Threads Pop-Up Preview

Threads is a pop-up exhibition featuring an interactive experience, the Threads game, and textile works developed during Victoria Bradbury’s US-UK Fulbright Fellowship at Glasgow School of Art. Through artistic research across SIT, Fine Art, and Design during 6 months of 2026 , she translated historical fragments into interactive digital environments and textile forms.

Threads draws particular inspiration from the 1697 Paisley witch trials and the Paisley thread industry. The accusations began when eleven-year-old Christian Shaw displayed unusual symptoms, leading to several members of the local community being accused of witchcraft. Shaw remains central to the story, though her role in the accusations was amplified by those in positions of power. The ensuing trials resulted in the deaths of eight people: four women and four men.

Paisley later became known for its thread and textile industries, and Shaw herself became an important figure in these developments when as an adult, she founded the Bargarran Thread Company.

The Threads exhibition presents artifacts and environments shaped by intertwined histories of witch persecution, labor, and material culture, inviting viewers to engage with stories that circulate through communities and become embedded in collective memory.

Join us at the invited preview Friday 3 July, 5-7pm BST, at the opening reception on Saturday 4 July, 5-7pm BST, or at the Virtual Gallery Tour on Sunday 5 July at 2pm BST.

The Windows on Heritage Gallery will be open to view the pop-up Exhibition:

Friday 3 July 4pm-7pm

Saturday 4 July 10am-7pm

Sunday 5 July 10am-4pm

Artist Bio:

Victoria Bradbury is Associate Professor and Chair of New Media at UNC Asheville where she also runs The Sami Zoobi New Media Gallery with her colleagues. She is the 2026 US–UK Fulbright Commission Scholar at Glasgow School of Art and she specializes in interactive and immersive media storytelling. In 2020, she received an Epic MegaGrant to combine the Unreal Engine with VR and physical computing. With Dr. Suzy O'Hara she co-edited Art Hack Practice: Critical Intersections of Art, Innovation and the Maker Movement and her artworks have been exhibited worldwide, including at IEEE-GEM, xCoAx, the {Re}Happening, Harvestworks, The Albright Knox, and The New Britain Museum of American Art. Victoria holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sunderland, an MFA from Alfred University and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

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