art, Architecture & Archaeology was an interdisciplinary research event featuring presentations and practical workshops, convened by Dr. Victoria Sharples and Dr. Rebecca Howard of the New Materialist Research Group (NMRG). The event explored the ontology of ‘bodies’ through the intersecting fields of visual art, architecture, and archaeology, bringing together practice-based and theoretical perspectives to examine how material bodies – human and non-human, present and absent – are constructed, represented, and understood across time, space, and subject. Convened at University of Derby, the event featured contributions from Professor Cordelia Warr (on the visual culture of stigmata in late medieval and Renaissance Italy), Dr. Lenore Thompson (on the non-destructive material analysis of Roman bronze casts via X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry), and Dr. Xristina Penna (who led a participatory workshop exploring bodily-spatial traces, in response to Morgan Meyer’s article Placing and Tracing Absence (2012). In addition, NMRG co-leads Sharples & Howard co-facilitated a clay workshop, inviting participants to construct a series of speculative bodies through sensorial encounters. The project supported knowledge exchange between researchers, practitioners, students, and public audiences, continuing NMRG’s commitment to interdisciplinary research through curated programming and collaborative activities. Convenors: Dr. Victoria Sharples & Dr. Rebecca Howard. Speakers: Professor Cordelia Warr & Dr. Lenore Thompson Workshop Facilitators: Dr. Xristina Penna, Dr. Victoria Sharples & Dr. Rebecca Howard. Funded by the AHE Research Grant. Photographs: Orisunayo Akinniran & Carla Collinson