“What kind of work do you do in order to sustain your life?” The word “sustain” is a careful choice of words, because it implies something much more than earning money. I feel very lucky because the work I do to sustain my life financially is also the work that keeps my soul alive: teaching and research. This constant exchange of ideas sustains me intellectually, socially and politically. I spend some of my days in libraries (where I write articles and books) and some of my days guiding younger generations through a similar process of articulating their ideas (about or via works of art). Education opens horizons, politically awakens, aesthetically enrichens. In the US, and increasingly in Europe, it also a business. To the extent that education is a primary ideological state apparatus, I am clearly embedded within it and even benefit from this. But structural systems are not absolute: the university is a tool to be used creatively by those who populate it. I try and inculcate collaborative and mutually-supportive approaches to research, in order to dismantle the gladiatorial competitiveness that marks higher education in the US.
Biography. Is anyone really interested in this? I grew up in a small village in Wales, and went to the local state school. I wanted to be an artist but when the time came to go to art school I got scared. Instead I studied art history at a university whose purview was canonical, conservative and largely misogynist. After trying (and failing) to get various jobs in London I returned to education and did a PhD in art history, where I largely taught myself contemporary art. I worked for five years in the curating department at the Royal College of Art (which was fun), then two years at Warwick University (which was hell). In 2008 I moved to New York to teach in a public university, which is the best job I’ve ever had.
04.05.2011
Biography. Is anyone really interested in this? I grew up in a small village in Wales, and went to the local state school. I wanted to be an artist but when the time came to go to art school I got scared. Instead I studied art history at a university whose purview was canonical, conservative and largely misogynist. After trying (and failing) to get various jobs in London I returned to education and did a PhD in art history, where I largely taught myself contemporary art. I worked for five years in the curating department at the Royal College of Art (which was fun), then two years at Warwick University (which was hell). In 2008 I moved to New York to teach in a public university, which is the best job I’ve ever had.
04.05.2011
