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research area

Art produced beyond its historic institutions

Birds eye view of Matt Lodder holding tattoo book

This research area interrogates objects of our shared visual and material culture that do not reside in museums or otherwise conform to our expectations about what constitutes an artwork.

We place strong emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches to studying such objects, which stems from our conviction that interdisciplinary enquiry allows us to better understand complex issues that have transformed the world at different historical moments.

Some recent examples of this strand of our work include Dr. Lodder’s 2017–2021 exhibition British Tattoo Art Revealed; the publications of Dr. Ruíz-Gomez on the intersection of art and medicine in 19th century France, and Dr Grindon’s research on role of art in forms of counter-cultural political activism.

Visit our members staff profiles for more information on their publications and works. You can also contact members of staff for information on research supervision opportunities.

Our members

Dr Gavin Grindon

Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History

Research interests: modern and contemporary art history; art and politics; activist-art; institutional critique and its futures; visual and material cultures of social movements and of social control; aesthetics and affect in social movements; curatorial studies; intersections of curating, critique and political organising

Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Centre - Senior Lecturer (R), School of Philosophy and Art History

Research interests: tattooing and body modification in their historical and theoretical contexts; lowbrow, outsider, countercultural, kitsch and erotic art & visual culture; the visual and cultural contexts of sex and sadomasochism, including pornography; internet and digital art; methodologies of art historical and visual culture study

Dr Natasha Ruiz-Gomez

Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History

Research interests: Art and science/medicine; Auguste Rodin's oeuvre; Nineteenth-century French sculpture; Architecture and urban planning in nineteenth-century Paris; Auguste Rodin and science; Jean-Martin Charcot and art; Objectivity and medical imagery; Medical portraiture; Nineteenth-century medical photography; Theories of degeneration and genius

Dr Michael Tymkiw

Senior Lecturer, School of Philosophy and Art History

Research interests: Spectatorship; Histories of modernism; Exhibition design and curation; The relationship between art and politics; The use of digital technologies in museums and galleries; Intersections between pre-modern and modern art

Highlights of our research

Journal articles

‘Things of the Sea’: Iconographic Continuities between Tattooing and Handicrafts in Georgian-era Maritime Culture by Matt Lodder.
Shaking the Tyranny of the Cadaver: Doctor Paul Richer and the ‘Living Écorché’ by Natasha Ruiz-Gómez.

Books

Visual Cultures of Foundling Care in Renaissance Italy by Dianna Presciutti.
Nazi Exhibition Design and Modernism by Michael Tymkiw.

Press

An article in the Guardian features Matt Lodder’s research about tattooing.

Exhibitions

British Tattoo Art Revealed curated by Matt Lodder.
Gee Vaucher: Introspective, co-curated by Stevphen Shukaitis (affiliated staff member from Essex Business School).

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