Art and sonic mining in the archives: methods for investigating the wartime history of Birmingham School of Art
- Submitting institution
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Birmingham City University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 32Z_OP_D2001
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1080/0046760X.2017.1420244
- Title of journal
- History of Education
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 225-240
- Volume
- 47
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 0046-760X
- Open access status
- Compliant
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2018
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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2
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This interdisciplinary research challenges historians of education to think about history through the medium of sound and a creative intertextual approach informed by artistic practice. In opening the field of education history to interdisciplinary and creative approaches, the research demonstrates how active engagement with concepts of authenticity, imagery and the imaginary in artistic practice could benefit historical practices more broadly. It also examines the potential, limitations and benefits for contemporary artistic practice of sonic excavation as a creative method of research, engagement and dissemination.
There is limited literature on the history of artistic engagements with archives, the majority of publications focus on the artists and critical theorists rather than archivists and literature. This chapter, however, explores what can be learnt from reflecting on artists’ practice with art archives from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using an artistic investigation into the history of Birmingham School of Art during the Great War as a case-study, the researcher contextualised the creative approaches of artists to archives in relation to 1) the current investigations of the archival imaginary and affect in archival science, 2) the recent emergence of a field of sensory history and 3) the growing debates on the relationships between history and neuroscience. This critical positioning in relation to the literature across multiple fields informed the researcher’s analysis of insights arising from on-site observations and interviews. Rigour was ensured through the triangulation of data and interpretation of these methods, and through testing initial findings through presentation at ICHORA7 (international conference on the history of records and archives, Amsterdam, 2015).
Findings were presented at the joint History of Education Society/Australian & New Zealand History of Education Society international conference (2016). The journal article was subject to double-blind peer review and was re-published as ‘Sight, Sound and Text’ in the <History of Education> (2019).
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -