[spectre] STIP: PhD studentship, Net Art East: Post-Socialist Artists’ Networks (London)

[Andreas Broeckmann]

From: Susannah Worth <susannah.worth at tate.org.uk>
Date: May 2, 2018
Subject: STIP: PhD studentship, Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate

London, Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate, October 01, 2018
Application deadline: May 29, 2018

Collaborative PhD studentship Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate

Net Art East: Post-Socialist Artists’ Networks and New Media

Tate and the Courtauld Institute of Art invite applications from 
eligible candidates for a full-time collaborative PhD studentship, 
funded for 3 years by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to 
commence in October 2018.

The proposed doctoral research aims to break new ground in the 
understanding of 1990s art and networks in the former USSR, the Soviet 
satellite countries and former Yugoslavia by studying the effects of the 
internet on creative developments in countries with little institutional 
support for contemporary art.

Opening with a survey of the material legacy of digital art from this 
period (by tracing early social media such as listservs, and finding out 
what ‘net art’ still exists and in what form), this research project 
will adopt a comparative methodology in assessing how the critical and 
historical positions adopted by net art in former Eastern Europe were 
inflected by different experiences of post-socialism in the aftermath of 
so-called ‘transition’. To what extent did digital culture align itself 
with or seek to oppose the ideological shifts that accompanied debates 
about neoliberalism and globalisation in different political contexts?
Much European net art of the early period, both from the former-East and 
from the former-West, had an activist dimension. It experimented with 
avant-gardism and with legacies of conceptual art, playing up 
collaboration across national boundaries and playing down commodity 
status and overt technical sophistication. It was often sceptical 
towards the established art world. The research seeks to address the 
shortage of historical perspectives on a field in which the most 
prominent artworks are hard to access at a time when the salience of art 
that engages with Internet culture is increasing.

Some of the following additional questions might be used to frame the 
project:
•    How and why did approaches to net art differ in different national 
and regional contexts? •    To what extent is an ‘area studies’ approach 
compatible with the study of net art, in view of its fundamentally 
transnational character? •    Does it make sense to argue for the 
existence of a distinct ‘post-socialist’ net art? •    How might we 
shape a more equitable future for the discipline that avoids recourse to 
a default tendency towards Cold War thinking?
•    How significant was the Open Society Institute (the George Soros 
Foundation) in establishing an infrastructure for new intersections 
between contemporary art and new media in the region? •    How true is 
the standard narrative that these histories are lost (or in the process 
of becoming lost)? •    How might works be brought into a collection and 
conserved?

In addition, the student will engage with tasks at Tate that will 
benefit the student, the museum and the wider research community, including:
•    undertaking research on artists and artworks in relation to Tate’s 
developing collecting strategy
•    preparing one or more public-facing short research feature articles 
about aspects of the research for publication on Tate’s research web 
pages and summaries about individual Eastern European artworks
•    contributing and helping to organise one or more workshops at Tate 
about this subject
•    transcribing (and possibly translating) a number of agreed 
interviews with artists and academics that form an integral part of the 
research, with a view that some or all will be made publicly accessible 
on Tate’s website.

At Tate the student will be able to draw on the expertise of a range of 
staff, including curatorial, time-based media conservators, as well as 
the broader collection care and research teams, and will gain 
professional insights and experience in doing so. Tate has currently 
over thirty doctoral students, and the successful applicant will be part 
of a lively student community within the museum.  Applicants are 
expected to show a high level of preparedness for independent research 
in this still little mapped field. It is desirable that the applicant is 
fluent in one or more languages from the region.

Principal supervisor: Prof. Julian Stallabrass (Courtauld Institute of Art)
Second supervisor: Juliet Bingham (Curator, International Art, Tate)

ENTRY CRITERIA

We invite applications from candidates with a strong academic background 
in modern art associated with Eastern Europe or net art, archival skills 
and a clear and engaging research proposal that can be developed through 
the available research supervision. The candidate must have an excellent 
command of English, both spoken and written, and it would be 
advantageous to have a good knowledge of one or more other languages. 
The candidate should show evidence of an ability to write about artworks 
for a specialist and for non-specialist audiences in an engaging and 
accessible way. Successful applicants are expected to have a good first 
degree (at least 2.1, or international equivalent) in a relevant field 
of humanities, and have obtained, or are currently working towards a 
Master’s degree at Merit or Distinction level or international equivalent.

TO APPLY

Applications should be made by email to pgadmissions at courtauld.ac.uk at 
The Courtauld Institute of Art and should include the following 
documents as electronic attachments:

•       a covering letter, stating why you are applying for this 
particular collaborative opportunity and why you think your academic 
interests qualify you for this award
•       a research proposal of up to 1,000 words (max.)
•       a curriculum vitae
•       a transcript of your qualifications to date (and anticipated 
results if still studying for an MA)
•       if relevant, proof of English language proficiency
•       a writing sample (e.g. MA essay or dissertation; images may be 
omitted if the document is too large otherwise to send by email)
•       contact details for two referees
Please ensure the files are labelled as follows: ‘surname, first name, 
application component’ (e.g. writing sample / CV).

Closing date for applications: 29 May 2018 Interview date: week 
beginning 11 June

MORE INFORMATION

If you have any queries or would like to discuss this opportunity before 
applying, please contact Julian Stallabrass at 
Julian.Stallabrass at courtauld.ac.uk.

The successful student will join a large cohort of Collaborative 
Doctoral Partnership award students at Tate, as well as the thriving 
postgraduate community at The Courtauld Institute of Art. For more 
information about doctoral students at Tate see 
http://www.tate.org.uk/about/our-work/tate-research/research-posts/studentships.

The award is subject to the AHRC’s terms, to which applicants should 
refer before applying (see the Research Funding Guide: 
https://ahrc.ukri.org/documents/guides/research-funding-guide-v4-2/). 
The studentship is funded through the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral 
Partnership programme, and includes tuition fees up to the standard 
Home/EU amount and an annual maintenance grant. Note that overseas 
students are not eligible for AHRC awards (except under specific 
circumstances) and EU students need to assess whether they are eligible 
for fees and maintenance or fees only. Details of current maintenance 
and fee rates can be found on the Current Research Awards page 
(https://ahrc.ukri.org/skills/phdstudents/currentawardholders/) on the 
AHRC website. The AHRC doctoral award does not include funds for travel 
but please note that the student will be able to apply for external 
grants that would help to enable travel in the region.

Reference / Quellennachweis:
STIP: PhD studentship, Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate. In: 
ArtHist.net, May 2, 2018. <https://arthist.net/archive/18029>.

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