Monica Biagioli

Biography

My work is situated in the area of cultural heritage, social value, and sense of place through artistic and creative activities. Exhibitions such as the Sound Proof exhibition series were documented in academic journal articles and presentations and used as a case study to account for the social value of independent artistic practice.

In the area of social value, my focus is to explore ways to capture qualitative indicators. The aim is to engender reflection and support communication in various contexts through the use of affordances. With my research collaborators I have conducted testing and application of a technique I developed, the Zine Method, in a wide range of settings. The technique was developed through arts-based methods research processes in Finland, Italy, Lithuania, Spain, UK and US: Beyond Text EU-funded research project, MOBTS, University of Central Lancashire; HAMK Häme University of Applied Sciences in Hämeenlinna, Educating Creatively Conference at Storyhouse Theatre, Vilnius University in Kaunas, UAL workshops, and Arts of Management Symposium at University of Basilicata, Matera. Its application was tested at conferences such as IFKAD Bari, GNOSIS London, IFKAD Dresden and ACAT Conference; and presented at Zamek Cieszyn, Poland and RSA NHS R&D mental health care session in Liverpool. It has been applied as a research method by PhD and MA students and is used in leadership coaching.

In my current research I continue to explore the function of art to engender a sense of place and explore means to account for this contribution to communities in terms of social value. The aim is to contextualise artist-led activity within its socio-political sphere of influence and recognise its role in cultural heritage.