Explore the world of adhesives through the perspectives of makers, conservators, artists and researchers...

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MATERIALS: ADHESION

Adhesives are essential across many fields of craft and conservation within the heritage sector. From traditional materials such as lime mortar and isinglass to modern epoxies and synthetic resins, adhesives can provide elegant solutions—or pose complex (and often sticky) challenges. Their intended effects vary widely across contexts, and, perhaps surprisingly, similar adhesive principles are shared across very different materials and disciplines.

Join us for a day devoted to the sticky, as we bring together specialists working with earth, timber, glass and many other materials to explore how adhesion shapes practice, decision-making and material relationships. From questions of strength and compatibility to reversibility, repair and the careful separation of bonded materials, adhesion sits at the heart of how materials are joined, conserved, taken apart and understood.

The theme also invites reflection on the broader implications of adhesive use: the balance between permanence and reversibility, the environmental impact of synthetic versus bio-based materials, and the lifecycle of bonded objects over time. By considering not only how bonds are formed, but also how and whether they can be safely released, the conference explores how separation can create new opportunities for repair, reuse, adaptation and renewal. In this way, adhesion becomes not only a technical question, but a cultural and ethical one—forming bonds between disciplines as well as materials, and prompting a fundamental question: what is good adhesion?

Description supplied by the event organiser.