Controlled Rummage Approaches for Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre

<p>Bummock: Tennyson Research Centre is an artistic research project involving three artistic researchers. A bummock is the largest part of the iceberg underneath the water's surface; similarly, archives contain more material than is regularly seen or accessed. In Bummock we choose to bypass the catalogue to engage with materials directly, establishing a controlled rummage method as an alternative approach to standard archive access practice. The archive is movable, cyclical, and is not a fixed thing - much like when an iceberg turns, the bummock becomes the tip. The recent iteration of the Bummock project explores, examines, and creates new artistic research from four years of working with the Tennyson Research Centre (TRC), Lincoln, UK.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This exposition has been co-written by the three artistic researchers and is divided into three sections: Tip to Bummock - introducing the project and core concerns; Flipping the Bummock - individual reflections and critical discussions on three themes - our previous experience of working with archives, the project's research journey, and future directions arising from our research; and finally, Bummock to Tip - a collective conclusion of findings.</p> <p><br></p> <p>The contribution of this exposition is twofold: to expose and disseminate the artistic research related to the project, and to identify the key benefits that artists can bring to the archive and the conditions of the controlled rummage to help enable future use by other archive users.</p>