Wonder! A Maker-Space Day

Wonder! A Maker-Space Day at the University of Bristol invites participants to a day of experiential learning and research methodologies focused on wonder as an object, a sensation, and a way of being curious about the world. Drawing upon its eighteenth-century connections with science and spectacle, Wonder! features hands-on workshops that bring eighteenth-century practices and archives into the modern day, inviting participants to experience, study, and learn through the haptics of wonder. Moving between maker-spaces in the Theatre Department, Theatre Collection and the Bristol Common Press, Wonder! promises to teach us new ways of producing, apprehending, and teaching knowledge, both embodied and abstract.

Space is limited. Kindly register to confirm your place.

**Registration is inclusive of lunch and a wine reception following**

Schedule:

10:00-12:00 Printing Wonder! (BCP) OR Seeing Wonder! (Dept of Theatre)

12:30-13:30 Lunch (provided): Department of Theatre Foyer

13:30-15:30 Seeing Wonder! (Dept of Theatre) OR Printing Wonder! (BCP)

16:00-16.30 Wonder! Futures? concluding conversation and wine reception (Dept of Theatre)

Workshop Details

Printing Wonder! (Location: Bristol Common Press)

This workshop invites participants to make Wonder! prints at the Bristol Common Press. Designing bespoke pages, participants will print on the BCP’s replica 18th-century oak common press. By learning historical practice and utilising contemporary improvisation, participants will study the haptics of wonder available through the heritage and tradition of letterpress printing.

Seeing Wonder! (Location: Department of Theatre)

This workshop features various optical instruments of wonder, ranging from an eighteenth-century peep show to 21^stcentury VR technologies. Participants will experiment with a range of technologies to practically investigate how the experience of wonder has, is, and might be manufactured. Interacting with and learning through these optical instruments reveals their reliance upon improvisation and performance.

Wonder! A Maker-Space Day is possible through the generous support of the Bristol Benjamin Meaker Distinguished University Professorship, the Department of Theatre, the Bristol Common Press, and the Theatre Collection.