Newcastle University

Introduction

Venda Louise Pollock's research investigates the relationship between art and the urban environment, examining representations of cities in a range of visual media and public art in urban contexts, particularly at moments of change. She is co-director of Intersections, a project linking Fine Art with the wider cultural sector in the field of public art.

Venda Louise is currently the Head of Art History within Fine Art. 

Background

Vee Pollock joined the University in October 2006 from the Geographical and Earth Sciences Department at the University of Glasgow where she worked as a Research Fellow in Urban Cultural Regeneration. Her work in Glasgow focused on the role that 'public art' plays in the reaestheticisation of cities. Although much of her research is interdisciplinary, she is an art historian by training and was awarded her Ph.D. in 2003 from the University of St Andrews for a thesis entitled Negotiating the Urban Terrain: Representations of the City of Glasgow in the Visual Arts . 

Roles and Responsibilities

- Head of Art History within the Fine Art Department

- Contributes to lectures for first year courses Renaissance to Realism: a critical investigation and Art and Ideas: Investigating Modernism
- Module leader for FIN2032/3032 Art in the Public Context and FIN2017/3020 Art Since 1945: Postwar to Protest
- Supervisor for Third Year Fine Art dissertations
- Dyslexia contact for Art History

Qualifications

PhD Art History (University of St Andrews)
MA (Hons) Art History - First Class (University of St Andrews)

Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Newcastle University)

Previous Positions

- Research Fellow in Urban Cultural Regeneration, Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow
- Lecturer in Visual Culture, Department of Humanities, University of Central Lancashire

Memberships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
AAH
SSAH

Honours and Awards

Miller Prize for the Faculty of Arts, University of St Andrews (2000)
Saunders Memorial Prize for the History of Art, University of St Andrews (2000, 1999, 1998)

Languages

German (conversational)
Some Norwegian
BSL Level 1

Research Interests

Art in the Public Context : examining the form, function and themes of permanent and temporary artworks in public spaces undergoing change. Research to date has concentrated upon issues of participation, community and collective memory, regeneration and public art policy.

Urban Photographic Surveys : analysing urban photographic surveys from c.1850 to the present day, focusing on British, American and European cities. Research is undertaken into the motivations and objectives underlying such surveys, the resultant images and what they reveal about the perception of the urban environment.

Visual Representations of Cities : exploring how the dynamic of change in the urban environment is represented in various forms of visual media.

Other Expertise

British Art (particularly Scottish) 1800 - present day
Scandinavian Art (particularly Norwegian) and dialogues with Europe
Urban photography and engraving

Current Work

In collaboration with her colleague David Butler, Vee is currently in the process of establishing Intersections. Intersections aims to generate critical dialogue about public art practice and develop pioneering practice-based and theoretical research in this area. Intersections is a project which links Fine Art at Newcastle University with the wider arts and cultural sector in the examination of public art practice. Drawing together practitioners, theorists, sector organisations, policy makers and the wider public, Intersections examines the issues arising from the creative friction inherent in public practice, policy and space. Underpinning our work is an ethos of collaboration, where possible engaging with artists and organisations outside the University to host events and develop research projects. We take our lead from issues arising from public art practice to develop projects and events around carefully selected themes: our current areas of interest are sustainability and risk. See www.intersectionspublicart.org.uk (external site)

In addition, Vee is currently undertaking a number of research projects related to art and the urban environment:

Work in Process
A pilot project examining the relationship between policy, participation and process in public art projects within a regeneration context. Public art is now a de rigueur ingredient of regeneration. As such it has become absorbed within the wider argument, expressed through physical planning and cultural policy, that improving the visual amenity of urban spaces has positive dividends both for residents and a place’s image. Much of this thinking, in the installation of public art and implementation of policies, is premised on not merely the need for, but crucially the importance of, public participation. How public art is installed, and, within these processes, participation is included, raises complex questions of the extent to which such processes are/should be democratic, together with issues in the relative roles of artists and communities. The ‘success’ of public art, its adoption within local planning policies and, for example, the invitation of artists on to design teams, has problematised the role public participation should play through the introduction of additional actors into the production process and through professional and bureaucratic pressures. These shifts give greater emphasis to the need to understand the place of participation including a critical assessment of its basic premise that participative art practice and policy can neatly dovetail to benefit the local social good.

