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Described as `heroic' by Louise Clements (Artistic Director of QUAD, Derby), Dinu Li's very personal work has been seen as influential in the context of the development of political and economic change in China and the adoption of western contemporary art values. This year-long research project explored propaganda film productions from Chinese state cinema from the 1950s to the 1970s, with particular focus on themes of peasant uprising. Crescendo was the result of collaboration between Li and a group of villagers who had lost their homes to a road development — they feared corruption and were angry at the lack of compensation and the disregard to their human rights. Over the course of several clandestine meetings, a video art installation was created, with the villagers' participation. The work was considered too politically challenging for Shenzhen OCT Contemporary Art Terminal (OCAT Shenzhen), the host institution, and this underlined the tension between reaching out to a contemporary democratic participatory art process and the values of the current political regime in China.
The impact of Professor Taylor's work in interpreting modern and contemporary art has taken place on two complementary levels: on the one hand the lucid and accessible exposition, for a wide international reading public, of some of the most difficult, intractable, or provocative works of recent and contemporary art; and on the other, more specialist readings, again for an international reading public, of key tendencies in the broader range of modern art, from Cubism to the present day. Wide readership across Asia, Europe, and the United States has secured increased public understanding of art, and has influenced both policy and art practice.
The interdisciplinary study of Black and Latino visual cultures by Professor Celeste-Marie Bernier and Dr Stephanie Lewthwaite has led to the retrieval of lost and neglected art from the 19th and 20th centuries and to the display of this artwork for the first time. The research and recovery process has provided new information for curators and archivists who have begun to change their practice to reflect this expanded canon.
This case study focuses on three areas in relation to the social impact of art, across the categories of `cultural life' and `public discourse'.
1) Artistic collaborations with non-artistic specialists in order to generate new interdisciplinary pathways
2) Artistic collaborations with non-artists within a given community or non-artistic institutional setting in order to create new forms of artist-audience participation
3) The sharing of knowledge/skills between either non-artistic specialists or a non-specialist audience and artists in the production of a shared task or project.
4) Performance-based practice inside and outside of the gallery
The outward facing nature of this research, then, addresses the way such work tests the prevailing competences, boundaries and identities of artist and audience alike. This means researchers are involved with both artistic and non-artistic funding-bodies and agencies as the basis for work on a range of critical issues affecting the borders between the art institution and non-artistic settings and contexts.
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.
Dr Lukas Nickel's archaeological fieldwork, art historical research and philological study have led to his proposition of novel theories that question the conventional wisdom surrounding the influences on, methods of production and historical-contextual details of key genres and elements of the Chinese art historical canon, including the famous Terracotta Warriors. Both in China and internationally, his theories have motivated debate, experimentation, and informed and shifted interpretation amongst those working in a range of cultural institutions as well as the general public.
The pioneering research of Professor N Gentz and Dr J Ward into cross-cultural engagement and of Dr J Ward on Chinese film has been the basis for a series of ground-breaking educational and cultural collaborations between China and Scotland organised by Edinburgh's Confucius Institute for Scotland (CIS). These significantly enhanced the understandings of China held both by the public at large and by stakeholders across Scotland's business, cultural and educational sectors. Work on cross-cultural engagement through film and photography operated as a particular trigger for these increased exchanges on a range of matters between China and Scotland. The positive impact of these activities has been recognised by a range of stakeholders, including, most significantly, the Scottish Government.
Derek Matravers' research in aesthetics has contributed to the public discourse on art by offering a plausible postmodern definition of `art'. Matravers' definition offers a way of understanding art that places the emphasis on reasons, and thus moves beyond the obscurantism associated with contemporary art. His podcast on the subject, as part of the PhilosophyBites series, has taken the topic into public discourse. His work has also influenced the art world. Matravers participated in a conceptual art piece, where his ideas on the definition of art were incorporated into the art piece, effectively blurring the borders between the philosophy and the object of study.
The developing collaborative strategic relationship between Professor Ben Quash and the National Gallery stemming from Quash's research, in particular his unique exploration of religious art — or specifically `Christian' art along the dual lines of 'Art in Christianity' and 'Christianity in Art' — has impacted on the approach of this world-leading cultural institution in a number of ways. It has been central to the Gallery's decision to make `Art and Religion' one of its four lead research themes. It has been responsible for attracting significant financial support from donors impressed by the theological character of the questions Quash's research explores. It has resulted in the Gallery's commissioning of its most ambitious educational investment to date in a series of online educational resources; and it has influenced the Gallery's staging of its highly successful 2011 summer exhibition `Devotion by Design'. Finally, Quash's research has impacted on how the National Gallery's education department organizes the public study of religion and art.
The Unit's research is at the centre of changing approaches to the relationship between contemporary art and religious institutions by helping a variety of faith communities to reflect on their practices and by influencing public attitudes. The work focuses on 3 areas: the relationship between nature and spirituality; the spiritual well-being of individuals; the role of performance and temporary works of art to increase understanding of religious communities and sacred spaces. Our findings have been used in policy documents published by the Church of England on commissioning art in churches, in the National Conference of the Pagan Federation, the Swedenborg Society and by the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. These impacts are particularly relevant in the context of a new UK legal framework placing religious belief among the protected characteristics of Equality and Diversity.