[Record] [Create]: Oral History in Art, Craft and Design
2010 Oral History Society Annual Conference In association with the V&A
Friday 2 - Saturday 3 July 2010
10.00 – 17.30
Sackler Centre
Oral history has become a significant methodology for understanding the contexts, objects, and meanings of art and design. It has also been a catalyst for creative work. This international conference will bring together the global community of those working with oral history in the diverse field of the arts. This groundbreaking two-day conference will feature presentations from creative practitioners, academics, archivists, oral historians, community arts projects as well as museum professionals. The focus will be on three key themes: History, Practice, and Interpretation. Keynote speakers include the artists David Toop and Michael McMillan.
History: The contribution of oral history to the documentation and preservation of creative practices; the creation of creative identities through oral history narratives; the interconnections between the individual practitioner and their wider cultural context; the narratives of creativity; the construction of alternative histories; memories of lost practices.
Practice: Creative practice using oral history and memory work; designers as mediators in oral history projects/works; ethical considerations in using individual memories for art/design work; the use of images as memory prompts; arts-based community oral history projects; oral history as visual narrative.
Interpretation: Oral history as producer of meaning; oral history and testimony in the museum and gallery; narrative research in the arts and oral history; oral history and arts education; the problem of oral history as biography; the border between orality, aurality, and visuality.
A full programme for the conference is available here.
All the abstracts for the conference presentations are available here.
CONFERENCE VENUE
Opened in autumn 2008, the V&A Sackler Centre is a dedicated space for arts education and gives airy, light-filled spaces that house state-of-the-art facilities. The space has been designed for school visits, adult courses and special educational/social events. It has been carefully researched to accommodate a wide range of artistic activities while still retaining a modern, minimalist feel.
Within the Sackler Centre on the ground floor, there is an artist’s studio and a digital with computers and laptops with the latest design programs. A central staircase leads up to the first floor where there are two soundproof seminar rooms, ideal for discussions and meetings. The Hochhauser Auditorium is a beautiful lecture hall with green leather chairs, large screen, sprung floors, lighting facilities, performance space and views onto the courtyard. It’s a versatile space, which can be used to host dance and theatre as well as conferences and films.
For more information on the Sackler Centre visit: this link.
The conference was run in association with
CCW Graduate School, University of the Arts London
National Life Stories at The British Library Sound Archive
The University of the West of England, Bristol