Abstract
This workshop will explore how methods in the arts and humanities can help us to rethink what infrastructure is, what it looks and feels like, and its development and provision, particularly as these are constructed through histories of empire and colonialism in Britain.
Ranging from housing and transport to sewers and energy grids, the workshop understands infrastructure as the everyday materials that enable (or, when they fail, prevent) people from living their lives.
It's aim is to allow participants to "reimagine infrastructure" through knowledge exchange and by using methods from the arts and humanities.
The workshop will connect people working as academic researchers, community organisers, policy makers, and service providers.
The programme includes: a presentation from the UK's first Infrastructure Humanities Group, based in Glasgow; a session with the Portland Inn Project, who use the arts to build community-led infrastructure in Stoke-on-Trent; an "ethno-graphic" workshop led by Kremena Dimitrova, where participants will rethink infrastructure through drawing and arts practices; and a final reflective session featuring panel discussants with different knowledge specialisms.
Registration is available on this page. Participants from all backgrounds are welcome to attend.
If you have questions or would like to discuss beforehand, please get in touch with the convener, Dom Davies.
Programme
- From 12.00: Lunch
- 12.45-13.00: Welcome and Introduction
- 13.00-14.00: Infrastructure Humanities Group
Articulating Infrastructure: Methods and Perspectives
Rhys Williams, Senior Lecturer in English, Glasgow
Henry Ivry, Lecturer in 20th/21st Century Literature, Glasgow
Chair: to be confirmed
- 14.00-14.30: Tea and Coffee
- 14.30-15.30: Portland Inn Project
Planning Long Term: Participatory Governance for Community-Led Change
Rebecca Davies, Co-Director, Portland Inn Project
Anna Francis, Co-Director, Portland Inn Project
Chair: Anubha Sarkar, Lecturer in Global Creative Industries, City
- 15.30-16.00: Tea and Coffee
- 16.00-17.00: Practical Session
Mapping the Politics and Poetics of Infrastructure through Comics
Kremena Dimitrova, PhD Researcher and Lecturer in Visual Culture, Portsmouth
- 17.00-17.30: Refreshments
- 17.30-19.00: Plenary Panel
Reimagining Infrastructure
Alexis Harris, Housing Policy Manage, Greater London Authority
Karis Campion, Lecturer in Race, Ethnicity, and Social Justice, City
Louis Moreno, Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, Goldsmiths
Chair: Dom Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, City
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