Michael Safaric Branthwaite is a Contemporary Visual Artist and Educator.
His research focuses on the co-option of archaeological methodologies to explore the nature of objects and how they form meaning in contemporary society. As part of his work, he has exhibited in various International shows with sculptural and digital-based work, exploring this concept and the wider implications of how we relate to and define objects and their histories. As part of this research, he has explored the range of ways objects articulate themselves in society with a focus on how digital hand-held devices can capture the qualities of an object and how this might manifest itself in an information-driven society. He further expands his research by working outside this context exploring the curatorial notions of his practice in projects such as “Finding Treblinka”. He has been the recipient of various funding from bodies such as Arts Council England and the British Council.
Since 2014 he has undertaken several artistic residencies at sites relating to the Holocaust and other traumatic events in Europe’s history. This underpins his current line of enquiry into The Covid-19 crisis and how resulting limitations have restricted the possibilities to continue these residencies and therefore restrict some of the key points of discussion.
His work covers a range of thematics’ with a focus on conflicted histories and heritage and rehumanisation. By exploring the conflicting and competing “truths” he aims to make the audiences re-evaluate their perception of historic events. His interest in rehumanistaion stems from ideas surrounding the individuality of those involved in the in Europe’s traumatic past, and how we might build contemporary connections with this to address both the past and how it is enacted in the present.
His research focuses on the co-option of archaeological methodologies to explore the nature of objects and how they form meaning in contemporary society. As part of his work, he has exhibited in various International shows with sculptural and digital-based work, exploring this concept and the wider implications of how we relate to and define objects and their histories. As part of this research, he has explored the range of ways objects articulate themselves in society with a focus on how digital hand-held devices can capture the qualities of an object and how this might manifest itself in an information-driven society. He further expands his research by working outside this context exploring the curatorial notions of his practice in projects such as “Finding Treblinka”. He has been the recipient of various funding from bodies such as Arts Council England and the British Council.
Since 2014 he has undertaken several artistic residencies at sites relating to the Holocaust and other traumatic events in Europe’s history. This underpins his current line of enquiry into The Covid-19 crisis and how resulting limitations have restricted the possibilities to continue these residencies and therefore restrict some of the key points of discussion.
His work covers a range of thematics’ with a focus on conflicted histories and heritage and rehumanisation. By exploring the conflicting and competing “truths” he aims to make the audiences re-evaluate their perception of historic events. His interest in rehumanistaion stems from ideas surrounding the individuality of those involved in the in Europe’s traumatic past, and how we might build contemporary connections with this to address both the past and how it is enacted in the present.
Exhibitions ( Selected)
Alles komt goed in de ochtend (Everything will be okay in the Morning)- Kamp Westerbork.
In ‘Everything Will Be Okay in the Morning’ poses several questions about the situation of Kamp Westerbork. This is achieved through a process of immersion into the archives and history of the camp, identifying and responding to what is uncovered to establish a position that addresses the past whilst alerting the audience to potential futures, achieved through a combination of media-based artworks, installation, and curatorial strategies.
Commissioned by Kamp Westerbork.
November 2023 - March 2024
Supply/Request- Uniqube and Stockport War Memorial Art Gallery
Between 19 June and 7 July 1942, the Camp Commander of Treblinka wrote letters to the Warsaw Ghetto asking for supplies. This exhibition deconstructs the letters and uses surrogate items to illustrate how mundane objects became part of the apparatus of mass murder interrogating how we ascertain truths through the museum experience. The objects force us to confront the choices made by the perpetrators, bystanders and victims who encountered Treblinka.
Funded by UKRI
January- May 2023.
Made in Collaboration with Caroline Sturdy Colls, Professor of Conflict Archaeology and Genocide Investigation, Staffordshire University, UK.
Contemporary Witness- Surrogations and Passages
Using audio and lens-based media to explore the way we form surrogate experiences and passages to the past. Although these experiences are shared, they are also unique and personal. Outside of living memory, we all must construct our own interpretations of historical events. The work aims to facilitate debate on these surrogate histories, creating links between the material culture of the past and contemporary conditions
April 8 – June 5, 2022.
Supported by ACE England
Contemporary Witness
Explored Falstad and the layers of history from a distance using online archives and the specialist skills and knowledge of the staff at Falstad. The work created links between the material culture of the past and contemporary debates, alongside sharing reflections in weekly blog posts.
