Nature Needs Its Vultures?

This symposium explored different approaches to contemporary ceramics practice, to accompany Paul Scott’s exhibition 'Confected, Borrowed and Blue', an Installation at the Holburne (1 November 2014 – 18 January 2015).

Brownsword was invited to present his on-going artistic mediation of Stoke- on -Trent, and how the recent effects of globalisation have impacted upon its heritage industries. Since the late 1990s Brownsword’s practice has explored socio-political narratives concerning the legacies of the cities industrial ruination upon community and place. It was structured partly as a reflective examination Brownsword's earlier practice and frames his work, 'National Treasure' that developed out of Topographies of the Obsolete, an artistic research project which has engaged a group of international artists to explore Stoke’s post-industrial landscape.

Other speakers included: Keynote speaker Dr Paul Scott, Professor Stephen Dixon, Weinachtsfrieden: Ceramics and Political Narrative; Dr Linda Sandino, Politics, Crockery and the V&A; Carol McNicoll, The Politics of Pots; Dr Neil Brownsword, Nature Needs its Vultures? The symposium was convened by Dr Jo Dahn and Prof Moira Vincentelli.

Abstract:
Nature Needs its Vultures?
Past policies of outsourcing labour to the Far East, corporate mismanagement and failure to accommodate rapid shifts in the global market place have resulted in the closure and demolition of key historic sites of ceramic production and high unemployment. To indicate the extent of this decline, in 1948 around 79,000 were employed in the North Staffordshire ceramics industry, today there remains just over 6000. The regions loss is not only consigned to economics but has cut deep into the long-established social bonds of an industrial community. Those who once held esteemed positions in the ceramics industry are left feeling useless, as they are unable to ply their unique inter-generational skilled practices to other kinds of work. A fractured connection between past, present and future now exists, where a sense of belonging, identity and pride has been gradually eroded.

For over a decade Neil Brownsword’s artistic practice has remained a potent form of recording this human transience and historical change within the region. His exploration of post-industrial landscape as a raw material has renegotiated North Staffordshire’s associated socio-economic histories and production infrastructure through a variety of perspectives and practices. Remnants and traces of human labour embedded within ceramic archaeology and factory discard are frequently referenced and appropriated, to raise awareness of the rapid decline of a traditional industry and its patrimony of skills. Brownsword’s re-activation of redundant factory sites through international artistic research projects have recently been important contributions to the cultural regeneration of the city. This presentation will discuss the ethical implications of working with such ‘loaded’ non-art sites and elucidate Brownsword’s ongoing investigation of place, and the displacement of its heritage industry.