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.