The TVAD Research Group, based in the School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, researches relationships between text, narrative and image. We publish books, journal articles, host a double-blind peer-reviewed journal, Writing Visual Culture, and host events including international conferences.
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What does it mean to leave everything behind to start again? What happens when the problems of victimisation, lack of work, or exploitation – the very reasons that compelled one to migrate in the first place – are experienced in a newly adopted country?
Faced with the question of ‘What does migration mean in the UK today?’, second year University of Hertfordshire (UH) graphic design and illustration students were tasked with representing such issues in a single poster. Working individually, the project ran for two months and was part of a larger brief where the students also wrote essays addressing a range of ethical issues in design.
The brief for this work was intentionally broad. And as can be seen from this selection, the outcome was a wide range of responses, from the personal and autobiographical, to news stories, to designs that touch on the aims and ambitions of the Migration Museum itself.
Many UH students are either migrants themselves, or the children/grandchildren of migrants. As such, for some, the project opened a space to speak to family members about their migratory experiences. For others, it was a chance to respond to the dominant tabloid narratives of ‘othering’ that have been so prevalent in recent press coverage of the current ‘migration crisis’.
In this digital age, one can often forget how the poster has long been a vehicle for the dissemination of (mis)information about the subject of migration. Whether as government propaganda, or grass-roots campaigns seeking to challenge the mistreatment of migrants, the poster has the ability to condense a complex range of issues into a single graphic space. As many of these student designs reveal, it still remains a powerful visual tool.
Chosen by Curator Sue McAlpine, a selection of these posters are currently on display along the stairwell and entrance corridor to the Migration Museum at The Workshop, 26 Lambeth High Street, London, SE1 7LB. http://www.migrationmuseum.org
Last week, I was interviewed by Jane Housham (Publisher, University of Hertfordshire Press), and filmed by Chris Dunkley, for a short film about Open Access publishing. The interview was based on the fact that my book,Designing Worlds: National Design Histories in an Age of Globalizationwas published as an open access book as well as in hardback in 2016 by Berghahn. The book is available as an entire pdf and the chapters are available as individual pdfson the publishers' website. I co-edited this book with Professor Kjetil Fallan of the University of Oslo. Both of the editor's institutions - the University of Oslo and the University of Hertfordshire - contributed funds to Berghahn to support the open access book. You can watch the film on Youtube and hear more about my experience of open access publishing. Although the initial impact has not been as great as I had hoped, I remain convinced that there will be longer term benefits in terms of increased readership and use of the book, and I remain committed to the ethos of open access.
Professor Grace Lees-Maffei TVAD Research Group Leader.
The In Pursuit of Luxury conference 2017 revolves around luxury, sustainability and waste. We will ask: Is sustainable luxury attainable or is it an oxymoron?
We welcome debate on what Luxury means on individual, social and cultural levels. Can this be enhanced through consumption?, and if so how do we deal with materials in a way that aspires to zero environmental impact. The implications of circular economies, supply chains and a reassessment of the actual value of materials, are considered in the context of Luxury. Why for example, are diamonds more valuable than recycled plastic? Rarity is one answer, but perhaps there are others.
The 2017 conference provides a platform to examine and expand our understanding of luxury within the sustainable context. By inviting contributions from various disciplines, we aim at generating a lively debate on the past, present, and future of luxury. For the first time, we welcome submissions of Fashion Films that explore luxury through visual storytelling and look forward to including this engaging media as part of the conference.
Who
This event is a collaboration between The School of Creative Arts at the University of Hertfordshire, and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York.
Dr Ivan Phillips and Kim Walden - School of Creative Arts, University of Hertfordshire
There has been much debate this year about what kind of relationship Great Britain wants to have with Europe, and indeed with the rest of the world: from the lofty aspirations of the Higher Education Academy’s framework aim to ‘internationalise higher education’ to the stark realities of the Brexit referendum result in June.
At a more local level when the University of Hertfordshire published its own strategic plan with a focus on global perspectives in the curriculum, teaching staff in the School of Creative Arts Critical and Cultural Studies (C&CS) Network set out to explore what it means in the classroom.
