The Vindolanda Trust has announced that Siôn Parkinson has been appointed Artist-in-Residence, for the Materialitas project, 2026 – 2027. Working with five nationally significant archival collections, Parkinson will research and develop a new artwork for Queen’s Hall during Autumn/ Winter 2027.
Supported by a major new award from Archives Revealed, the Vindolanda Trust will work with Durham University’s Museum of Archaeology and North East Museums on Materialitas, a new project which will make five previously unexplored archives relating to Hadrian’s Wall accessible to the public by April 2028. The residency and resulting artistic commission will provide an opportunity for the archival collections to be interrogated and presented through a new lens.
Bethany Goodman, Archivist and Project Lead, said: “The team is really excited to work with Siôn and commission a new artwork which will givepeople a chance to connect with the archival history of Hadrian’s Wall in an original and unexpected way”.
As Artist-in-Residence, Parkinson will be given exclusive access to the five different collections, visiting each collection in situ at Roman Vindolanda, Arbeia South Shields Roman Fort and the Discovery Museum in Newcastle. Reflecting on the opportunity, he said:
“When I first heard about this project, it felt as though it had been written specifically for me. As an artist interested in how people use all their senses to engage with heritage collections, the opportunity to explore five archives associated with Hadrian’s Wall is exciting, unusual, and one from which I’m sure we will all learn something new. I want to discover what the material reveals about how different people have encountered the Wall, and the traces they have left behind, often without intending to. Through art, I hope to tell a different story: to imagine Hadrian’s Wall not simply as a single structure, but as a collection of things —photographs, letters, handwritten notes and memories — whose histories extend into the present. I can’t wait to get started.”
Siôn Parkinson is a Scottish artist and composer whose work uses sound, smell, performance and moving image to uncover overlooked sensory histories. A 2026 BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, he explores how plants, fungi, objects and archives can be encounteredand reimagined through the senses.
Parkinson’s residency is funded by an Archives Revealed consortium grant and is part of the Vindolanda Trust’s creative programme, The Land We Walk On. Led by the Trust’s Contemporary Art Curator, Morag Iles, The Land We Walk On invites artists to undertake research residencies, exploring the Trust’s collections and climate research. From 2023 – 2026, the Trust has hosted four artist residencies and commissioned two new contemporary artworks.
In 2027, the Trust will partner with Queen’s Hall to present Siôn Parkinson’s new work. Dominic Smith, Visual Arts Manager at Queen’s Hall said of the new partnership:
“Queen’s Hall is delighted to be working in partnership with the Vindolanda Trust on the Materialitas project, bringing the richness of these important archival collections to new audiences through contemporary art. Building partnerships with organisations across the region is central to our role, allowing us to share knowledge, ideas and resources in ways that create new opportunities for artists and audiences. We’re particularly excited to see how this commission will transform the stories held within the archives into a new artistic experience for visitors to Queen’s Hall.”
The Land We Walk On is generously supported by The John Ellerman Foundation. The Archives Revealed programme is funded by the National Archives, National Heritage Lottery Fund, Wolfson Foundation and the Pilgrim Trust.