Susan Brind can act as Primary Supervisor or Co-Supervisor.
Research Keywords: Landscape, Place, Expanded Sculptural practice, Liminality
I am an artist, writer, curator and academic, developing innovative work for exhibitions, publications and projects of international significance. I have a track record of raising and managing substantial project budgets as a freelance curator, and of building national and international professional networks in HEI, public and cultural sectors.
Within my practice I work independently and collaboratively with Jim Harold, exhibiting extensively, nationally and internationally. Significant examples include: Cambridge Darkroom, 1991; Camden Arts Centre, London, 1994; Art Museum of Estonia, Tallinn, 1998; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, commission, 2001; RSA Edinburgh, 2008; CCA Glasgow, 2011; Renmin University, China, 2015; Agios Sozomenos, Cyprus, 2018; and as a contributor to Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories & Transformation, The Lighthouse, Glasgow, 2020.
Through sculpture, photography, video, sound and text – and directly linked to GSA’s research theme ‘Contemporary Art & Curating’ – I’m interested in the tension between the body as a site of understanding and rational forms of knowledge. Focus within individual projects has shifted from the body as subject and object, to more subtle forms of embodied knowing and to research questions relating to place and context: integrating ideas about the relationship between culture and nature, latterly relating to contested locations, movement or passage. Outcomes are disseminated through artefacts, exhibitions, conferences, journal articles and publications.
I have extensive experience on academic and research committees within GSA and of external examining, from undergraduate to PhD levels. I co-lead (with Dr Nicky Bird) Reading Landscape research group – commended in SoFA’s Periodic Review, 2018 – supporting the practice-led research interests of 18 staff, taking a leadership role in developing opportunities for interdisciplinary, collaborative research with external partners nationally and internationally. Specifically:
• Centre for Environmental Law & Governance, University of Strathclyde: “Law, Art & Island Resilience” (RSE funded) and National Island Plan: Embedded Artist Commission, co-curated with Monica Laiseca (Scottish Government Funded).
• Historic Environment Scotland: focusing on the archaeological site, Scalan Mills (supported by HES and GSA RDF) and INCAS network (RSE funded) exploring art-archaeology collaborations within contemporary settings.
• Creative Centre for Fluid Territories, an international, inter-disciplinary research group – involving Nottingham Trent, University of Bergen, University of Nicosia and GSA – questioning place identity (supported by GSA RDF and individual participating universities).
I’m interested in the presentation of, engagement with, and impact of art within and out-with gallery settings, and understanding how context affects its production and reception. I was a member of the Board of Directors of The Common Guild (2006-16), including the co-presentation of the Detours Syposium on the relationship between curating and place and, previously, was one of the founding Board members of The Modern Institute, Glasgow (1997-2006). In addition to helping to shape the visual arts infrastructure in Glasgow, curatorial projects include: "The Reading Room" (for Book Works, between London, Oxford and Glasgow, 1994) and the Artists Research Fellowships (for Visual Art Projects, Glasgow, 1999); both projects using unconventional exhibition spaces for the production and dissemination of work.
With a track record of PhD and MPhil completions, I’m interested in supervising doctoral students engaged with research relevant to my own interests and experience.
