In(ter)ventions: object histories outside and inside the museum

Thursday 12 February, The British Museum (Raymond and Beverly Sackler Rooms), 9am-5:30pm

Moving away from the focus on the moment of creation in many object histories, this one-day workshop on the theme of 'in(ter)ventions' will focus attention on how museum objects have been used, changed and re-contextualized over the course of their existence.

Speakers include Journal of the History of Collections editor Dr Arthur MacGregor, as well as researchers and curators discussing a wide variety of objects from the British Museum (and a couple more which aren’t in the museum…). You can view the full programme below. Registration closes at 5pm on 5 February 2015 and space is limited.

To book your place at the workshop, please visit the registration page of our website:

www.objectinterventions.wordpress.com

Tickets cost £11.25, which includes lunch and refreshments. On the day, registration will start at 9am and attendees should bring their ticket with them to the registration desk inside the Sackler Rooms of the British Museum. Attendees with any special dietary or mobility requirements can list these in advance through Eventbrite, and the organisers will do their best to accommodate them. For any further information, please contact

objectinterventionsgmail.com.

Programme:

9.00am Arrive and register

9.30am Opening remarks

9.45am Keynote

Arthur MacGregor, Title TBC

10.30am Session 1

Leah Clark, Open University, "Making Impressions: the Replication and Transformation of Ancient Gems in the Fifteenth-Century"

Victoria Jackson, University of Birmingham, "The Second-Life Histories of Devotional Objects: From Revered Reliquaries to Curated Curios"

Natalie Lawrence, University of Cambridge, "Trade plumes and fallen angels: the museological careers of birds of paradise skins"

11.30am Tea

11.45am Session 2

Miriam Al-Jamil, King's College London, "The Townley Collection"

Mark Carnall, Grant Museum of Zoology, University College London, "Casting Call"

12.30pm Lunch and poster display

1.45pm Session 3

Bridget Millmore, Brighton University, "Of small intrinsic value: an Exploration of the Biographies of Eighteenth-Century Love Tokens Crafted from Copper Coins"

Tom Hockenhull, Coins and Medals, British Museum, "Telling Histories Through Things: Suffragette Defaced Coins and the British Museum"

2.30pm Session 4

Barbara Browning, National Maritime Museum, "What Shall We Do With Our Nicobar Islands Scare-Devil?"

Emma Martin, Asia Collections, National Museums Liverpool, "A Meaningful Mantelpiece: Tibetan Book Covers and Their Repurposing in a Colonial Officer’s Home"

Rachel Burns, University College London, "Saga hwaet ic hatte (say what I am called): Unriddling Anglo-Saxon Objects in the Sir Paul and Lady Ruddock Gallery of the British Museum"

3.30pm Tea

3.45pm Session 5

Dora Thornton, Britain, Europe and Prehistory, British Museum, "The Holy Thorn Reliquary"

Ann Bukantas, National Museums Liverpool, "Artist Interventions in the Walker Art Gallery"

David Francis, Learning, Volunteers and Audiences, British Museum, "Archaeology and Aesthetics: Changing Narratives in British Museum Blockbuster Viking Exhibitions 1980-2013"

4.45pm Discussion and closing remarks

5.30pm Exit and continue the conversation in a pub