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Professor Nigel Whiteley
Nigel Whiteley worked in Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts until August 2010.
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Professor of Visual Arts
Department: Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts
Degree: PhD, MA, BA
Associated research centres and groups: Art
Current Teaching
PhD supervision
'The deaths of painting' - responses of painting to (repeated) claims that it died in the 20th century
'Is there a contemporary realism in painting?'
MA supervision
'Real Art' aesthetics and theory in the 1990s
Undergraduate teaching
Dissertation supervision on fine art topics (3rd level)
'Art After Modernism' - changes in values and practices from the 1960s to the present (2nd level)
'Modernism' - values and practices in 'High' and 'Late' Modernism (1st level)
Research Interests
The scope of my writing is the 'visual arts' (my title is Professor of Visual Arts), by which I mean the (fine) arts that are visual, viz. art, architecture, and some design. My principal interest is cultural ideas, historically embedded. I am as interested in the ideas and values underlying the art forms, as the forms themselves. I am particularly interested in 'early Post-Modernism, the shift of cultural values that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.
My contribution to research in Art, and LICA, is providing an historical understanding of the present and its values. My research strategy is to continue to develop writing about changing value systems in the visual arts. This will take increasing account of LICA in terms of interdisciplinarity as well as multidisciplinarity.
In the current RAE period, some of my writing has dealt with changing architectural values from the mid-20th century to the present (ie Reyner Banham: Historian of the Immediate Future; 'Intensity of Scrutiny and a Good Eyeful'; and 'Learning from Las Vegas… and Los Angeles and Reyner Banham'. A common theme has been the relationship of architecture to society: for example, architecture's changing response to technological society (Banham); political and social implications ('Intensity'); and cultural interpretations of the city ('Learning'). All of these are live issues and debates in contemporary culture and society.
Other writing has focused on art and, again, the values underlying art practices and criticism. A major project, ongoing, is a monograph on the art writer Lawrence Alloway entitled Art in the Age of Pluralism: the art criticism of Lawrence Alloway. Alloway was far more than just an interpreter and critic of new art. He also saw art and criticism within a model that had clear cultural, social and political connotations. The part was always related to a greater whole that was an expression of individual identity, democracy, and social inclusiveness. The book thus not only traces changing values in art from the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, but also tracks changing interpretations of pluralism in art and society, from the idea of the cultural continuum; through abundance, to diversity. Pluralism remains a contested but imperfectly understood concept with great relevance.
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Publications since 2001
Books: solo author
2007 Penezić & Rogina: Digitalizzazione della realtà in the 'IT Revolution in Architettura' series publishedby Edil Stampa, Rome(published in Italian); pp.94; ISBN 978-88-7864-030-6
2002 Reyner Banham: Historian of the Immediate Future: MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass., pp.490; ISBN 0 262 23216 2 (hardback)
2003 ISBN 0 262 73165 2 (paperback)
2003 'Introduction', Reyner Banham: Historian of the Immediate Future translated and published in Les Cahiers du Musée national d'art moderne, no.82, Winter 2002/2003, pp.66-89.
1993 Design For Society, Reaktion Books, London, pp.182; ISBN 0 948462 47 7 (hardback)
1994 ISBN 0 948462 65 5 (paperback)
2006, 1998 Reprinted
2004 Published in Korean, Sizirak Publishing Co., Seoul pp.280, ISBN 89 908 0604 6 (paperback)
Articles and essays
2008 'Hard Edge Painting in Britain in the 1960s' in Rasheed Araeen (ed.), The Whole Story: Art in Postwar Britain, a Black Umbrella Project, 7,000 words
2008 'Learning from Las Vegas… and Los Angeles and Reyner Banham' in Aron Vinegar and Michael Golec (eds.), Instruction as Provocation. or Relearning from Las Vegas, University of Minnesota Press
2008 'Seeing what, how and why: the ARTnews series, 1953-58', Journal of Visual Arts Practice, volume 6, number 3, 2008, pp.215-228, 6,000 words, ISSN 1470-2029
2008 Thinking Outside, Across, and Beyond the Box' in Penezić & Rogina architects: Who's Afraid of Big Bad Wolf in Digital Age? Interactive installation at the Venice Biennale 2008 book to accompany the Biennale, v|b|z publishers, Zagreb, pp.86-91. 650 words, ISBN 978-953-201-912-4.
