Dr Richard Whitby

Biography

My current research is into the meanings of liveness and labour in performance: what kinds of value do physically present performers’ labour have in large budget or commercial productions? How is that same element used in other practices, away from the mainstream? Are there important qualities to be found in this, in an increasingly online cultural context?

A connection to my own creative work seems to be the factor of ‘visible labour’ - creative acts, gestures and decisions that remain perceptible to an audience, whether the work is live, gallery based or distributed digitally.

Most of my artwork is video; sometimes performance - and I make music. I often use humour; I often use handmade or rough modes of making. I tend to treat works and texts as containers, designed to house heterogenous materials that might seem like they are pulling the work apart. My work has been described as dark, weird and surreal - I like to use physical materials blended with digital techniques.

Often the subjects of my critical, research work are in some way opposite to the artwork I make myself, for example, the national displays that constitute Olympic opening ceremonies seek to celebrate the state, whereas my own artwork is more likely to critique it; mainstream blockbuster cinema usually employs a ‘sutured’ form or realism, whereas my videos use a disjunctive and rough editing style.

I studied at Wimbledon College of Art and then the Slade, and then did a PhD in Cultural Studies at the London Consortium.
I am looking for PhD students to supervise at UAL, particularly in areas including: Experimental film, collaborative or community-based filmmaking, experimental performance, urban regeneration.