Creating Creative Spaces: Community Engaged Public Art in the Raploch, Stirling
The Raploch Urban Regeneration Company is a pioneering pathfinder URC which aims to deliver significant, sustainable regeneration to the Raploch area of Stirling. Community consultation is an integral and innovative part of the URC's decision-making process and this has been reflected in the Creative Spaces public art project that is currently transforming the River Walkway. This project is examining the Creative Spaces project, the resultant artworks and how the artist engages the community in the artistic process.

Public Art and Neighbourhood Regeneration: the Gorbals, Glasgow
The Gorbals area of Glasgow is currently undergoing extensive redevelopment in which public art is a prominent, if contentious, factor. This research centres upon the mechanics of the public art scheme, issues surrounding participation and inclusion, and examines the artworks in relation to ideas of history and memory.

Recently completed work includes Slide Fever: Documenting the City in Nineteenth Century Britain funded by the British Academy.

Postgraduate Supervision

Vee would be happy to receive applications from postgraduates working in the areas of public art/working in public or urban photography.

Esteem Indicators

- Member of the AHRC peer review college
- Peer-review articles for: Urban Studies , Social and Cultural Geographies , Space and Polity and Geography Compass
- core group participant 'Working in Public' seminar series, OTE Research Group with Suzanne Lacy.
- External Examiner

Papers Presented

2011(with Sandy Alden and Nuala Davis) Dyslexia and Extended Assignments: Exploring the Rationale for Alternative Assessments. Assessment in Higher Education Conference 2011. CDEPP. University of Cumbria. 

2010 Philosophers and Fools: policy, process and public practice in changing contexts Creativity and Place. School of Geography. University of Exeter.

2010 The Afterlife of Artworks: memory and place-identity in changing urban contexts RX Network Cities. Barber Institute of Art. University of Birmingham

2009 Cultural Democracy and the Democratisation of Culture: Participative Practice and Changing Public Spaces Regulated Liberties: Negotiating Freedom in Art, Culture and Media. University of Turku, Finland. (invited paper - competitive)

2009 Northern Consciousness and National Identity: Edvard Munch in Scotland Northernness: Ideas and Images of the North in Visual Culture, Northumbria University, Newcastle Upon Tyne (invited paper - competitive)

2007 Cultivating the Past for a Changing Present: public art and memory in urban regeneration Past in the Present, International Conference, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (invited paper-competitive).

2007 From Gethsemane to Lanark: the problem of representing Glasgow Glasgow 1918-1980: What Happened? Research Symposium, University of Glasgow (invited paper - competitive)

2006 Dismembering and Remembering the Gorbals: Collective Memory in the Photography of Oscar Marzaroli Photography and the City, International Conference, Clinton Institute of American Studies, University College Dublin (invited paper - competitive).

2006 Cultivating the Past for a Changing Present: Public Art in Urban Regeneration , Art and the City, International Conference, Institute of Art History, University of Amsterdam, 2006 (invited paper - competitive).

2005 Public Art, Social Inclusion and the Reconstructed City , Securing the Urban Renaissance: Policing, Community and Disorder, International Conference, Department of Urban Studies, University of Glasgow (invited paper - competitive).

2005 Translating the City: Social Change in Glasgow in Poetry and Photography of the 1960s and 1970s , Built Environments: Places, Constructions and Mindscapes, International Conference, Scottish Word & Image Group, University of Dundee (invited paper - competitive).

2004 The City without an identity? Rediscovering Postwar Glasgow , The City in Art, International Conference, Institute of Art, Polish Academy and Institute of Art History, Jagellonian University (invited paper - competitive).

