The Tangible Archive Research Outreach Project The Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement (CREATURE)

CREATURE Lab is an on-demand laboratory to pitch and test ideas for further research development. It aims to provide a collegial platform to rehearse and/or seek feedback for a research presentation, practice and publication. It brings together a researcher and participants to explore a research idea and/or project through show and tell. The interactive lab is decided for the presenter to experiment a preconceived project for further study and/or examine matters related to research development and collaboration.

This Lab presented The Tangible Archive Research Outreach Project. It explored how to engage new audiences outside academia with archival material through creative, participant-specific activities. It aimed to give archival artefacts contemporary relevance, forge new connections between archives and the public, and to promote wellbeing, cultural engagement, and curiosity through imaginative practices. Over six months in 2025, prototype workshops were supported with a Strategic Transformations grant from LMU to trial activities with different types of participants. These had included community groups, museum audiences and school children, providing a range of case studies for review. In this Lab, the work-in-progress project invited participants to consider the extent to which creative and participant specific activities had enabled further engagement with archival material.

Dr Gina Pierce is a textile designer and researcher, with a focus on engaging new audiences for archives through artwork, publication and participatory projects. Dr Pierce has a PhD from the University for the Creative Arts (Farnham) and an MA in Textiles from Central Saint Martins. She has lectured for over twenty-five years and currently teaches on Textiles and Critical and Contextual studies. She is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Art, Architecture and Design, London Met.