Each Network member was invited to choose one picture which articulated how they addressed the objective in their day-to-day teaching practice. The results were thought-provoking and so was the discussion that ensued.
Donald Trump’s road to the White House has been punctuated by as series of naked protests, ranging from topless women at Trump’s polling station to Spencer Tunick’s nude installation of 130 naked protesters outside the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. These protesters continue a long history of naked demonstration – and nakedness has long been employed as a gesture of defiance, highlighting the plight of the oppressed.
In a time when media is saturated with nudity, the naked body might seem to have lost its power. But amid fears that Trump’s administration will set back women’s rights by decades, naked protest may have regained relevance.
When 100 semi-naked protesters marched to Trump Tower on November 19, some presented their bodies as metaphors for the human planet, sensitive to climate change. Others used their bodies to express a fear that women, under Trump, would become a marginalised group. These protesters’ nudity is a defiant response to revelations during Trump’s campaign about his attitudes towards imperfect bodies, confronting Trump’s “man of the people” act by showing him what real America looks like. If Trump is to represent “ordinary Americans”, he must learn to accept them in all shapes and sizes.
But these were more than just naked bodies. Protesters had decorated their bodies with fake wounds and scars, representing the damage that Trump’s administration may cause. This is a warning that if the administration wields too much power, the powerless will suffer.
Trump’s election has left many Americans feeling overwhelmingly powerless. It would make sense, then, for them to resort to a method of protest that has long been associated with oppressed and minority groups. Undressing is a tool that is at almost any protester’s disposal: a last line of defence that is almost universally accessible. It is an act of defiance that is still available even to those who are disempowered by low status, by lack of funds, or simply by ordinariness. So Mexican farmers protesting government appropriation of their land in 1992 turned to naked protest as a last resort, explaining their action by saying “we are stripping because … we don’t have money to buy an ad in the news … we have no other arms, all we have are our bodies”. This movement, which became known as the 400 Pueblos, continues sporadically to this day.
Members of the social group 400 Pueblos (400 towns) protest in 2005.Iván Stephens/EPA
Human conflict is predicated upon the relational power of opposing parties. Power often stems from control of tangible resources, but is also exercised symbolically, through bodily gestures. Foucault’s writing on subjugation equates power to control of the body. In times of conflict, dominance is asserted through actions that demonstrate control over the “docile” bodies of others. Conversely, to evidence control over one’s own body in the face of an enemy is to maintain control over one’s dignity and identity.
Perhaps the most recognisable example of protest undressing is captured in Ladislav Bielik’s photograph of a man peacefully protesting the Soviet occupation on Czechoslovakian streets in 1968. The image shows him ripping open his shirt to reveal his bare chest, presenting it defiantly to an oncoming tank. His shirt rending is equivalent to the gesture of a raised fist, expressing a pent-up anger so overwhelming that it can no longer be contained internally, and is forced out of the body in the form of a visible gesture. When a bare chest is pressed against a canon, as in Bielik’s photograph, the stark inequality seems unfair. The conflict is revealed as unjust, with the opponents clearly presented as victim and oppressor.
Such gestures appear to transform the sight of a fragile, exposed body into a show of raw force, with the power to overcome the might of opposing forces.
Naked power
By undressing in public, protesters assert what little power they still have. Undressing is not just a means of removing clothes, but a meaningful gesture that expresses a shift in attitude from compliance to defiance. At the same time, it is a direct challenge to those, like Trump, who are prone to objectifying the female body.
Nakedness has been employed for similar purposes by Femen, in protests against objectification, specifically the feeling that women have been “stripped of ownership” of their own bodies. Femen exploit the power of nudity to counteract “ornamental meanings of female nakedness”, though not because they feel that nudity has innate power; they achieve power via, not through, naked flesh. These protesters present the body not as a passive, erotic object, but as an unpredictable, intimidating Other.
The otherness of the female form is dependent on its unfamiliarity. Historically, the female body has been strange and mysterious, and as a result have been the subject of numerous myths and misconceptions, some of which persist in the US today.
