Inspire. Support. Create.
Laura Durward
Professional Development Award
Goldsmiths University
BA Design
2017
Laura Durward received the Professional Development Award for her project Function Unknown. The project employed layered storytelling, wordplay and montage to explore the act of uncovering lost material. Her work aims to bridge the gap between inner and outer worlds in humorous and idiosyncratic ways.
Function Unknown was installed as a museum handling collection in her degree show in which handmade ceramic objects, that were derivatives of an original artefact from the Petrie Museum in London, are activated when moved, paired or discarded. Through these acts and the creation of environments where people and objects have equal status, a new language is created in deciphering lost or hidden stories.
The support she received from Artisa aided her in developing Function Unknown into a museum workshop series entitled Bodies of Knowledge. Held at the Petrie Museum, where her original research first began, she altered and disrupted the institution’s usual means of interpretation through a series of writing and making exercises followed by roundtable discussions. The participants, comprising of artist’s, archaeologists and visitors to the museum, unpacked the Petrie collection in questioning the agency of museums and the bodies that occupy them.
“In preparing for the workshops, I met with the Petrie’s curator and head of engagement. It became apparent that the timing was perfect. They were in the midst of organising a temporary programme in which they were aiming to invite and become “architects of change”, with a specific aim to unlearn and decolonise the museum’s existing narratives.”
Through support from Artisa, other creative practitioners, archaeologists and the staff at the museum, Laura acquired insight and skills that are vital in making that first jump from University to the professional arts world - receiving guidance in working with the public, working with a budget and working with institutions.
www.lauradurward.com
Inspire. Support. Create.
Laura Durward
Professional Development Award
Goldsmiths University
BA Design
2017
Laura Durward received the Professional Development Award for her project Function Unknown. The project employed layered storytelling, wordplay and montage to explore the act of uncovering lost material. Her work aims to bridge the gap between inner and outer worlds in humorous and idiosyncratic ways.
Function Unknown was installed as a museum handling collection in her degree show in which handmade ceramic objects, that were derivatives of an original artefact from the Petrie Museum in London, are activated when moved, paired or discarded. Through these acts and the creation of environments where people and objects have equal status, a new language is created in deciphering lost or hidden stories.
The support she received from Artisa aided her in developing Function Unknown into a museum workshop series entitled Bodies of Knowledge. Held at the Petrie Museum, where her original research first began, she altered and disrupted the institution’s usual means of interpretation through a series of writing and making exercises followed by roundtable discussions. The participants, comprising of artist’s, archaeologists and visitors to the museum, unpacked the Petrie collection in questioning the agency of museums and the bodies that occupy them.
“In preparing for the workshops, I met with the Petrie’s curator and head of engagement. It became apparent that the timing was perfect. They were in the midst of organising a temporary programme in which they were aiming to invite and become “architects of change”, with a specific aim to unlearn and decolonise the museum’s existing narratives.”
Through support from Artisa, other creative practitioners, archaeologists and the staff at the museum, Laura acquired insight and skills that are vital in making that first jump from University to the professional arts world - receiving guidance in working with the public, working with a budget and working with institutions.
www.lauradurward.com