Organised in collaboration with the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, part of UCL Museums and Cultural Programmes, Making, Breaking, Sharing was a two-day workshop and participatory experience developed and hosted by Rochester Square.
Home to one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of Egyptian and Sudanese archaeology, the museum collection provided the inspiration for the project. Responding to the temporary display, Broken, Burnt, Buried: Ritual Lives of Objects in Ancient Egypt, the workshop explored ancient Egyptian ritual practices through ceramic-making and communal eating.
Participants were guided through traditional ceramic-making techniques to create vessels and tools, before experiencing the performative and social dimensions of intentional breakage, culminating in a shared meal in the garden using the vessels the group had collectively created and transformed.
Through traditional hands-on craft processes, Rochester Square was able to create a contemporary experience parallel to the ancient Egyptian ritual acts of making, breaking, transforming, and sharing.
This project was a wonderful reminder of why we value collaboration, discovering new knowledge and possibilities through ceramics.
