This research area brings together academics from art history. Our research investigates different topics surrounding the conceptualisation, production, representation and experience of spaces and places.

Among the most important ways we investigate space and place is through research about the history, theory, and practice of curation, which finds its intellectual home in our Centre for Curatorial Studies. We also address topics that include the ways that borders and migration have informed contemporary architecture and street art in Europe; the extent to which modernist practices and ideas have shaped the approaches to Fascist built environments; and the role of digital technologies in altering the perception in museums and sites of cultural heritage.

Our members

Head of School - Professor (R), School of Philosophy and Art History
Research interests: visual hagiography (especially miracle scenes); charitable institutions (hospitals, confraternities); visual culture of social problems; late medieval and Renaissance Italian visual culture (1300-1600); reception theory; visual culture of the mendicant orders (especially Franciscans, Dominicans, Augustinians, Servites); gender and sexuality; medical humanities
Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History
Research interests: Modernity in Latin America; Visual culture; Space and politics; Memory politics; Human-nature relations; Water, hydraulics, liquid ecologies in the arts; Environmental aesthetics; Photography; Digital culture; Contemporary visual production in Latin America; VENEZUELA RESEARCH NETWORK. With Dr. Penélope Plaza (University of Reading), Dr. Rebecca Jarman (University of Leeds).
Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History
Research interests: modern and contemporary art history; art and politics; activist-art; institutional critique and its futures; visual and material cultures of social movements and of social control; aesthetics and affect in social movements; curatorial studies; intersections of curating, critique and political organising
Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History
Research interests: Spectatorship; Histories of modernism; Exhibition design and curation; The relationship between art and politics; The use of digital technologies in museums and galleries; Intersections between pre-modern and modern art

Highlights of our research

Press

Exhibitions

Related courses

Are you looking to study an art history degree at undergraduate, masters or PhD level? Explore some of the exciting courses below, or visit our subject areas to find out more about the degrees and modules that Essex has to offer. If you're not sure which subject is right for you, you can always search for a course. If you're looking for research opportunities, or to find a supervisor, you can use our research finder by searching for your research interests.

 

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