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This studentship is a collaborative PhD project with South Ayrshire Museums and Galleries. Working across three sites (Rozelle House and MacLaurin Galleries, Ayr, and the McKenchnie Institute, Girvan), the project will use creative practice as a research methodology to explore the 'performance' of public sites. Museums and galleries are frequently performed through guided tours, talks, exhibitions and a variety of other public events. This project seeks to develop new knowledge about how sites are constructed through performance and how artistic and creative strategies of performance can affect how a site is experienced and perceived. Working alongside a range of 'users', from staff to visitors to community groups, the candidate will develop an extensive knowledge of the rich history and heritage of these museums and galleries, developing a performance aesthetic from the existing relationships of the sites.
As Simon Coleman and Mike Crang (2002) suggest, ‘instead of seeing places as relatively fixed entities (...), we need to see them as fluid and created through performance’. This conceives of cultures and places as constantly changing and redefining themselves. Museums and galleries might therefore be understood as ‘events’, operating through the mobilisation and reconfiguration of space ‘into new configurations and therefore transforming them’. This doctoral project will explore the potential of performance as a methodology for 'staging' these sites.
The aim is to understand the existing performative processes operating in cultural sites at the same time as questioning how these strategies might be developed. In an increasingly commercialised cultural sector, museums and galleries are under significant pressure to prioritise 'image and consumer satisfaction' (Malcolm Foley and Gayle McPherson, 2000). This project investigates strategies of performance as a progressive cultural act that can be utilised by museums and galleries to resist the negative effects of the commercial market.
Funding Notes:
Successful candidates will receive a £6000 annual stipend payable for three years and payment of tuition fees (current value £3400).
This studentship is open to Home/EU candidates with a first degree in a relevant discipline.
Non-EU students can apply, but will not receive the stipend and will be required to pay fees.
Candidates must be available to commence their studies in October 2012.
All interviews will take place during between 21st May and 8th June 2012.
Please note that this project is part of a competitive round and there is no guarantee that it will be awarded.
References:
How to apply:
Postgraduate Degree by Research Applications should be completed online at http://www.uws.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/apply/
Please quote the Project Reference Number when applying.
Applications without all relevant documents will not be considered.
If you have any queries please contact Charlie Fielding on + 44 (0)141 848 3919 or email PGR@uws.ac.uk