Women in Los Angeles demonstrate against the election of Donald Trump.Mike Nelson/EPA
Women of past centuries have been able to exploit the perception of their bodies as peculiar or even monstrous. The Irish legend of Cú Chulainn, for example, describes how, when he turns against his uncle King Conchobor during a bout of youthful revolt, the king sends out a company of women to “expose … their boldness to him”. The young warrior is so intimidated by what he sees that he retreats. Similarly, in Jean de La Fontaine’s The Devil of Pope Fig Island (1674), a woman is able to ward of the devil by flashing her “gash”. Believing the woman’s “gash” to be a wound inflicted by terrible violence, the demon imagines that the woman’s husband must be even more monstrous than he, and retreats in fear.
When their male suppressors are ignorant of the female body and what it can do, women like these can exploit rumour and misinformation to de-eroticise their bodies.
That is not to say that a body must be de-eroticised in order to become powerful. Indeed, there is tremendous power in the erotic presentation of the body, as any burlesque performer will attest. The upcoming World Burlesque Games will demonstrate how empowering it can be to invite objectification in the right setting. Audiences and performers of neo-burlesque locate striptease in a post-feminist world, in which bodies of all shapes, sizes and genders deserve to be the subject of an erotic gaze.
Anti-Trump protesters reveal that this post-feminist ideal is still a distant dream for mainstream America. The mere fact that their nudity attracts press attention is evidence that the US still lags behind more liberated parts of the world in their approach to female nakedness. If the Trump administration does set back feminism, as so many fear it will, naked protest will continue to be an appropriate and effective tool for America women over the course of his presidency. So long as the administration objectifies the female body, protesters will be able to use their own bodies to confront the status quo.
Dr Grace Lees-Maffei, Chair, Researcher Development Working Group.
This week, researchers from across the University of Hertfordshire met in our wonderful Weston Auditorium for the second biennial researcher development conference. The first, in September 2014, sought to promote understanding and awareness of the value and practice of researcher development and the development opportunities for researchers available within the University and externally, through organizations including, most notably, Vitae. But we also took a good look at the actual research being conducted within the University's ten Schools through a dynamic PechaKucha session which promoted, particularly, the work of our early career researchers.
Theme Champion for Global Economy, Dr Chamu Kuppuswamy, takes a selfie with Prof John Senior, Pro-VC Research and Enterprise, and Dr Sylvie Magerstadt, Heritage, Cultures and Communities Theme Champion.
ResDev16 adapted this winning formula. Following an introduction by Prof John Senior, our Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), the six research 'champions' spoke about their respective themes:
Professor
David Barling who leads the University's research on Food drew attention to the parlous ratio of 2 billion obese and 1 billion malnourished people in the world. Work in the CRIPPAC research group analyses the importance of environment and culture in our food choices and opportunities, Prof Barling noted. Dr Chamu Kuppuswamy continued the Global Economy emphasis in introducing work in her area, calling for research to cross boundaries as well as geo-political borders. Speaking of research in Health
& Wellbeing, Dr Frances Bunn outlined the sheer breadth of areas of enquiry that it engages. She highlighted the importance of work on the lifecourse, pointing to Prof Claire Goodman's work on dementia. Dr Sylvie Magerstadt champions research in Heritage, Cultures & Communities. She followed up Frances Bunn's point about the importance of communicating our research to academic and non-academic audiences by outlining her plan for a 'Culture Talks' channel on YouTube to promote research on the Heritage, Cultures and Communities theme. Next, Dr
Farshid Amirabdollahian introduced the Information & Security research theme as extending from the secure handling of data to cutting-edge research in toxicology, with safety being paramount in each case. Innovation occurs on the friges of discplines, he enthused. Finally, Dr Philip Lucas explained that the University already has researchers working on space in disciplines ranging from from astronomy to fine art. He referred to the prominence of UH researchers in the recently publicised identification of Proxima b, an earth-like planet which may have the potential to host life. Dr Lucas plans to extend research on Space by instituting a buddy system for researchers.
