Events & Publications
Events
Seminars, talks, workshops and exhibitions exploring interdisciplinary practice between art and archaeology.
Test Pit
Tuesday 17th May, 5.30pm · Lecture Theater, School of Art, Margaret Street, Birmingham City University.
In archaeology, a test-pit is a rapid, rough and ready, investigative dig used to expose the buried remains of structures and activity. The session brought artists and archaeologists together to consider the test-pit as a working method.
Contributors
- Becky Shaw – Artist and course leader, BA Art Practice, Sheffield Hallam University.
- Rob le Frenais – Director of The Arts Catalyst, London.
- Dr Helen Wickstead – Senior academic at Kingston University, archaeologist and artistic collaborator with Janet Hodgson, senior Lecturer B.I.A.D.
Previous Events
Some Time Now – Brian Fay
Solstice Arts Centre, Railway Street, Navan, Co Meath, Ireland. The exhibition was opened by Catherine Marshall, Arts Council Adviser (Touring and Collections).
Art+Archaeology organises a varied programme of activities that sit at the meeting point between artistic and archaeological practice. Residencies, exhibitions, lectures, workshops and events are brought together so that researchers, students and the wider public can engage with material culture from new angles. The aim is to research and enhance the connections between the two disciplines, treating excavation, conservation and studio practice as complementary ways of asking questions about the past.
Events within the programme range from seminars and talks to hands-on workshops and site-based exhibitions. Talks typically draw on current research and practice, while workshops allow participants to work directly with methods drawn from fieldwork, making and interpretation. Exhibitions present work that responds to archaeological settings, collections and landscapes, extending the conversation beyond the lecture room into galleries, gardens, priories and other places with historical resonance.
Collaborative sessions are central to the programme, bringing artists and archaeologists together to consider shared working methods. One recurring format uses the test-pit as its focus: a rapid, rough and ready investigative dig intended to expose buried remains of structures and activity. Such sessions treat the test-pit not merely as a practical technique but as a model for exploratory, low-commitment enquiry that artists can adapt alongside professional excavation practice.
Contributors to these events come from a range of backgrounds, including artists, archaeologists, course leaders and academic researchers based at universities and museums. Alongside the programme, publications gather essays, project notes and documentation of exhibitions and residencies, preserving a record of the ongoing work. Together, the events and publications form an accessible archive, supporting students, practitioners and visitors seeking to understand how archaeology and art can inform one another.
Manual Setting
Earthscapes: Geology + Geography Seminar
Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton. A seminar on geology and geography as artistic and archaeological subjects.
Touchstone
Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum. See also the Exhibitions page.
Stonehenge Riverside: The Ventral Surface
The Oliver Holt Gallery, Sherborne. See also the Exhibitions page.
Work with us
For project enquiries, event listings or information about publications, contact the project coordinators.