Live Project Exhibition

Necklace by Miriam Jones

Necklace by Miriam Jones

In the academic year 2010-2011 the CinBA Project invited course leaders of contemporary craft subjects at Higher Education and Further Education level to become involved in the research through a Live Project opportunity for their students. Using Bronze Age objects as sources for their own research-based practice, participating students were asked to design and develop new contemporary craft objects in response to the prehistoric material. They were not limited to the media that are the archaeological focus of the project (ceramics, textiles and bronze) but were also invited to develop ideas in other materials, focussing on motifs, design elements, complete objects, or any combination of these.

Enjoy the exhibition!


Creativity and Craft Production in Middle and Late Bronze Age Europe (CinBA) brings together partners from the Universities of Southampton, Cambridge and Trondheim, the National Museum of Denmark, the Natural History Museum of Vienna, Zagreb Archaeological Museum, Lejre Archaeological Park (Sagnlandet) and the Crafts Council. It offers important insights into the fundamental nature of creativity by exploring a part of European history not influenced by contemporary concepts of art – the Bronze Age – looking at developments in crafts that we take for granted today: pottery, textiles and metalwork. It investigates objects as a means to understand local and transnational creative activities, investigating the development of decorative motifs and the techniques and skill used for these. It tracks these developments over more than a millennium within regions forming a north-south axis across Europe: Scandinavia, Central Europe and the Adriatic. In addition, links between ancient and modern creativity are explored through contemporary engagements with Bronze Age objects by modern craftspeople and the public.

CinBA is funded through HERA – Humanities in the European Research Area. HERA aims to strengthen the European voice in the Humanities by coordinating research activities and transcending historical limitations to develop new Europe-wide research agendas. CinBA is one of 9 HERA-funded projects on the theme of ‘Creativity’.

Grant Number: 09-HERA-JRP-CI-FP-020
HERA Call: Creativity
Budget: 973,582.00 €
Project Duration: 31st May 2010 – 1st September 2013
Project Leader: Dr Joanna Sofaer (University of Southampton, UK)