Dr Helen Barefoot, Deputy Director for the Learning & Teaching Innovation Centre talked about the importance of Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching for connecting two core pillars of the University's activity as reflected in our strategic plan: teaching and research. Dr Barefoot explained that teaching and research are not inherently connected, as we sometimes assume; rather the connections between them need to be fostered, and explicitly drawn out. The Learning and Teaching Innovation Centre hosts an online toolkit for doing just that.
Dr Helen Barefoot discusses Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching. Photo: Grace Lees-Maffei.
The next session showcased the work of 18 researchers in just over an hour! How? Using the 3 -Minute Thesis(3MT®) format, we were given snapshots of 8 doctoral projects from finalists in a competition run by the Doctoral College. Speakers included Hayley Goode, who bravely began the session, and Alex Hocking,Jean Petric and David Turner. They talked about topics as diverse as the recognition and experiences of informal carers (Akua Owusu Nyantakyiwaa) and the impact of environment on galaxy evolution (Nancy Hine). The final 3MT addressed the difficulties faced by homeless men, whose lives are precarious and very short, typically extending no further than the forties, as Coral Westaway poignantly explained. Kathryn Kellett won the prize of £1000 in travel vouchers or cash equivalent. All other participants received runner-up prizes of £50 book vouchers.
Akua Owusu Nyantakyiwaa introduces her doctoral research on informal carers. Photo: Wendy Wills.
Prize giving for the ResDev16 3MT Competition. Photo: Frances Bunn.
While the judges deliberated, conference delegates were treated to a whistle stop tour of research being undertake across all ten Schools, again using the three-minute format. From the School of Life & Medical Sciences, Dr Rosalind Fallaize introduced her work ‘E-Nutri: The Future of Digital Personalised Nutrition Advice?’. Law's Dr Thomas Dunk outlined ‘The Role of the Individual in the Process of International Law Creation’. Dr Annabel Jay (Health & Social Work) examined 'How Women Experience an Artificial Onset of Labour’, with her study of 'Being Induced' concluding that the experience is one of liminality, betwixt and between two separate states. From the School of Education, Barry Costas outlined the usefulness of his literature review for uncovering a wide range of different perspectives on ‘The Voice of the Learner’ and its importance in education. For Engineering & Technology, Dr Saeid Safavi spoke about his project ‘Objective Control of Talker Verification’. New recruit to the University, Dr Ceri Houlbrook (Humanities) itemised some of the surprising things that people have put up chimneys and into the fabric of their homes, as has been discovered in her research with Prof Owen Davies in ‘The Concealed Revealed'. From Computer Science, Dr Ben Torben-Nielsen showed vividly how ‘Beautiful Brains Keep Us Healthy’ by examining some medical imaging which makes clear the different patterns witnessed. Next, Dr Wendy Williams (Physics, Astronomy & Maths) explained ‘The Evolution of Radio-Loud Active Galactic Nuclei using Low-Radio Frequencies’ and Dr Nika Balemenou (Hertfordshire Business School) changed the subject completely with her talk about her 'pseudo-longitudinal study from 2003 to 2016' into 'the development of Kavos, Corfu, into a tourism destination and the impacts on the local community’ as one of ‘Utopia or Dystopia?' Finally, Dr Silvio Carta from the School of Creative Arts gave us a snapshot of his research into big data, and 'How Computing is Changing Public Realm Data and Physical Space’.
Dr Silvio Carta (School of Creative Arts) talks about big data and public space. Photo: Grace Lees-Maffei.
Many more researchers from across the University exhibited their ideas at a Poster Session in the Atrium where delegates networked over lunch.
Hock Chye Gan presenting his research poster. Photo: Suzanne Fergus.
Suzanne Culshaw exhibited her poster with a useful mechanism for gathering feedback.
The conference then moved to our Law Court Building for two rounds of four parellel sessions, with each delegate choosing two topics from the following: 'Research-Informed Teaching and Research-Rich Teaching' with Dr Helen Barefoot; 'Setting Up a Mentoring Scheme' with Jill Lees; Bridget Russell and Frances Harris' introducing 'Ways to Raise Your Research Profile' and Kevin Flinn on 'Career Progression'.
