Event: Next Material Histories Group – Refacing Books | 21 January 2026 2-4pm at Grand Parade, M2

We very much look forward to seeing you at this and at all our events for 2026.

Refacing Books

As academics, we engage with books on a regular basis: as a completed piece of research undertaken; as a key text that we use for teaching; as something we are reading to inspire our work. But the physicality of those books that we create and engage with often gets forgotten. Applying an a/r/tographical methodology, this workshop invites you to physically reface a book from your own collection, making space for you to reengage with your academic work and wider research from a creative perspective. This will involve physically changing your book – whether through annotations, illustrations, collage or literally deconstructing and reconstructing it. The workshop will occur simultaneously with a discussion about creative research methods, hosted by Ali Williams, whose current PhD research focuses on creative practice and neurodivergence. At the end of the session, we will invite you to loan your refaced book to the Material Histories Group, for a small exhibition held at City Campus.

Please RSVP here:reg-material-histories@brighton.ac.uk   to attend this event, by Weds 14 January.

All best wishes, Tamar

Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald

Dean of the School of Art and Media / Academic Lead for the Brighton Doctoral College