2006 'High Hopes and Universal Disappointment: Reyner Banham and Henry-Russell Hitchcock' in Frank Salmon (ed.), Summerson and Hitchcock: Centenary Essays on Architectural Historiography, 'Studies in British Art' series no.16, published by Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Center, New Haven and London, pp.313-330, 5,500 words, ISBN 0 300 11613 6
2006 'Inspiration to Order - Methods to Take Away' in Inspiration to Order exhibition catalogue, California State University, Stanislaus, 3,000 words; ISBN 0 9973967 7 0.
2006 'Foreword: Memory, Imagination and Fact - the art of Nick Kowalski' in Nicholas Kowalski exhibition catalogue, Blackpool and the Fylde College, 1,000 words.
2005 'Digitalno doba: četvrto mašinsko doba' in Tvrda (Zagreb, Croatia) numbers 1-2, 2005, pp.332-341, 3,000 words; ISSN 1332 9146.
2005 'The Digital Age: the Fourth Machine Age' http://www.a4a.info/viza/html/v-018-01.html (as of October 2005). .
2005 'Cedric Price (1934-2003)' in Tvrda (Zagreb, Croatia) numbers 1-2, 2005, pp.342-345, 500 words; ISSN 1332 9146.
2005 'Cedric Price (1934-2003): a Tribute' http://www.a4a.info/viza/html/v-018-21.html (as of October 2005). Website from the Theory and Design in the Digital Age second international symposium, August
2004 'Lawrence Alloway on Pop Since 1949: an Introduction' in Artforum, special issue on 'Pop After Pop', October, pp.57-58, 61, 276, ISNN 0004-3532. Expanded version on Artforum website http://www.artforum.com/inprint/issue=200408, 4,000 words.
2004 'The Puzzled Lieber Meister: Pevsner and Reyner Banham' in Peter Draper (ed.), Reassessing Nikolaus Pevsner, Ashgate Publishing Company, Aldershot, pp.213-233, 6,000 words; ISBN 0754635821
2004 'Space-Time (dis)Continuities' in Penezić & Rogina: Reality Check, Penezić & Rogina, Zagreb, pp.6-109; 7,000 words; ISBN 953 98022 2 9.
2003 'Learning from Las Vegas… and Los Angeles and Reyner Banham' in Visible Language, special issue on 'Relearning from Las Vegas', volume 37, no.3, 2003, pp.314-330, 6,000 words; ISSN 0022-2224 (2007 To be reprinted in a book which uses the essays in Visible Language as the core. University of Minnesota Press)
2003 'Intensity of Scrutiny and a Good Eyeful' in Journal of Architectural Education, 'Transparency and Architecture' special issue, vol.56, issue 4, May 2003, pp.8-16, 6,700 words; ISSN 1046-4883
2003 'The Space Age' (the 1960s) in Noël Riley (ed.), The Elements of Design: an Encyclopaedia of the Decorative Arts, Mitchell Beazley, London and New York; pp.450-481; 10,000 words; ISBN 1 84000 431 2
2002 'The Hard-Edged Nurturing Tutor' in Enter the Conjurer's Cabinet: David Tinker, a Retrospective exhibition catalogue, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, School of Art and Gallery, pp.25-29; 1,500 words; ISBN 1 899095 20 9
2002 'Affirmative Art in a Disaffirmative Climate' in Heart2Art exhibition catalogue, Steninge Palace Gallery, Stockholm; published by W.O.R.K., Sweden, pp.11-20; 5,000 words; ISBN 91 631 2047 X
Conference papers
2008 'Creativity in a Post-Disciplinary World', The Sixth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities, Fatih University, Istanbul, 15-18 July
2007 'Thinking Artists: the ARTnews series, 1953-1958' at 'Did Hans Namuth kill Jackson Pollock? The Problem of Documenting the Creative Process' ,Symposium organised by the Journal of Visual Art Practice and the University of the Arts. Chelsea College of Art and Design, 28 April.
2007 'Theory and Banham in the Fourth Machine Age' at 'In Between Concept, Practice and Discipline: The Legacy of the Independent Group', Joint-initiator and co-organiser inconjunction with Tate Britain and Kingston University.TateBritain, 23-24 March.