Dr Kevin Flinn puts the roof on the house of career progression. Photo: Beverley Brathwaite.
Throughout the day, colleagues were tweeting positively about what they saw and heard. Take a look at the #ResDev16 twitterfeed for a flavour of the proceedings. Now delegates can reflect on what we have learned and begin to put that
into practice, while the Researcher Development Working Group can
reflect and use the feedback we will receive to start planning #ResDev18
See you there!
Selfie by Francesca Batzella of colleagues from the Law School in the audience at #ResDev16
As TVAD Visiting Researcher for 2015-16, my three
weeks at the University of Hertfordshire in February seemed to fly by. After
the initial shock of acclimatising from a hot Australian summer to an English
winter, I settled into a busy program of events. Everyone I met at UH was
friendly and I soon found that starting each morning in the café meant I would
run into someone I’d met previously – intentional or not, the centrally placed
café was well designed for a visitor to get to know people! As for the more formal
program, over a period of three weeks, I presented lectures on contemporary art
in Melbourne, modern Asian design and global design to students and staff
across the art and design departments. I also reviewed Interior Architecture
student work-in-progress, went to the opening of the Postgraduate
Interdisciplinary Exhibition and participated in the postgraduate DHeritage
Workshop.
Cumberland Lodge
For me, one of the highlights of my time with UH was
attending the History Department Annual Conference at Cumberland Lodge, over
the weekend of 12-14 February. The location, a grand 17th century country house
on the grounds of Windsor Great Park, was appropriately historic. The program
of presentations, though varied, had two provocative threads. The first was a
debate about historical agency, or, a series of questions around how we might
recover the stories of everyday people – beyond kings, queens and “famous” individuals,
researchers in history are working on issues such as the autonomy of 19th
century working class women, for example. A number of the presenters focused on
such finely nuanced histories that sought to give voice to “ordinary” individuals.
Windsor Great Park and Cumberland Lodge
The second provocative theme was the impact of new
technologies on history. From analyses of “big data” such as population or
environmental statistics to crowd-sourcing information, the “digital humanities”
approach to historical research presents numerous new avenues for research. Perhaps
because of the emphasis on statistics, information and data, the new approach
seemed a little at odds with the more traditional, archival research presented
at the conference. It may also be that the individual voices tend to get lost
in such big picture analyses. Finally, both the surrounds of Cumberland Great
Lodge and the chance to walk around Windsor Great Park rounded off a great weekend.
I managed to squeeze in a day trip up to Norwich where Dr Grace Lees-Maffei treated me to a wintery English walk (complete with ankle-deep mud) and a day at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts. I had read about Norman Foster's large hanger-like construction for the Sainsbury Centre- one of hisearliest designs - so it was good to finally see it. There was also an excellent exhibition of Alphonse Mucha's posters, paintings and graphics (no photos allowed though!).
Norwich in winter and Norman Foster's 1978 Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts
Heritage was a topic I spent a lot of time pondering
while at UH. In fact, heritage was something I felt like I couldn’t escape while
in the UK. Even turning on the TV at night, I saw several documentaries on heritage
topics such as railways, canals and historic homes. For me, it was therefore a great
opportunity to participate in the University of Hertfordshire DHeritage workshop.
This was a chance to hear postgraduate students’ projects and perspectives on
heritage and to understand a little about heritage as a practice in the UK (and
globally). A starting point for understanding
heritage – a shared past, protected for all to remember – soon became more
complex with questions such as which past should we protect? How should we
protect it and whose past is it anyway? From the many questions that emerged, I
left with the idea of heritage as a contested, dynamic and contemporary practice.
