PhD Studentship in Art & Design

Material Thinking: what does sustainable making practice look like in the context of the climate emergency?

This funded full-time PhD with a target to start in February 2025 will focus what a sustainable making practice might look like in the context of the climate emergency. To that end, we invite applications to apply for our new studentship position, which will be allied to school’s research priorities, specifically our research theme of Materiality in Creative Practice. The research may focus on stories about materials and place and meaningful connections between humans and the earth; the role materials had in the past and the position they may hold in our future; traditional and contemporary knowledge and processes. The research must place a strong emphasis on practical outcomes as the primary means of interrogating practical questions.

The University of Gloucestershire’s School of Creative Arts has a focus on a practice-led approach where discoveries are made through making. Making is not a mechanical activity; instead, it is a sensory one which sets a dialogue between the maker and the material. Is it possible to have a sustainable making practice, which has an ecologically conscious production method? What can we learn about other industries to help our material knowledge? Is it possible tohave an entirely self-generated and accessible making practice?

It is anticipated that the project would be developed through an exhibition programme co-developed by the candidate, building on the school’s recent work with the Ingram Collection and the Lightbox, Woking. Material Thinking, brought together selected work by artists from The Ingram Collection with work by contemporary artists associated with the University of Gloucestershire. The exhibition focused on artists who use varied, unusual or unexpected ways of making, the exhibition explored The Ingram Collection – one of the most significantly publicly accessible collections of modern British art in the UK - as a historic context for artists working today, prompting conversations about what it is to make things, between disciplines and across generations.

We welcome proposals from artists and creative practitioners in disciplines including Painting, Performance, Sculpture, Video, Sound. Located within the School of Arts at The University of Gloucestershire, the studentship offers the chance to work within a network of researchers working across disciplinary boundaries, foregrounding practice-based modes of curation and/or the production of artefacts. We are interested in transdisciplinary research practices and would welcome applications for projects working in collaborative exchange that examine practice as research across media and utilising a diverse range of theoretical frameworks.

This project will be linked with collaborative research projects being developed within the school. These include the RWA Bristol; Eagle Gallery London; Sheffield Museums; The Lightbox, Woking; The Ingram Collection; The Henry Moore Institute; Leeds Museum; Folkestone Music; The New Art Centre; Sid Motion Gallery; Holtermann Fine Art; John Hoyland Estate; Standpoint Gallery.

How to apply: 

Please send a brief CV and covering letter by email outlining your suitability to:

Dr James Fisher

University of Gloucestershire
School of Creative Arts
Hardwick Campus
Cheltenham GL50 4BS

jfisher11@glos.ac.uk

Closing date: 20^th December 2024

Selection process:     Short-listed candidates will be invited for interview by video conference on Friday 10th January 2025.

Academic Contact: For informal enquiries and further information, please contact Dr James Fisher jfisher11@glos.ac.uk

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