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The case study focuses on exhibitions and artistic collaborations undertaken by the Centre for the Study of Surrealism and its Legacies. It demonstrates an impact on cultural life arising from the presentation of cultural heritage, as well as influence on creative practice. The exhibitions, co-curated by David Lomas (Centre Director), drew upon the Centre's academic research to enrich public understanding of surrealist art and ideas. Both exhibitions exceeded their attendance targets and elicited a strongly positive public reaction; they have also had a lasting impact on the galleries' approach to exhibition making. Collaboration generated new ideas and directions for the artists concerned.
Professor Dawn Ades has dedicated much of her research to the history of Surrealism and in particular to the ethnographic interests of surrealist artists. In 2011 Ades used this research to inform her major exhibition of Surrealist art at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Through a consultation process involving local First Nations community representatives, Ades secured permission for the Gallery to use First Nations objects and established connections for the Gallery for future projects in this area. The popular and critical success of the exhibition resulted in over 100,000 visitors and greater reputation and credibility for the Gallery.
This case study refers to the impact of the work of one member of the submitting unit. The assertion is that the work of Zubillaga has had impact on civil society, cultural life and public discourse. It has: illuminated a repository of cultural capital (through archival research) and interrogated cultural values (specific to a Latin American context) enriched the imaginations of those who have viewed his films; enhanced sensibilities with regard to the cultural themes they explore; and extended the range and improved the quality of evidence, argument and expression to enhance public understanding of Venezuelan and more broadly Latin American cultural and political memory.
The case study discusses the impact of Dr Patricia Allmer's major exhibition and catalogue project Angels of Anarchy: Women Artists and Surrealism held at Manchester Art Gallery between September 2009 and January 2010. The exhibition had a significant social, cultural and economic impact attracting over 9,600 visitors and winning awards for being Manchester's "tourism experience of the year" (described as "one of the most successful cultural tourist campaigns that Manchester has ever run" by Renaissance Northwest). A full programme of events ran alongside the exhibition including schools' workshops, short courses, cinema screenings and the development of a significant online resource all of which has contributed to a re-examination of the place of women artists in the Surrealist canon.
The nature of the impact described in this case study is twofold. First the case study evidences the impact Dowd's research has had on learning and teaching in other Higher Education Institutions. The evidence for this lies in the use of Dowd's publications by educators on University courses in the UK, the US, Australia and elsewhere. Impact of books and articles published in the period 1998-2013 which are used in syllabi at other HEIs is evidenced by their inclusion in course documents published by those institutions during the census period for REF2014. The second, related, strand of impact may be ascertained by the extent to which the same body of research has been responded to and engaged with outside the domain of academic literature.
Research on world cinema at Durham University has led to collaboration with filmmakers, cinemas and film festivals regionally and internationally. Durham academics have assisted regional organisations to bring major figures of international independent cinema to North East England, in order to showcase work which would not normally achieve wide exposure, and to enhance public understanding of foreign film, culture and language. In doing so, they have helped those organisations to meet their own institutional objectives. Internationally, Durham research has led to jury membership at a film festival whose mission is to raise the profile of independent filmmaking in Ibero-America, and to provide financial support to encourage further film production. This participation has also led to changes in the festival's practice, in the form of increased involvement of jury members with an academic background.
This case study examines the impact of Catherine Wheatley's research into spectatorship, audiences, and critical contexts through engagement with the popular press and public-facing media institutions. It focuses on Wheatley's work with Sight & Sound, the monthly consumer magazine published by the British Film Institute, which reaches beyond academia to a cine-literate but non-specialist audience. Her research has influenced discussion and criticism of cinema for a large, interested cine-enthusiastic audience as well as contributing to broader public debate and cultural discussion of cinema through mass-media appearances. She has also judged a competition for budding female critics, encouraging more women to write thoughtfully on film, and nurturing a new generation of women critics through which her research has been able to influence the practice of film criticism more widely.
This case study is devoted to the impact of Ginette Vincendeau's research, which has influenced cultural life through the creation of more critically-informed audiences for French cinema. It focuses on (i) how her research insights have reached a non-academic, cine-literate large audience through screening introductions and lectures (in particular at BFI Southbank) and through the media (Sight & Sound, BBC Radio, and DVD commentaries) and (ii) how this research has had formative effects on secondary education in the UK (A-level French students) and on other audiences through different forms of cultural production (theatre).
On the basis of the research in her book Cinesexuality (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), Patricia MacCormack gave nine public lectures at Treadwell's bookshop in London (2009-2011) to 450 people in total, rethinking traditional ideas of gender, identity, feminism and occultism in cinema. All nine lectures sold out. She also appeared on 16 DVDs being interviewed or as interviewer, explaining and distributing key concepts from Cinesexuality that question how we watch as gendered viewers, and what licit and illicit paradigms constitute transgression and the politics of cinematic pleasure. Impact occurred via:
1) Increasing public understanding of the relationship between image and spectator with reference to identity, alterity and ethics;
2) Enabling public participation with themes in contemporary philosophy that validate multiple subject positions, and encourage social inclusion and equality through creative practice in film and other arts, as consumers and producers.
Research at Durham University led to an exhibition of contemporary visual art at Cornerhouse Gallery (Manchester) from April to June 2011 exploring the relationship between France and Algeria. New Cartographies: Algeria-France-UK enhanced the understanding of a non-specialist UK audience about a relationship which is historically important for both countries and central to contemporary geopolitics. It helped Cornerhouse pursue its visual arts strategy, and brought economic benefits to the gallery and the wider region by attracting a large audience. It provided the exhibiting artists with opportunities for creative and professional development by commissioning new work or showing work in the UK for the first time. The refusal of an entry visa for one of the Algerian artists became part of a political issue concerning UK immigration policy debated in the House of Lords.