ResearchWorks (in person): Finding affinities: Doing practice-research in non-arts contexts

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Join Sophie Hope in conversation with Professor Becky Shaw (Prof in Fine Art Practice at Birmingham City University) and Dr Anna Macdonald (Reader in Movement at UAL: Central Saint Martins) for a discussion about the difficulties and possibilities of building arts-research into non-arts situations and infrastructures.

Becky Shaw is an artist, researcher and Professor in Fine Art Practice at Birmingham City University. She makes live, collaborative artworks that examine the tension between individuals, environment, tools and social structures, often in institutions of 'public good' including healthcare, education, utilities and work. Following her creative practice PhD in 1998, which involved working with palliative care patients, Becky developed a series of collaborations in healthcare and, then, collaborations with practitioners including engineers, architects and social scientists. Recently she has been exploring the public life of infrastructure: this currently includes working with energy researchers to explore heating transition in Romania, Finland, Sweden and the UK as Co-I, lead artist managing team of 4 artists for a large AHRC funded project.  

Anna Macdonald is a Reader in Movement based at UAL: Central Saint Martins. As a dance artist/scholar, she focuses on the relationship between the body, time and affect and uses film to expose the resonance of simple movements, such as, moving from ‘here to there’, ‘holding’ or ‘getting slower’. She specialises in working with others – looking to find movement in situations that feel intractable. Her work is regularly exhibited in both festival and gallery settings and has generated interdisciplinary findings in the fields of health, science and law, within large-scale projects funded by AHRC, Arts Council England and Wellcome Trust. She is currently PI on the AHRC Choreography of Consent network and a Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London.

Guildhall School’s ResearchWorks is a programme of events centred around the School’s research activity, bringing together staff, students and guests of international standing. We run regular events throughout the term intended to share the innovative research findings of the School and its guests with students, staff and the public.

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