Topographies of the Obsolete - Site Reflections

Abstract

Topographies of the Obsolete: Exploring the Site Specific and Associated Histories of Post-Industry Topographies of the Obsolete is an artistic research project initiated by Neil Brownsword and Anne Helen Mydland at Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHiB) in collaboration with partner universities/institutions in Denmark, Germany and the UK. In 2012 the British Ceramics Biennial invited KHiB to develop a site-specific artistic response to the former Spode Factory in Stoke-on-Trent as a key element of their 2013 exhibition programme. The project explores the landscape and associated histories of post-industry, with an initial emphasis on Stoke-on-Trent, a world-renowned ceramics capital that bears evidence of fluctuations in global fortunes. The original Spode Factory, situated in the heart of Stoke-on-Trent, was once a keystone of the city’s industrial heritage, which operated upon its original site for over 230 years. Amongst Spode’s contributions to ceramic history are the perfection of under-glaze blue printing and fine bone china. In 2008 Spode’s Church Street site closed, with most of its production infrastructure and contents left intact. The site and its remnants has been the point of departure for the interdisciplinary artistic research of over 50 participating artists, historians and theoreticians over six residencies. Topographies is a framework, formulating topics and research strands which are treated as questions and approaches that are addressed through artistic practice. By honing in on the particular history and the singularity of this site, Topographies questions what is, and how can ceramic and clay be understood as both material and subject in contemporary art practice. How can we perceive the material (clay/ceramics) to be or constitute a site? Moreover, how do ceramics and clay form and construct our understanding of the site? This publication is the third in a series which documents responses and reflections to the original Spode site from both artists and theorists connected to the project.