Factory: Neil Brownsword. Blås & Knåda

This invited exhibition brought together a body of Brownsword’s earlier archaeological works (2011 – 2017), reconfigured into a new series of compositions. Its narrative centres upon a period of industrial transition in North Staffordshire’s ceramic sector: Gallery text, 2017: ‘For centuries, the six towns that constitute the city of Stoke-on-Trent, the centre of ceramic production in the UK, have shaped both its economic and physical landscape through the manufacture of ceramics. In Britain during the 18th century, ceramic industrialisation developed a phenomenal concentration of specialist knowledge via systems of segregated labour. Yet in recent decades, pressure to compete globally has significantly contributed to the geographic displacement of these skills and the closure of many historic sites of manufacture. Factories that have survived the impact of globalisation, collectively employ over 7000 people and provide one quarter of all ceramics-based jobs in the UK. Stoke-on-Trent has been described as an ‘industrial city in a post-industrial age. Factory reflects upon this period of industrial change. Through the installation of appropriated remnants salvaged from former sites of production Brownsword articulates narratives of place, labour and skill. Post-industrial discard which retains within its fabric traces of action, is appropriated into taxonomies as a means of heightening value and reinvigorating obsolescence. Factory attempts to question the value and relevance of embodied practices that have been displaced through globalisation and remain marginalised in the very nation where the industrial revolution began’