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Object Biographies Conference in Helsinki

Jane presenting her paper at the Object Biographies conference.

On 2–3 March our researchers participated in Object Biographies conference, organised by Artefacta, the Finnish Network for Artefact Studies in collaboration with the Finnish Antiquarian Society and Nordic Association of Conservators in Finland at the House of Science and Letters. The two-day conference discussed the varied lives of objects, and how their meanings and interpretations change over time.

Paula Hohti had the honour of chairing several sessions, on collective and forged biographies, on textile biographies, and on costumes and reconstructions. Interesting and thought-provoking papers varied from the presentation of power through civic uniforms, to recreating a medieval luxury textile with 16 volunteers, and to the representation of objects that are later given problematic meanings. Jane-Malcolm Davies gave her paper on knitted caps, called “Knitting virtual tribes together: new chapters in object biographies”.

The conference as well as the evening programme offered the opportunity to connect with especially Finnish researchers, makers, and museum professionals, and to promote our project.

‘Voices from the Colonies’. Exhibition Opening at the National Museum

Friday the 13th October Paula Hohti, Anne-Kristine Sindvald Larsen and Jane Malcolm-Davis attended the opening of the National Museum of Denmark’s newest permanent exhibition ‘Voices from the Colonies’, which tells the story of the people who lives were affected by the colonial empire of Denmark.

The Opening was a great opportunity to network and experience the collections of the National museum of Denmark, which are highly relevant for the Refashioning the Renaissance project.

After hearing the opening speeches from the National Museum, the team had a look around in the new exhibition. We were especially exited to see three pairs of knitted socks. Afterwards there was also time to have a quick look in the Medieval and Renaissance exhibitions which we hope to collaborate with in the future.

Paula Hohti and Anne-Kristine Sindvald Larsen are posing in front of some of the favourite items in the exhibition ‘Voices from the Colonies’.

All that glitters… in Berlin

16 September 2017

The third Dressing the Early Modern Network conference, “All That Glitters…”: Visual Representations of Dress in the Early Modern and the Boundaries of Reliability was organised in Berlin on 14-15 September 2017. Refashioning Renaissance team, strengthened with our fresh doctoral candidate Anne-Kristine Sindvald Larsen, took part of the conference, which was held at Kunstgewerbemuseum. The conference catered a wide range of interesting papers that gave an opportunity to learn and reflect.

Kunstgewerbemuseum and the adjunct Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek offered an ideal setting for the conference. The Kunstgewerbemuseum houses an extensive collection of tapestries and a dress collection from 18th century to present day, and it was a pleasure to get to know the collection on the intermissions of the conference. Lipperheidesche Kostümbibliothek consists of a wonderful collection of original source documents and secondary literature on clothing and fashion by Franz and Frieda Lipperheide.

Paula Hohti introducing Jane Malcolm-Davies.

The papers presented during the conference examined different aspects of visual representations of dress and brought forward intriguing questions and new approaches. Themes varied from the interpretation and reliability of visual images as source to case studies of specific garments, as well as depictions of the others. Our Principal Investigator, Professor Paula Hohti had a pleasure to chair a session that examined interestingly the different aspects of visual representations and how they can be challenged by new research that cross-references different sources. Dr. Jane-Malcolm Davies, who is going to be working in the Refashioning the Renaissance project as a Post-Doctoral Researcher, presented some of her research on knitted caps, and the felting process that was used on wool to mimic velvet. More information on Jane’s Knitting in Early Modern Europe can be found here.

Some examples of fulled caps presented by Jane-Malcolm Davies.

Our growing team, who now met for the first time, thoroughly enjoyed the stimulating discussions, the chances to connect with other scholars, and the sunny Berlin.