CivicLAB Symposium

As part of the CivicLAB Symposium, Designing for Civility and Cultural Impact, Sharples presented their research as convener of the symposium Material, Economics & Ecology at UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Museum of Making, Derby. As a place of material, economic and ecological significance, Sharples used the site of the historic Silk Mill to generate critical dialogue on contemporary labour, trade and extractive economies.

For this, Sharples assembled internationally recognised artists, researchers and cultural workers for the event which featured screenings and practice-led research presentations, including Jumana Manna’s award-winning documentary film Wild Relatives (2018) and Laura Wilson’s site-specific performance-for-video Deepening (2020). The symposium created a space for interdisciplinary research with guest speakers Dr. Onya McCausland, Rafael Perez Evans, Sonia Levy, Laura Wilson, and Ravi Agarwal. Tony Butler, Executive Director of Derby Museums, delivered a welcome address, grounding the event in the civic context of the Museum’s work. It was convened by Sharples as a continuation of their practice-research and to allow for national and international knowledge exchange within the Derby region. By embedding ecological, material, and economic concerns into a civic context, the symposium advanced public discourse on sustainability.

The project was presented at the CivicLAB Symposium, as well as the CivicLAB Symposium Exposition, contributing to Sharples’ civic portfolio as both curator and convenor.