Invited Speaker

2008 Elevate : Creative Regeneration Training Day
2007 Big Things on the Beach
2006 Raploch Community Partnership

Other Publications

Invited articles in:
2008 Sustain: Built Environment Matters v9, n1, pp. 52-54. [www.sustainmagazine.com/pages/GNVB%20pages%2052-54.pdf]

Funding

2011 (with David Butler) AHRC Networking Grant.

2011 AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with AV Festival. 

2009 Intersections: Creative Partnerships in Public Practice , University Strategic Funding.

2009 Dissertations and Dyslexia University Teaching and Learning Committee.

2009 British Academy Overseas Conference Grant

2007 Work in Process , Faculty Research Fund Grant.

2006 Slide Fever: Documenting the City in Nineteenth Century Britain , British Academy Small Grant

2006 Creating 'Creative Spaces': Public Art in Community Regeneration , Urban Studies Seedcorn Funding, Urban Studies

2006 City Sights/Sites: Process, Scale and Social Inclusion in Urban Visual Reaestheticisation ESRC Large Grant. Supported in principle but unfunded.

2005 Public Art in Neighbourhood Regeneration John Robertson Bequest, University of Glasgow.

2004 Urban Studies Fellowship (Three Years), Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow.

1999 Carnegie Vacation Scholarship, Carnegie Trust, Dunfermline.

1999 Trethowan Memorial Bursary, University of St Andrews.

Undergraduate Teaching

Contribute to teaching on FIN1007 Renaissance to Realism: A Critical Investigation & FIN1008 Art and Ideas an Introduction to Modernism
Module Leader FIN2032/FIN3032 Art in the Public Context; FIN2035/3036 Art and War; FIN2017/3027 Art Since 1945: Postwar to Protest
Module Leader and dissertation supervisor for FIN3097 Art History Dissertation
Module leader for FIN4023 Contemporary Art: Critical Contextual Writing (taught by Dr Stephen Moonie)

Postgraduate Teaching

Vee is currently on the supervisory teams for:

Annie O'Donnell

John MacLean

Matt Smith

Peter Merrington

Rebecca Farley

• Alden S, Pollock VL. Dyslexia and the Studio: bridging the gap between theory and practice. International Journal of Art & Design Education 2011, 30(1), 81-89.
• Pollock VL, Paddison R. Embedding public art: practice, policy and problems. Journal of Urban Design 2010, 15(3), 335-356.
• Pollock VL. Dislocated Narratives and Sites of Memory: Amateur Photographic Surveys in Britain 1889-1897. Visual Culture in Britain 2009, 10(1), 1-26.
• Pollock VL, Sharp JP. Constellations of identity: Place-ma(r)king beyond heritage. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 2007, 25(6), 1061-1078.
• Pollock VL. Event: Space - a work in process. In:Warwick, R., ed. Arcade: Artists and place-making.London:Black Dog Publishing,2006, pp. 88-95.
• Sharp J, Pollock VL, Paddison R. Just Art for a Just City: Public Art and Social Inclusion in Urban Regeneration. In: Miles S; Paddison R, ed. Culture-Led Urban Regeneration. Oxford: Routledge, 2006.
• Sharp J, Pollock VL, Paddison R. Just Art for a Just City: Public Art and Social Inclusion in Urban Regeneration. Urban Studies 2005,42 5-6 1001-1023.
• Pollock VL. Second City or Absent City? Futurism and Glasgow’s Lack of Urban Modernism. Journal of the Scottish Society of Art History 2004, 9, 87-94.
• Pollock VL. Northern Consciousness and National Identity: Edvard Munch and Scotland. Scottish Studies Review 2002, 3(1), 58-71.
• Pollock VL. An Enlightened City and Distanced Observer: Early prospects of Glasgow by Slezer and the Foulis Academy. Journal of the Scottish Society of Art History 2002, 7, 71-79.
• Pollock V, Paddison R. Rethinking public art and participation in urban regeneration: The Gorbals, Glasgow. 2012. In Preparation.