Re-activating Displaced Heritage

The International Academy of Ceramics (IAC) is the principal organisation representing the interests of ceramists worldwide. Its membership consists primarily of individual makers, supported by writers and critics, museum and gallery curators, and private collectors. For its 46th General Assembly, Brownsword was invited to present at ‘Moving Objects –From Geographic Pasts to Virtual Presence’. It explored contemporary ceramic practices within four key themes – Past; Hybrid Practice; Identity and Influence; and Future, of which Brownsword presented in its ‘Past’ strand, his on-going artistic mediation of Stoke-on-Trent, and how the recent effects of globalisation have impacted upon its heritage industries. The presentation was structured partly as a reflective examination Brownsword’s practice, with particular reference to 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.

‘The three-day programme featured 21 invited speakers and includes acclaimed international ceramicists such as Brendan Tang, Katie Bunnell and Neil Brownsword as well as renowned Irish practitioners including Claire Curneen and Ingrid Murphy’.