Reading (9476)
Arts
and Media Research Group People
Research activity has grown considerably in the last ten years
in the various elements that make up the Faculty, and although
developments have been most rapid in the areas of social policy
and sociology, there has also been considerable progress in research
related activities in Education, Politics and more recently Psychology,
English and History. The research culture that has developed is
one concerned with interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches,
drawing on a range of subject, theoretical and methodological
expertise. Within this broad framework, distinctive research clusters
have emerged, though frequently with overlapping involvement from
staff, which provide the focus of research activity, and increasingly
for course development as well. Key groupings include the Social
Science Research Centre, Criminal Policy Research Units, Race
and Ethnicity Research Unit. Other specialisms include Sexuality
and Gender, Family Policy, Development Studies and Education.
In the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise we obtained a grade 4
for 37.5 people entered in social policy, with a significant contribution
from sociology.
Arts and Media Research Group
The Arts and Media Research Group is concerned with issues of
identity, representation and cultural output through various media
arts. Depending on specific research skills of each researcher
as well as on particular theme and medium under research, such
issues are worked out either in smaller teams within the group
or on an individual basis. Below follows a summary of specific
research interests and main outputs of our researchers.
Tahera Aziz has had a longstanding political
and creative interest in identity and Representation, which is
brought to the public in various media art forms. Her current
research project, "Mind the Gap", is an exploration
of the complex relationship between identity and memory through
experimentation with interactive digital technologies. "Mind
the Gap" is funded by the Arts Council of England (New Media
Projects Fund) and is supported by the Institute of Contemporary
Arts and the Brain, Behaviour Research Group at the Open University.
Gemma Belton Clarke researches dance development
through education initiatives, in specific the need for audience
development for large scale dance companies and venues in the
UK, with reference to funding guidelines and national policy.
She was practising dance development work at Sadler's Wells theatre,
and will be taking a year's leave of absence in November, 2001,
to manage a national arts festival for young people for the BBC.
Mr James Coupe is an artist who works with installation,
electronics and digital media. His projects have incorporated
cybernetics, computer networks and artificial intelligence in
an attempt to explore a lo-tech "system aesthetic".
He looks to construct large-scale systems that can challenge understandings
of responsibility, intentionality and authorship in the relationship
between artist, artwork and viewer. His pursuit of a self-organising,
autonomous artwork has led him to initiate collaborative projects
with physicists, scientists and programmers. He is currently working
on a project to create a "conscious artwork". This will
incorporate a range of projects using such things as rapid prototyping
machines, in-built system properties, mobile/ wireless network
technologies, Turing Test systems, parent/ child learning algorithms,
generative systems, supercomputers and digital memory. http://www.ctrl.me.uk
Dr Charlotte Crofts is a film-maker and film
theorist. Her film "Wings" has been short-listed for
the DepicT! 2003 90second film competition, at the 2003 Brief
Encounters International Short Film Festival. "Wings"
is an irreverent sketch which takes its inspiration from Wim Wenders'
"Wings of Desire" and the sight gags of the silent era.
Her recent book, Anagram of Desire: Angela Carter's Writing for
radio, Film and Television (Manchester University Press) examines
Carter's scriptwriting techniques and forms. She is currently
involved in a range of projects extending the boundaries of film
form and genres.
Dr Therese Daniels ' key research interests
are in how identity and race have historically been incorporated
into public service broadcasting. She is currently researching
a book on documentary sources of black history in Britain.
Andrew Dewdney has a developed interest in human
computer interfaces. He is concerned with forms and concepts of
interface interaction, in particular the metaphorical strategies
adopted in Internet browsers, computer games and CD ROM productions.
His approach can be characterised as lying within Critical Cultural
Studies and is concerned to look at continuities between new media
and old media as a means of approaching the distinctly transformative.
He is also interested in the relationship between New Media and
Fine Arts Practices. Andrew was one of the originators and directors
of the CD ROM Silver to Silicon (1997) ARTEC. London. He is currently
researching for the New Media Handbook, Routledge (forthcoming).
Chris Elliott Chris's research interests are
in film music and video installation, particularly the creation
of sonic and imagistic sculpture. He has recently exhibited at
Winchester Cathedral and this year his work will be on view at
Cologne Cathedral in Germany. He is currently working on a film
exploring the historical relationships between wounding and shamanistic
ritual.
Dr Philip Hammond's main research interest is
the reporting of post-Cold War conflicts and
humanitarian crises. With Edward S. Herman, he has recently co-edited
Degraded Capability: The Media and the Kosovo Crisis (Pluto Press,
2000).
Colin Harvey's PhD research is in the area of
games culture and computational semiotics, with particular focus
on narrative strategies in hypertext media.
Pauline E. Muir's PhD research and publication
work addresses the musical acquisition and cultural transmission
in the British Black Majority Church, in relation to young black
people and black contemporary gospel music.
Dr Jennifer Owen's current research interests
include women, crime and the media and cultural identity and the
city. She has several publications in this field.
Suzy Kerr Pertic's areas of research include
political visual art in Britain and the USA in the 1980s and 1990s;
educational practices in contemporary art museums and galleries;
and recent developments in curatorship. Recent activities include
Board Directorship of OVA (Organisation for the Visual Arts, London)
and two case studies of collaborative projects between arts and
educational institutions from the London Borough of Southwark.
Ingrid Pollard was appointed as an Arts and
Humanities Research Fellow in Creative Arts at South Bank University
in September 2002. The Fellowship runs for three years and is
based in the Division of Arts and Media in the Faculty of Humanities
and Social Science. Ingrid will be undertaking her own programme
of research as well as contributing to the teaching and research
development of Arts and Media.
Dr Anna Reading's central interest concerns
how gender is articulated within different media forms and environments.
Her current academic work explores the relationships between collective
memory, gender and the Holocaust, published as The Social Inheritance
of the Holocaust: Gender, Culture and Memory (Palgrave, 2002).
As a playwright she has an on-going commitment to extending feminist
political action through her creative practice. This is currently
being developed through a new stage play, RP35, about pornography,
obession and addiction. She is an editor of the international
journal Media Culture and Society and an advisor to the Women's
National Commission.
Hillegonda Rietveld reviews a yearly section
on Popular Culture for The English Association's The Year's Work
in Critical and Cultural Theory University of Leicester, Oxford
University Press. Her main research interest is in the history,
development and practices of electronic and underground dance
culture(s). She has presented numerous conference papers and professional
presentations, and has published widely in the field of Dance
Culture Studies, including the book This Is Our House: House Music,
Cultural Spaces and Technologies (Ashgate, 1998). For the Arts
& Media Research Group, she organises occasional research
seminars in this field.
Mr Daniel Rubenstein is concerned with the ways
in which photography functions within new media and as a part
of the cyberspace culture. He is especially interested in the
ways in which photographic expression and the production of photographic
meaning are moulded by the interfaces of software like Photoshop,
and by the design features of digital cameras. At the same time
he is concerned with investigating the new photographic genres
that emerge in response to the introduction of digital photographic
apparatus and the new user groups that employ digital technology
in their work and leisure activities.
New Media Books and Charlie Haden music for the gathering.
Professor Andrew Dewdney's Office, Borough Road Building.
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