Log in
Afterall is a research and publishing organisation founded in 1998 by Research Fellow Charles Esche and Professor Mark Lewis at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (UAL). Afterall focuses on contemporary art, and its relationship to wider theoretical, social and political fields. Researchers associated to Afterall undertake and commission research, which is disseminated to an international audience through publications and events. Afterall impacts on the cultural sector and an extended audience by providing a platform for critical and creative responses to art, curatorial and cultural practice and by shaping discourse in this area. The significance and wide reach of this impact is demonstrated through partnerships and high-profile cultural events, publication reach, and support from the cultural community.
As a result of Benedict Burbridge's work on photographic practices, he was asked to co-curate the Brighton Photo Biennial 2012, entitled Agents of Change: Photography and the Politics of Space. The Biennial had an impact on viewers' understanding of photography, photographic practices and the contingent meaning of photographic images. It also affected the artistic practice of participants and influenced a number of students to see connections between art and politics. Burbridge's research shaped the Biennial's thirteen exhibitions: he invited its artists and organised the exhibition of work in unusual spaces and modes that highlighted connections between image and context by underlining the influence that setting has on meaning.
Research on Nazi Germany and specifically its appropriation of Jewish-owned art led to Professor Sir Richard Evans's appointment to the Spoliation Advisory Panel of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, which resolves claims for cultural objects lost during the Nazi era. As the only historian on the Panel, Professor Evans has used his research to provide expert advice that has played a significant role in shaping the five reports and recommendations published by the Panel since 2008. This has resulted in the resolution of a number of disputes and played a role in the ongoing process of reconciliation following the Second World War. In 2012 Professor Evans was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Panel. He played a significant part in the deliberations of the Panel that led to the drafting of the Holocaust (Return of Cultural Objects) Act 2009.
Collaboration between the Liverpool Biennial and Liverpool School of Art & Design (LSAD) has stimulated public awareness of Biennial commissioned art and enlarged its presence in the social life of the city in two ways: by extending the opportunities for local communities to participate in public art projects in the region; and by improving the opportunities to talk about and share experiences of Biennial art.
This case study describes the impact of practice-led research in health and social care settings. There are three main areas of impact to this research:
Hundreds of school students, their teachers, local heritage groups, audiences at live events and thousands of people engaging in online activities have benefited from a University of Bristol research project called Resurrecting the Past: Virtual Antiquities in the Nineteenth Century. The project uses the medium of a 3D online model of the Pompeian Court of the Crystal Palace to promote awareness of the Palace and provide access to knowledge about it. Just as significantly, the project has explored how history is interpreted and inspired innovative ways of teaching. The research has not only illuminated a particular place and period but also investigated the relationships between 19th-century physical and 21st-century virtual reconstruction. Perhaps most importantly, it has given young people a deeper, transferable understanding of the nature of history and historical `facts'.
In 2007, the Dutch Ministry of Education introduced the Cultural Canon of the Netherlands: 50 events, artefacts and people that every citizen should know, including the Dutch modernist movement, De Stijl. The canon was designed to guide school curricula and to create a sense of shared Dutch heritage and responsibility. In response, in 2011 the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag opened a 750m sq De Stijl display, promoted as the permanent Dutch `home' for De Stijl and definitive port of call for scholars and the public. The display's characterisation of De Stijl was heavily indebted to Michael White's De Stijl and Dutch Modernism (2003).
The Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery in Exeter was completely redeveloped 2007-2011. Lalic was commissioned to make and permanently install three paintings related to her extensive Colour and Metal group for negotiated sites integral to the remodelled building. Through these paintings the large audience at RAMM, and beyond, gained an understanding of the relationship between the site, colour, pigment and metal. This includes an understanding of innovations in contemporary painting, of how painting might relate to the environment, an awareness of landscape as having a material history, of the development and significance of this extensive series of works and, in the Museum, the relation between the works by Lalic and other works in the collections and on exhibition.
Nowhereisland by artist Alex Hartley was a public artwork curated and produced by Claire Doherty as part of the Situations public art commissioning programme. This large-scale touring public artwork and accompanying online programme of activity enabled over 23,000 active participants (including over 10,000 young people) from 135 countries to reimagine civic responsibility and citizenship and to rethink the nature of place, belonging and nationhood within the context of the London 2012 Olympiad. As an internationally recognised example of progressive, time-based, participatory public art Nowhereisland helped change perceptions about the nature of public art.
This case study demonstrates the impact of the Cass' research that has promoted and supported the now pivotal role of Installation art and Artists' Writing on the wider field of artistic and curatorial practice over the last decade and more specifically since 2008.
The body of research based on de Oliveira/Oxley's activities as curators and writers has been instrumental in the development of emerging forms of practice and critical discourse. Installation art highlighted significant changes in the understanding of the idea of the `medium', the institution and the relationship between artists, curators and audiences. This research is documented on their website www.writinginstallation.org.