New Materialist Reading Group

NECROLOGY: Becoming Soil with Rosalie Bak 2025. Workshop: paper/fabric, bokashi ink, audio recording @rosaliebak @haarlemartspace In Becoming Soil, which accompanied the exhibition NECROLOGY, participants were led through a series of somatic exercises unfolding in three parts: ‘Noticing, ‘Being with/in’, and ‘Fermenting’. Drawing on principles from the field of Haptonomy (the practice and study of human relationality and the phenomena of touch) participants were invited to make way for a more sensorial encounter with body, soil and death-care. Together, they moved trough the exhibition space and grounds of St Mary’s Cemetery connecting with our temporal, fleshly and microbial matters. Participants were guided by an audio-recording and site specific mediation and, at the close of the workshop, gathered collectively to produce a responsive work using ink made from the ferments of decomposing organic matter. Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloe Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples Photography: Victoria Sharples Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby.

Charlotte Dawson: Just Passing, 2022. Cotton, pine. Chloë Louise Lawrence: Holding onto all Four Floors of Biddulph House, 2024. Birch-ply, Fred Hubble: Earth Urn Ash Urn Ash, 2022–ongoing. Bisque fired earthenware. Part of Necrology Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples Thank you to @emmacroman for the photography. Haarlem Artspace Gallery The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby.

Victoria Sharples: Heap, 2025. Stoneware toasted ceramic tiles, tin oxide, aluminium castor wheels, cement- based grout, plywood, softwood timber. Reuben Brown: Untitled 1, 2025 (as part of White Knuckle Forever Series). 0.3mm pen on paper. Rebecca Howard: Luminous Fragments, 2024–ongoing. Digital print. Jack Brown: Green space/Land lark floral foams, 2022-25. Floral foam, furniture varnish, metal subframe, fixings. Part of Necrology Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples Thank you to @emmacroman for the photography. Haarlem Artspace Gallery The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby.

Necrology, curated by Victoria Sharples, continues until 5pm today at Haarlem Artspace. Sam Hutchinson: Mobile Cadaver Storage Suit (PANTONE® Reflex Blue), 2025. Printed polyester, aluminium-bolted frame. Lily Lavorato: ‘nothing compared to the burning of your insides’, 2024. Cardboard, chicken wire, modroc, ground charcoal, pva glue. Rebecca Elves: Moored Together, Until the Final Flood, 2024. Glazed stoneware with Swale dust and local stones. Part of Necrology Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples Thank you to @emmacroman for the photography. Haarlem Artspace Gallery The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby.

Thank you to everyone who made it to the opening of Necrology last night. The show runs until 5pm on Sunday, we hope to see you there. Emma Bolland: retrieval drawing #7, 2012. Ink and coloured pencil on paper stolen from a psychiatric hospital. Claye Bowler: Over My Dead Body, 2025. Portland stone. Bridget Robinson: Trace, 2021. Digital print, river water. Part of Necrology Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples Thank you to @emmacroman for the photography. Haarlem Artspace Gallery The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby.

Opening Tonight at Haarlem Artspace Necrology Curated by Victoria Sharples In partnership with NMRG & Playing Fields Featuring the work of: Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples A huge thank you to Victoria @victoriaemilysharples for bringing this amazing exhibition to Haarlem, we hope this will be the first in a number of collaborations. *Necrology has a very short run at the gallery, closing on Sunday evening, so please get down to see it this week! Thank you to @emmacroman for the photography. Opening Night: June 12, 6-9 Exhibition Open: June 12-15 Open Thursday–Sunday 12:00–17:00 Workshop ‘Becoming Soil’ June 14, 2025 Haarlem Artspace Gallery The Red Lion Market Place Wirksworth DE4 4ET Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby. #haarlemartspace #nmrg #wirksworth #ecology #deathcare #funeral #necrology

TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE Becoming Soil with Rosalie Bak 🪱🪱🪱 @rosaliebak 𝑺𝑨𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑫𝑨𝒀 𝑱𝑼𝑵𝑬 14 13:00–15:30 𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 20 𝑺𝑷𝑨𝑪𝑬𝑺 𝑨𝑽𝑨𝑰𝑳𝑨𝑩𝑳𝑬 In the workshop (which accompanies the exhibition 𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝒀), living human bodies come together to co-sense what it is like to relate to non/living matters and materialities. Drawing on principles from the field of Haptonomy (the practice and study of human relationality and the phenomena of touch) participants are invited to make way for a more sensorial encounter with body, soil and death-care. Unfolding in three parts: ‘Noticing’, ‘Being with/in’, ‘Fermenting’, the creative and somatic exercises play with themes such as tenderness, intentionality, attention and affective touch, while also engaging with the exhibition space, works and surrounding landscapes. An audio-recording with site-specific meditation further guides participants to creep, leak and flow through all surrounding material, temporal, fleshy and microbial entanglements after which they will gather in a process of collective processing of the experience. The ink that is used in the creation of the collective work is made from the ferments of decomposing organic matter. 🪱🪱🪱 𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑲 𝑯𝑬𝑹𝑬: (𝑺𝑬𝑬 𝑽𝑰𝑪𝑻𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑨 & 𝑵𝑴𝑹𝑮’𝒔 𝑳𝑰𝑵𝑲𝑻𝑹𝑬𝑬) 🪱🪱🪱 𝑭𝑰𝑵𝑫 𝑼𝑺 𝑶𝑵 𝑬𝑽𝑬𝑵𝑻𝑩𝑹𝑰𝑻𝑬: /e/necrology-becoming-soil-tickets-1388621677819?aff=oddtdtcreator Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby. #exhibition #gallery #openingsoon #contemporaryart #art #derbyshire #haarlemartspace #nmrg #wirksworth #sculpture #drawing #sitespecific #workshop #participation #publication #churches #chapels #headstones #funerals #greif #mourning #research #practice #curation #ecology #deathcare #funeral #necrology #stmaryswirksworth #cemetary

EXHIBITION ANNOUNCEMENT 𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝒀 @haarlemartspace Wirksworth 🌚 Opening Night: June 12, 6-9 Exhibition Open: June 12-15 Open Thursday–Sunday 12:00–17:00 Workshop ‘Becoming Soil’ June 14, 2025 (free tickets coming soon). 𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑹𝑶𝑳𝑶𝑮𝒀 is a site of mourning, offering an interface with absences, transitions, rituals, suspensions, shrines, and exhumations. The exhibition speculates on material afterlives, ecological grief, and the economies and systems of death(care) and loss. EXHIBITION Emma Bolland @emma_bolland Claye Bowler @clayebowler Jack Brown @jackbrownwork Reuben Brown @reubenbrownartist Charlotte Dawson @charlottedawsonart Rebecca Elves @rebeccaelves Rebecca Howard @bexhoward_ Fred Hubble @fredhubble   Sam Hutchinson @realbadtime Lily Lavorato @lilylavorato Chloë Louise Lawrence @chloelouisse Bridget Robinson @bridgetrobinson90 Victoria Sharples @victoriaemilysharples WORKSHOP Rosalie Bak @rosaliebak In ‘Becoming Soil’, living human bodies come together to co-sense what it is like to relate to non/living matters and materialities. Drawing on principles from the field of Haptonomy (the practice and study of human relationality and the phenomena of touch) participants are invited to make way for a more sensorial encounter with body, soil and death-care. Unfolding in three parts: ‘Noticing’, ‘Being with/in’, ‘Fermenting’, the creative and somatic exercises play with themes such as tenderness, intentionality, attention and affective touch, while also engaging with the exhibition space, works and surrounding landscapes. An audio-recording with site-specific meditation further guides participants to creep, leak and flow through all surrounding material, temporal, fleshy and microbial entanglements after which they will gather in a process of collective processing of the experience. Curated by Victoria Sharples in partnership with @nmrg.uod & @playingfieldsprojects 🖤 Thanks to Haarlem Artspace Curator @kristiandaygallery & Director Sarah Armstrong 🖤 Supported by the AHE Innovation Fund, University of Derby. #exhibition #gallery #openingnight #openingsoon #contemporaryart #art #necrology

