All posts in: Material Histories

Continue Reading

Event: Holiday collage with Material Histories Group | 10 December 2025 3.30-5pm at Grand Parade, M2

Dear colleagues Please do consider attending our holiday collage event on 10 December, which will be held in M2 in Grand Parade, from 3.30 – 5.00pm. Light festive fare will be served, there will be seasonally-appropriate music (but nothing to ruin your Whamaggedon score), and we will spend a couple hours merrily collaging. Please let us know, by RSVP to this email address if you wish to attend, and if you have any special dietary needs, by Friday 5 December. Please also note that this meeting does, alas, partially clash with the Grand Parade Open Meeting, but you would be welcome to start with us, then pop out to Sallis Benney, and then return. All best wishes, Tamar for the Material Histories Group –  MHG Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald Dean of the School of Art and Media / Academic Lead for the Brighton Doctoral College

Continue Reading

Event: The School of Art and Media Research and Knowledge Exchange Festival | 10-14 November 2025 – various

Dear Colleagues,   The School of Art and Media (SAM) Research and Knowledge Exchange (R&KE) Festival is taking place next week see the RKE Festival Blog for the schedule. This is an important event in our annual calendar, providing an inclusive opportunity to share our research and knowledge exchange activities with colleagues and students, and to enhance our creative, collaborative and supportive research culture. Through our R&KE activities, we work in partnership with the community, industry and third sector organisations to make a difference to the economy, society, and culture, benefiting communities at a local and international level.   There are a rich array of activities running throughout the week including sessions delivered by the Research Excellence Groups: Sonic and Visual Cultures led by Emilia Taliban, Caleb Madden, Shara Rambarran, Material Histories, presenters Vanessa Marr and Sue Breakell, Space and Place hosted by Mark Wells and Stuart Hedley, Communication and Creative Ecologies hosted by Jules […]

Continue Reading

Event: On Reflection new mirrored artworks by Cathy Lomax | Exhibition 22 September – 15 October 2025 at Grand Parade, Atrium Gallery, Seminar 3 October 2025 12-1 at Grand Parade, G4

On Reflection is an exhibition of archival material and film clips curated by Proffessor Tamar Jeffers McDonald  accompanied by new works from artist and academic Cathy Lomax. These are works that Cathy Lomax has created while spending time in the School of Art of Media as a Visiting Research Fellow sponsored by the Centre for Design History. The exhibition focuses on the themes of mirrors and mirroring, film and beauty. The ‘Mirrors’ issue (50)of the art zine Arty* will be launched for the exhibition. A seminar  Introducing ‘On Reflection’: Mirrors, Film and Beauty will take place 3 October 2025  12.00-1-00, Grand Parade G4, no need to RSVP. * Arty has tracked the subjects that its creator Cathy Lomax is preoccupied by. In its 40+ issues to date Arty’s eclectic content has put fame, romance, the Deep South, white, Rome, architecture, red, dresses and Venus under the spotlight.  Made up of […]

Continue Reading MH

Event: Conference Material Histories Group: Objects and Objectives | 15 to 16 May 2025 at Grand Parade

The School’s Material Histories research group is proud to share with you details of our first conference, Material Histories: Objects and Objectives, which runs at Grand Parade on 15 and 16 May. In keeping with the group’s focus on both making and writing as modes of research, we have a mixture of paper presentations and participatory workshops, and all are welcome. Registration is £50 for waged/£20 for unwaged, and includes refreshments, lunches, the first evening reception and all workshop materials. Information on how to register, plus the full and overview programmes can be found at our blog: https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/materialhistories/research-activities/ We very much look forward to seeing you at the conference. All best wishes, Tamar for the Material Histories Group Professor Tamar Jeffers McDonald Dean of the School of Art and Media / Academic Lead for the Brighton Doctoral College

Continue Reading MH

Call for Papers: For Material Histories Objects and Objectives Conference | 15-16 May 2025 at University of Brighton – deadline closes 21 March 2025

The University of Brighton’s Material History Group (MHG) welcomes participants and presenters to a conference on the topic of Objects and Objectives. The MHG is located within the University’s School of Art and Media, which has a long and esteemed history of colleagues conducting practice-as-research and research-informed teaching. The MHG builds on these foundations and is particularly interested in research that begins with and is conducted via objects and archives, whether by making, analysing, curating or teaching with them. We recognise that both the questions and answers that objects provoke as historical artifacts can be useful in furthering knowledge; as Peter N. Miller has noted, There is more depth to the use of objects as evidence than we might think, and a more sophisticated inventory of approaches and arguments on which to draw than we might imagine. (History and Its Objects, 2017) Of what tactics and methodologies would this ‘sophisticated […]

Continue Reading cl

Event: Material Histories REG seminar Make Up as Magic – Cathy Lomax | 3-5 pm 12 March 2025 at Grand Parade, G4

A Visiting Research Fellow kindly sponsored by the Centre of Design History  and working in the School of Art and Media, Dr Lomax will be discussing some of her current research in a presentation entitled “Makeup as Magic”; she will consider the analogies between makeup and magic in makeup advertising and promotion, study makeup in film via some key moments in clips, and then go on to talk about her own artwork. As usual with the MHG, there will be the change to participate in some making, and refreshments. Please RSVP to REG-Material-Histories@brighton.ac.uk by 10 March to secure your place. Everyone is very welcome. Please RSVP to REG-Material-Histories@brighton.ac.uk   by 10 March to secure your place. Everyone is very welcome. Images provided by Cathy Lomax    

Continue Reading ma image

Event: Research Seminar Material Histories Group | 19 February 2025 5-7pm at Grand Parade, M2

The Material Histories Group invites all SAM colleagues to a research seminar on 19 February (5-7, M2, Grand Parade). We will be hearing from Reem Acason, Vix Koch and Devon McCulloch about their MA Fine Art work and participating in some making activities. Refreshments will be served, and all are very welcome to join in this relaxed and informative seminar. Please RSVP by 14 Feb.