August to December 2020
Accessing Campscapes. Screening of 3 new video works and panel discussion.
Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, Vienna
October 2019
Permanent Departures: Solo exhibition of new video and photographic work
CASS Arts, Manchester
June 2019
Distance Presence: Solo Show of interactive new-media work
Gallery of Varazdin, Croatia
August 2018
‘Spit that Out’ North West based Artists working in experimental film.
HOME. Centre for international contemporary art, Manchester.
Curated by Bren O'Callaghan
January 2018
Zrinski Art Festival: Video work Distance presence
Cakovec Castle, Cakovec, Croatia.
October 2017-Nomeber 2017
Postal Drawing (Artefact)
Het Industriegebou, Rotterdam.NL Basement Arts, Leeds. UK. Work in Collection of Sebring & Zoetmulder Architects Rotterdam.NL
March 2017 (first exhibited)
Vessel (Artefact) 3D Printed Sculpture and digital version in unreal engine.
Priestman Gallery, Sunderland University, UK; Ny Space Manchester,UK; Washington Art Centre. Tyne and Wear, UK; Drugo More. Rijeka, Croatia.
February 2017
Blackdot ( Artefact)
poccagallery- Bilbao Spain.
April 2016 (first Exhibited)
Residency and exhibition exploring the notion of the object in a digitized society.
Funded by ACE/ FACT-R
Finding Treblinka: Artists respond, Treblinka Museum, Poland. August 2015- February 2016
Lead artist working in collaboration with forensic Archaeologist Dr Caroline Colls to produce a work that extends and provokes debate on new findings made at the site of the WW11 Nazi labor and death camp.
Funded by FACT-R
By Distance, Nachts Mid, Rotterdam, Netherlands. November 2015
Group show of UK based artists curated by Elise Zoetmulder.
Funded by ACE
In from the Steppe, Ny Space, Manchester, UK. September 2014
Curated show featuring artists based in Manchester.
Paint like you mean it. Interview Room 11, Edinburgh, Scotland. June 2014
Short listed artist for painting prize.
Speculative Identities, Zona Dynamic, Berlin, Germany. July 2013
Residency and exhibition exploring the nature of identity in relation to blurring physical and psychological boundaries, working with an international group of artists to make new work.
Funded by I-ACT
Disrupted Visions, Schwartz Gallery, London,UK May-June 2013
Group show curated by Ismail Erbil and Patrick Michalopoulos. Work included 3 Giclee Prints
Broomhill National Sculpture Prize 2012, Broomhill Sculpture Park, Devon, UK. May-October 2012
Site-Specific Commission for Competition: judged as ‘Highly Commended’ in October 2012 Fun Funded by I-ACT
Artist in Residence, PITT Projects/rednile Factory Nights. June 2012
Producing related to Hanley Bus Station Factory Night. ACE and I-ACT funded
Creekside Open, APT, London. June 2011.
Works selected by Phyillda Barlow
Fresh Air, Quinington Sculpture Trust, Gloustershire. June-July 2011
Site specific Sculptural Installation for Sculpture Trusts Garden.
Funded by I-ACT
Conjunction 2010 Biennial. Stoke-on-Trent, UK. October 2010
Commissioned Artist- Super 8mm Film.
Saatchi Northern Stars at A Foundation Liverpool, UK. 9th April-23rdMay. 2010
Billed as the most exciting artists practicing and based in the North
Curated by Saatchi associated Director Rebecca Wilson.
Vernacular Intervention, Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire, UK. Permanent. Installed September 2009
Site specific installation around disused field Barn.
Olyimpolis Project, Platamonas, Train Station, Greece. July 2008
Commission for Public Art Installation using Digital Projection.
Conferences
Materiality, Creativity & Belonging Across Borders
International Symposium.
Panelist: Round table 1: The Role of Art in Dealing with Perpetrator Heritage. (C. Breitz; M. Branthwaite; S. Sandmo, B. Vroege. Moderator: S. Knittel)
20 October 2023
Oslo, House of Literature.
13th International Interdisciplinary Symposium. Philosophy of media.
Proximity, the domestic and benign in perpetrator spaces.