A sign warning motorists of the high-tech surveillance equipment in operation in Hatfield
Beyond my TVAD Visiting
Researcher trip to Hatfield, I also spent a few days in London at the Victoria
and Albert Museum’s National Art Library and the British Library, as well as a
couple of days in the University of Brighton’s Design Archives. This archival
research and the chance to have another look at the V&A collection provided
invaluable material and ideas for my forthcoming book, Modern Asian Design. Back at UH, I also gained a great deal from an
informal research workshop with Dr Steven Adams and Dr Grace Lees-Maffei in
which I presented some work in progress from the book. Overall, my three weeks in the UK as TVAD
Visiting Researcher was a fantastic opportunity to engage with stimulating ideas
and meet a lot of great people.
Dr Daniel Huppatz will join the TVAD Research Group as
TVAD Visiting Researcher for 2015-16, including a three-week study visit in
February 2016. I am delighted to announce the programme for his visit here.
Dr
Huppatz is a Senior Lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne,
Australia. His current research interests include mapping histories of modern
Asian design, Australian design, and histories of interior design and
architecture. As well as presenting papers at numerous academic conferences, Dr
Huppatz has been widely published in journals including Design Issues, Journal of
Design History and Design and Culture.
His other interventions include editing Design: Critical and Primary Sources (Bloomsbury, 2016), a collection of 75
essential texts on design from the mid-19th century to the present day,
covering key thinkers, movements and issues for design, and co-editing Unbounded: On the Interior and Interiority
(Cambridge Scholars Press, 2015).Huppatz is aco-founder of the Design History Australia Research Network, DHARN. He is currently working on a book
titled Modern Asian Design.
PROGRAMME
·TUESDAY 2nd
FEBRUARY 2016
2 pm,
Gallery Café. Welcome to the School of Creative Arts, and Tour, Dr Grace Lees-Maffei.
4 pm to 5.30 pm, LC108. Art Talk series. Dr Daniel
Huppatz, ‘Contemporary Art and Urbanism in Melbourne’, convened by Prof Simeon Nelson.
As a case study of
what’s happening in art elsewhere in
Australia, Dr Huppatz’s talk will examine the scene in Melbourne as a case
study. He will make links with illuminating examples of urbanism such as Fed
Square, the range of independent artists spaces, the laneways and graffiti and
stencil art. The talk will be richly illustrated throughout.
·WEDNESDAY
3rd FEBRUARY 2016
12.45 for
1 pm, 1A157 Lindop. TVAD Talks series. Dr Daniel Huppatz discusses his
work editing the monumental Design: Critical and Primary Sources.
3 pm to 5
pm, 1A157 Lindop, Reading Group. Session with TVAD and School research staff
and PG students. Texts will be tabled for discussion from Dr Daniel Huppatz, Dr
Grace Lees-Maffei, and colleagues. They are available on request from Dr Grace
Lees-Maffei g.lees-maffei@herts.ac.uk
11 am to 12.45 pm, Design Studio, Lindop Building. MA Art and Design,
Module: Discourse and Reflection, led by Kerry Andrews: Dr Daniel Huppatz, ‘The
International State of Design History’.
Over the course of
the 20th century kitchens became highly contested territory, caught
between designers’ certainties and users’ unruly responses to their
architectural and technological design interventions. Drawing on design
research documented in my recent book, Food and Urbanism (2015), in this
talk I explore how the foodspace of the kitchen became a critical design site
for fascinating battles about spatial behaviour and cultural meaning.
Respondent: Dr Daniel Huppatz.
·THURSDAY
11th FEBRUARY 2016
4 pm, AB146, Todd Building. Design Talks series. Dr
Daniel Huppatz discusses his forthcoming book in progress, Modern Asian
Design.
·MONDAY 15th
FEBRUARY 2016
11 am to 1 pm, BA (Hons) Interior Architecture & Design Studio. Research-informed
teaching session with Level 6. Led by Dr Daniel Huppatzwith Programme Leader, Dr Silvio Carta.
·TUESDAY
16th FEBRUARY 2016
9.45 am
to 4 pm, R010 de Havilland Campus. DHeritage,
Professional Doctorate in Heritage Workshop: ‘Global/Local Places’, Convened
by Dr Susan Parham, Head of Urbanism, Centre for Sustainable Communities.
