Material Reflections

Date & Time:

4th December, 16:00

Location:

C284, 2nd Floor Curzon B, Birmingham City Unversity, 4 Curzon Street, Birmingham B4 7BD

Information:

As part of the Materialities research theme, in this session, Iain Taylor will outline Material Reflections – an ongoing collection of images and written reflections on the subject of personally significant artefacts, and what they mean to those who own them. Taking place as part of the BCMCR’s Materialities theme, Material Reflections brings these personal stories together as a resource for thinking through the breadth and plurality if ways in which meaning is negotiated between people and things.

Following this, a number of current participants in the project will show images of their chosen artefacts and read from their own Material Reflections, followed by an open discussion of how a consideration of such relationships between people and often seemingly mundane objects might be seen as useful as part of scholarship and research exploring media, culture, and society.

The session will feature Material Reflections from:

John Wigley, who is an Associate Professor in Fine Art based in Birmingham School of Art. As an artist, his work consists of sculptures and videos that, through balance, juxtaposition and comic pathos, explore time and the suspended moment.

Hilary Weston-Jones, who is a Lecturer in Professional and Academic Development in the Birmingham School of Media, where she teaches on Television Production Management, Health and Safety, Copyright, Ethics and Employability.

Tony Cordell is a Research Development Support Officer working across a range of disciplines and research fields at Birmingham City University. Prior to working in Higher Education, he spent several decades working in local government, and as a trade union activist.

Chris Mapp – a bass playing improviser and PhD student at the Birmingham Royal Conservatoire, whose practice and research focusses on the use of electronics in improvised music.

Prof. Nicholas Gebhardt, who is a Professor of Jazz and Popular Music Studies, and the current director of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research

Event attendees are invited to think about artefacts or objects which are personally meaningful to them, to reflect upon why, and to share these reflections as part of the open discussion. All contributions to the discussion are invited to develop and submit reflections for inclusion as part of the Material Reflections project (full details available here).

Dr Iain Taylor is a lecturer in Music Industries in the Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University, and an editor and designer of Riffs – a journal for experimental writing on popular music. His research is concerned with the changing material meanings of popular-cultural artefacts in the face of digitalisation. He currently leads on the Materialities research theme in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research.

As part of the Materialities research theme, in this session, Iain Taylor will outline Material Reflections – an ongoing collection of images and written reflections on the subject of personally significant artefacts, and what they mean to those who own them. Taking place as part of the BCMCR’s Materialities theme, Material Reflections brings these personal stories together as a resource for thinking through the breadth and plurality if ways in which meaning is negotiated between people and things.

Following this, a number of current participants in the project will show images of their chosen artefacts and read from their own Material Reflections, followed by an open discussion of how a consideration of such relationships between people and often seemingly mundane objects might be seen as useful as part of scholarship and research exploring media, culture, and society.

The session will feature Material Reflections from:

John Wigley, who is an Associate Professor in Fine Art based in Birmingham School of Art. As an artist, his work consists of sculptures and videos that, through balance, juxtaposition and comic pathos, explore time and the suspended moment.

Hilary Weston-Jones, who is a Lecturer in Professional and Academic Development in the Birmingham School of Media, where she teaches on Television Production Management, Health and Safety, Copyright, Ethics and Employability.

Tony Cordell is a Research Development Support Officer working across a range of disciplines and research fields at Birmingham City University. Prior to working in Higher Education, he spent several decades working in local government, and as a trade union activist.

Chris Mapp – a bass playing improviser and PhD student at the Birmingham Royal Conservatoire, whose practice and research focusses on the use of electronics in improvised music. 

Prof. Nicholas Gebhardt, who is a Professor of Jazz and Popular Music Studies, and the current director of the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research

Event attendees are invited to think about artefacts or objects which are personally meaningful to them, to reflect upon why, and to share these reflections as part of the open discussion. All contributions to the discussion are invited to develop and submit reflections for inclusion as part of the Material Reflections project (full details available here).

Dr Iain Taylor is a lecturer in Music Industries in the Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University, and an editor and designer of Riffs – a journal for experimental writing on popular music. His research is concerned with the changing material meanings of popular-cultural artefacts in the face of digitalisation. He currently leads on the Materialities research theme in the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research.