Artefacts is an association of historians of science, technology, engineering and medicine working in museums and academic institutions who use material culture in historical study and public displays.
Artefacts encourages new research and collaboration through annual meetings and publications.
Call for papers
Artefacts 2025
This year's Artefacts conference will take place at the Norsk Teknisk Museum (Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology), Oslo, Norway, 12-14 October 2025.
The theme of the conference is “Care and Repair”, and we encourage proposals concerning how erosion, breakdown, and maintenance, instead of progress and innovation, can be starting points for research. What are the limits of our fragile world, and what work does caring do? We characterize ‘care and repair’ broadly, encompassing objects, people, and environments, but all proposals should have a focus on the material culture of science, technology, and/or medicine.
Past meetings
History
Artefacts was founded by Deutsches Museum, Science Museum and Smithsonian in 1996. Since then, Artefacts has brought together academics and museum professionals from around the world to share research which focuses on material culture and object studies.
Publications
Publications are a core output of Artefacts meetings. Copies are distributed to libraries world-wide and can be accessed from the following links:
- Volumes 11, 12 and 13 (Challenging Collections, Behind the Exhibit, and Understanding Use) are published by Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press and can be downloaded free from the Smithsonian website.
- Volume 8: Material Culture and Electronic Sound is available through Rowman and Littlefield.
- Volumes 7, 9 and 10 (Illuminating Instruments, Analyzing Art and Aesthetics, and Objects in Motion: Globalizing Technology) are available from Random House.
- Volumes 1 to 6 (Manifesting Medicine, Exposing Electronics, Tackling Transport, Presenting Pictures, Materializing the Military, and Showcasing Space).