𝓝𝓔𝓒𝓡𝓞𝓛𝓞𝓖𝓨 𝓞𝓟𝓔𝓝 𝓒𝓐𝓛𝓛 2025 Artist-Curator Victoria Sharples invites interdisciplinary submissions for an exhibition to be held at Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth, in partnership with NMRG (New Materialist Reading/Research Group) & Playing Fields. @victoriaemilysharples @nmrg.uod @haarlemartspace @playingfieldsprojects 𝓓𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓾𝓫𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷: 𝓐𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓵 18, 2025, 𝓪𝓽 12:00 𝓷𝓸𝓸𝓷 This call invites works in any form (i.e. sculpture, drawing) & may be informed (but is not limited) by the following subjects: ✢ necropolis & funerary architecture: sites of mourning, chapels, mounds, burial-grounds ✢ material afterlives: cycles of endings & beginnings, permanence and transformation ✢ necro-ecologies: ecological grief, humus ecology (decomposers), remains, space-time-matterings ✢ death-care: rituals of care, grave keeping, mortuary practices, grief work The exhibition opens June 12 & runs from: June 12–15 (with accompanying public events happening across the weekend). To apply: Sign up to NMRG (@nmrg.uod ) by sending a message on IG to join our mailing list <<< Complete the application form and return to NMRG co-lead Victoria Sharples ([email protected]). The 𝓐𝓟𝓟𝓛𝓘𝓒𝓐𝓣𝓘𝓞𝓝 𝓕𝓞𝓡𝓜 can be found in NMRG & Sharples’ Linktr.ee <<< Please use the email heading: ‘NMRG Open Call 2025_Full Name’. #opencall #nmrg #newmaterialistreadinggroup #haarlemartspace #playingfeilds #exhibition #necrology #sculpture #painting #drawing #print #textiles #softsculpture #ceramics #photography #collage #sitespecific #audiovisual #video #sound #performance #text #artistopportunity #derbyshire #contemporaryart #art

NMRG’s new text is coming soon 🖤 PAPER TEN: Depicted in Luminosities’, Steven Connor. You you wish to be added to the New Materialist Reading Group’s mailing list, please message us here ✨ @nmrg.uod @victoriaemilysharples @bexhoward_ #newmaterialistreadinggroup #readinggroup #uod #human #nonhuman #posthumanism #universityofderby #reading #newmaterialism #excerpts #sample #art #contemporaryart #readinglist #readinggroup #interdisciplinary #research #text #paper #mailinglist #becoming #death #luminosities #shroud #surface #aura

NMRG’s new text is coming soon 🖤 PAPER TEN: Depicted in Luminosities’, Steven Connor. You you wish to be added to the New Materialist Reading Group’s mailing list, please message us here ✨ @nmrg.uod @victoriaemilysharples @bexhoward_ #newmaterialistreadinggroup #readinggroup #uod #human #nonhuman #posthumanism #universityofderby #reading #newmaterialism #excerpts #sample #art #contemporaryart #readinglist #readinggroup #interdisciplinary #research #text #paper #mailinglist #becoming #death #luminosities #shroud #surface #aura

A few photographs from NMRG’s event Bodies: Art, Architecture & Archaeology 🖤 For Bodies, Prof. Cordelia Warr shared research on the Visual Culture of Stigmata in Late Medieval and Renaissance Italy; Dr. Lenore Thompson presented a paper on anthropological absences and non-destructive material analysis of Roman bronze casts using X-Ray Florescence Spectrometry, and Dr. Xristina Penna facilitated a participatory workshop on traces of bodily-spatial relationships in reply to Morgan Meyer’s article: Placing and Tracing Absence: A Material Culture of the Immaterial’ (2012). NMRG co-leads Dr. Rebecca Howard & Dr. Victoria Sharples led a clay workshop focusing on ‘the building of bodies’. In the workshop, participants were instructed by a disembodied ChatBot: ChatGPT to produce a step-by-step ‘body’ in a New Materialist way using slabs and coils. More NMRG projects coming in 2025 🖤 Funded by University of Derby’s AHE Fund. Photographs: Orisunayo Akinniran & Carla Collinson. Curated by @nmrg.uod co-leads @victoriaemilysharples & @bexhoward_ #nmrg #newmaterialism #newmaterialistreadinggroup #researchgroup #reading #text #workshop #event