Archaeology-Heritage-Art Network

This Research Network examines the varied ways in which archaeology, heritage and art converge across a broad range of concepts and practices – from artistic methodologies in fieldwork, to interventions in the museum space to archaeological interpretations which deploy and take inspiration from contemporary art. Whilst the network remains open to diverse topics and research strands, key themes reflect the strengths of cross-disciplinary research across the Institute of Archaeology, in particular the Heritage Studies Section, and in the Slade School of Fine Art.

These include: the use of art to critique archaeology (and vice-versa); shared approaches to fieldwork and place-specificity; the emergence of the photo-essay as a critical tool in archaeology and heritage; the role of art in public archaeology; artists, archaeologists and heritage practitioners as activists; challenging the notion of the ‘contemporary’ and emergent future in art, archaeology and heritage; intersections of conservation and creativity and the importance of art and heritage to wellbeing.

Archaeology and heritage have a long shared history with art, as well as crucial points of tension which help animate their convergence and divergence. Artists have routinely looked to archaeology for inspiration, from painters referencing the spectacular discoveries of Pompeii to the adoption of an ‘archaeological lens’ by contemporary artists keen to approach landscapes, fieldwork or objects in new ways. At the same time, archaeologists and other heritage professionals have made significant use of artistic practice to better understand their field of interest, whether in the form of photography, creative writing, performance, sculpture or simply sketching unearthed material.

In recent years the critical examination of these cross-fertilisations has become a vibrant area of practice and research in its own right. This research network looks to deepen this enquiry, and ask what innovative approaches can be developed that go beyond inspiration, through active engagement and collaboration across these fields. 

Building on this, the long-term aims of the network include:

• Providing intellectual space for the critical analysis of the interrelationship between art, archaeology and heritage.
• Encouraging transdisciplinary research into this area within UCL departments.
• Increasing public engagement with ongoing archaeological and heritage research at the Institute through diverse artistic practices (exhibitions, workshops, public lectures, participatory events)
• Building a network beyond the Institute of Archaeology and the Slade School of Fine Art, of scholars, heritage practitioners, curators, writers, artists and archaeologists already engaged in this field.

With a specific orientation towards critical heritage and contemporary art, this network contributes to a burgeoning sub-field which is inherently interdisciplinary and provides numerous opportunities for outward-facing projects under the auspices of both the Institute of Archaeology and the Slade School of Fine Art. A key ambition here is to open up new and innovative ways of thinking about and researching both the past and future in the present through greater engagement across these disciplines.

Programme: ‘Interdisciplinary Methodologies’

The re-launch of the AHA Research Network included six forums with guest speakers and two in-person visits (London) focusing on key questions across three research threads: FIELDWORK, ARCHIVES, and MEMORY to ask how academics and practitioners can develop genuine interdisciplinary methodologies, connections, tools, frameworks and applications between the fields of contemporary art, archaeology and heritage. AHA Research Network events are open to all students and staff across UCL.

2025:

• 20 May: Leonie Brandner - Artist talk and open conversation: ‘Moonhorns’ (online talk)
• 16 April: Laurent Olivier - Entering the Age of Devastation : Archaeology in the Time of the Anthropocene (online talk)
• 26 March: Antonia Thomas - Art and Archaeology in Orkney: Past, Present and Future (online talk)
• 5 March: Colleen Morgan - Making Worlds with Artists & Archaeologists (in-person talk, Slade Art Research Centre)
• 29 January: David Blandy - ‘Other Worlds’ (online talk by the artist David Blandy)

2024:

• 1 November: Wild Archaeologies: Historical inquiry and assembling the contemporary (workshop and conversation with JR Carpenter (a poet and artist), Ido Govrin (a theorist and artist) and Knut Ebeling (a philosopher of the contemporary)
• 4 July: Summer A. Austin in conversation with filmmaker Maeve Brennan (in-person, UCL IAS)
• 27 June: Tracing The Invisible: Slow Violence and the Right of Return (Inas Halalbi, artist/filmmaker, in-person talk, UCL IAS)
• 8 May: Insertion, intervention or in-disciplinarity? Contemporary art and the display of ancient Egypt (Alice Stevenson, UCL Institute of Archaeology)

2023:

• 2 February: Quantum Ghost Continuum (Libita Sibungu, Artist)
• 24 February: Welsh Coal Tips: A Slippery Heritage (Ben Walkling, Swansea University)
• 29 March: Material Histories and Social Imaginations (Liza Prins, Artist, Researcher and Writer)
• 26 April: Collecting fragments: establishing connections between contemporary and historical practice (Sarah Capel, Artist and PhD researcher)

2022:

• 9 March: Convergent Architectural (Re)presentations: Visual Narrations of Pompeii in Illustrated Travel Books and Silent Films (Aylin Atacan, Visiting Research Fellow, UCL Greek & Latin)
• 6 April: A Field of Possible Finds: interconnected sites in (re)performing (Luce Choules, Artist)
• 11 May: & (How to catch a lobster) (Stephen Sewell, Artist, Filmmaker & Educator)
• 15 June: Exhibiting the Misanthropocene as Method (Dean Sully, UCL Institute of Archaeology)
• 6 July: Maternal Exhumations (Dima Srouji, Jameel Fellow, Victoria & Albert Museum & lead of the MA City Design studio, Royal College of Art in London)
• 5 October: Jagdish Patel -  a socially engaged artist who has spent much of the past decade producing work within working-class communities (Coventry University)
• 21 October: Public Workshop: Feral Heritage + Critical Memoir (Caitlin DeSilvey, Professor of Cultural Geography, University of Exeter)
• 16 November: Radical Surface: Curatorial Methodologies and Epistemic Praxis (Carolina Rito, Coventry University)

Network Co-ordinators

• Ellen Pavey
• Nastassja Simensky
• Beverley Butler

Network Partners

• CCHS
• Heritage Studies Section, UCL Institute of Archaeology
• Slade School of Fine Art
• In Ruins

Other partners are currently being sought. Please get in touch if you would like to join this Research Network.

Further information

• AHA website