2006 'Creativity in a Post-Disciplinary World' at 'Visual Intelligence and the Sense of Art', InterdisciplinarySymposium, California State University, Stanislaus, 3-4November
2005 'Fit environments, ecologies and expanded fields: changing boundaries in the late-1960s' at Repenser les limites: l'architecture à travers l'espace, le temps et les disciplines. Conférence internationale co-organisée par l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art (Paris) et la Society of Architectural Historians (Chicago), Paris, September
2005 'A British Sensation? National identity in the Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection exhibition of 1997'at 'Art History in Ideological Contexts: The Development of National Historiographies' international conference, European Science Foundation, Brussels, June
2005 'The Limits of Iconography in Abstraction: Alloway's criticism of Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross' at 'Politiques de la perception dans le champ élargi de la culture visuelle' international colloquium organised by the Université François-Rabelais, Tours.
2004 'High Hopes and Universal Disappointment: Reyner Banham and Henry-Russell Hitchcock' at 'Sir John Summerson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock: A Centenary Conference on AspectsofArchitectural Historiography in the Twentieth Century' organised by the Paul Mellon Center and the Society of Architectural Historians, USA,London
2003 'Worshipping the Great Creator (and not forgetting God): the Legacy of Modernist Values' at 'Looking Back, Going Forward: 20th Century Attitudes to Religious Buildings' conference hosted by English Heritage, London
2003 'Visual Intelligence in an Age of Low Eye Cues' at Association of Art Historians annual conference, London, April
2002 'A Tale of Two Sixties'at 'Pop Goes the Sixties' day conference hosted by the Twentieth Century Society, London, November
2002 'The Puzzled Lieber Meister: Pevsner and Reyner Banham' at 'Reassessing Nikolaus Pevsner; a Centenary Conference' London, July
2001 '"A good eyeful"? Architecture and Transparency'at Joint seminar hosted by the University of Plymouth, BritishSociological Association and the Landscape Research Group, London, November
2001 'Civilisation and Soft Options: Reyner Banham and design participation' at Design History Society annual international conference, London, September
2001 Respondent at 'Dissertation Colloquium': a presentation of papers by doctoral candidates from international graduate school, The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture, Columbia University, New York, May
2001 'Design and the theory of four machine ages' at The Fourth European Academy of Design conference,Aveiro, Portugal, April. (This paper was voted the 'best design theory paper' at the conference.)
2001 'Transparency, double-gazing, and surveillance' at Association of Art Historians annual conference,Oxford, March
Visiting Professorships
1995 National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India Academy of Architecture, Bombay, India
1995 Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India
1991 Central Academy of Art and Design, Beijing, China
Guest Lectures and Research Seminars (selected)
Harvard University, USA
The University of Texas, USA
The British Council, Bombay, India
Harvard University, USA
The University of Texas at Austin, USA
The British Council, Bombay, India
Academy of Architecture, Bombay, India
Institute of Architecture and Environmental Studies, Bombay, India
The British Council, Madras, India
The British Council, Bangalore, India
The British Council, Calcutta, India
Indian Institute of Architects, Calcutta, India
The British Council, New Delhi, India
National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi, India
College of Arts and Crafts, New Delhi, India
Zagreb University, Croatia
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia
Museum of Architecture, Zagreb, Croatia
Society of Architects and Designers, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Society of Architects and Designers, Split, Croatia
Society of Architects and Designers, Osijek, Croatia
Society of Architects and Designers, Vukovar, Croatia
The British Council, Seoul, Korea
Kookmin University, Seoul, Korea
The Cultural Centre, Stockholm
The Royal College of Art
The Design Museum, London
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London
Leeds Metropolitan University
University of Central England
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Chartered Society of Designers
and various British universities
Potential Doctoral Proposals
Visual arts/cultural history, 1950s-1980s, particularly the shift from 'late' Modernism to 'early' Post-Modernism
Career details
1995 Awarded Personal Chair: 'Professor of Visual Arts'
Associated Keywords: Art/cultural history, Interdisciplinarity in 20th century art
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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YD
United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 1524 510851
Fax: +44 (0) 1524 510857
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