13-15th September 2023
Zagreb, HR
Memory studies association 7th annual conference communities & change
Illustration and the Non-Representable: Symposium III illuminating the non-representable.
July 2023
Newcastle, UK
Connecting with the Past – Art, Memory, Place: Interrogating shadows of the past – art and the digital as tools for witnessing, a collaboration with Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Falstad Centre.
30th June 2023.
Falstad Centre, Norway.
Lessons and Legacies Conference
Seminar Three: Challenging Prevailing Paradigms in Holocaust Studies through the Creative Arts
November 2022
Ottawa, Canada.
23rd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists 2017 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Paper Title: “Curating the Holocaust”: Finding Treblinka, a Transdisciplinary Exhibition at the Wiener Library, London, UK.
Date: 30th September 2017
Co-Speakers: Dr Caroline Sturdy Colls
Research Seminar: Dead Body Politics, Materialities and Mobilities
Paper Title: Finding Treblinka: Artistic responses to findings at Treblinka Camp
Date: 18th March 2016.
Co-Speakers: Dr Caroline Sturdy Colls/ David Griffiths (Senior Lecturer MMU)
International Symposium.
Panelist: Round table 1: The Role of Art in Dealing with Perpetrator Heritage. (C. Breitz; M. Branthwaite; S. Sandmo, B. Vroege. Moderator: S. Knittel)
20 October 2023
Oslo, House of Literature.
13th International Interdisciplinary Symposium. Philosophy of media.
Proximity, the domestic and benign in perpetrator spaces.
13-15th September 2023
Zagreb, HR
Memory studies association 7th annual conference communities & change
Illustration and the Non-Representable: Symposium III illuminating the non-representable.
July 2023
Newcastle, UK
Connecting with the Past – Art, Memory, Place: Interrogating shadows of the past – art and the digital as tools for witnessing, a collaboration with Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews and the Falstad Centre.
30th June 2023.
Falstad Centre, Norway.
Lessons and Legacies Conference
Seminar Three: Challenging Prevailing Paradigms in Holocaust Studies through the Creative Arts
November 2022
Ottawa, Canada.
23rd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Archaeologists 2017 in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Paper Title: “Curating the Holocaust”: Finding Treblinka, a Transdisciplinary Exhibition at the Wiener Library, London, UK.
Date: 30th September 2017
Co-Speakers: Dr Caroline Sturdy Colls
Research Seminar: Dead Body Politics, Materialities and Mobilities
Paper Title: Finding Treblinka: Artistic responses to findings at Treblinka Camp
Date: 18th March 2016.
Co-Speakers: Dr Caroline Sturdy Colls/ David Griffiths (Senior Lecturer MMU)
PUBLICATIONS
Interview with Bas Kortholt (Camp Westerbork)
Centar for Philosophy of Media in- In Medias Res: Journal of the Philosophy of Media Vol. 12 No. 23, 2023. via Zagreb University HRCAK platform.
Material Culture of Difficult Histories: Section 3, Studying the Materiality of Difficult Histories. co-authored chapter discussing the use of art in material culture studies
United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial Volume. Submitted and Expected Late 2020
Submitted to Cornell University Press for Publication
Treblinka: Archaeological and Artistic Responses (Centre of Archaeology Book Series) Paperback June 2016. ISBN:1534632298
“THIS IS PROOF”?: FORENSIC EVIDENCE AND AMBIGUOUS MATERIAL CULTURE AT TREBLINKA EXTERMINATION CAMP : International Journal of Historical Archaeology
http://link.springer.com/journal/10761
Centar for Philosophy of Media in- In Medias Res: Journal of the Philosophy of Media Vol. 12 No. 23, 2023. via Zagreb University HRCAK platform.
Material Culture of Difficult Histories: Section 3, Studying the Materiality of Difficult Histories. co-authored chapter discussing the use of art in material culture studies
United States Holocaust Museum and Memorial Volume. Submitted and Expected Late 2020
Submitted to Cornell University Press for Publication
Treblinka: Archaeological and Artistic Responses (Centre of Archaeology Book Series) Paperback June 2016. ISBN:1534632298
“THIS IS PROOF”?: FORENSIC EVIDENCE AND AMBIGUOUS MATERIAL CULTURE AT TREBLINKA EXTERMINATION CAMP : International Journal of Historical Archaeology
http://link.springer.com/journal/10761
