Staff Profile

I am Deputy Head of Fine Art, and Lecturer in Art History at Newcastle University, specialising in the politics of contemporary art production, and histories of socially engaged art practice. 

My current research examines artists' second jobs and their impact on art production. This was supported by a Terra Foundation Travel Grant in 2023 to conduct archival work on Los Angeles-based feminist collective The Waitresses.

Prior to joining Newcastle University, I was Teaching Fellow in Contemporary Visual Cultures at Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh (2016-19) and IASH Postdoctoral Fellow, also at The University of Edinburgh (2015-16)

My research explores the politics of contemporary art production, with a focus on histories of social practice; community art history; art as a field of labour; art and anti-fascism; and art and the city. I am particularly informed by Marxist-feminist approaches to labour. 

I am co-editor (with Angela Dimitrakaki) of the May 2019 special issue of Third Text on 'Anti-Fascism, Art, Theory', also contributing a co-written introduction, and an article on Georges Bataille's theorisation of fascism and community, entitled 'The Weapons of our Adversaries'. 

I was Principal Investigator of 'Platforming Culture: Art and Inequality in the Gig Economy', a long-term research project examining the impact of the gig economy on the field of art. I am particularly interested in what the increased use of platforms (Airbnb, Deliveroo etc.) by artists as means of supplementing their incomes and supporting their practices means for the field of art and its entrenched inequalities. I am co-convening a session of the Association for Art History Annual Conference 2020 on Art, Labour and Inequality: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. 

Stage 1

Art Histories I and Art Histories II

Cultures of Display

Stages 2 and 3

Art in the Creative City

Fine Art Dissertation

• Articles

  • Weeks H. 'The Weapons of our Adversaries'. Third Text 2019, 33(3), 337-353.
  • Dimitrakaki A, Weeks H. Anti-fascism/Art/Theory: An Introduction to What Hurts Us. Third Text 2019, 33(3), 271-292.
  • Weeks H. Re-cognizing the post-Soviet condition: the documentary turn in contemporary art in the Baltic States. Studies in Eastern European Cinema 2010, 1(1), 57-70.

• Book Chapters

  • Child Danielle, Gray Karen, Weeks Harry. Civic responsibility in times of crisis: Museums and galleries in Northern England during the covid-19 pandemic. In: Gilmore, Abigail; O'Brien, Dave; Walmsley, Ben, ed. Pandemic culture: The impacts of COVID-19 on the UK cultural sector and implications for the future. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2024, pp.212–229.
  • Weeks H. Ethics in Public: The Return of Antagonistic Performance. In: Brown, K, ed. Interactive Contemporary Art: Participation in Practice. London: IB Tauris, 2014, pp.177-196.

• Edited Book

• Exhibition

  • Brown I, Anderson F, Bam R, Bromwich N, Burton A, Castle A, Clay R, Coupe J, Cuddon K, Easton T, Falecka K, Fox N, Grayson R, Hagan L, Huber C, Jones C, Juler E, Kennedy B, Kogelsberger U, Meikle G, Merrick P, Mieves C, Millican J, Moonie S, Pollard I, Pollock V, Servin E, Shaw T, Smith O, Szemán P, Talbot R, Tofield T, Weeks H, Weileder W, Wilson L, Wilson J. Mirror Neurons: group exhibition of all artists / staff of the Fine Art department, Newcastle University, curated by Alistair Robinson and Harriet Sutcliffe. 2024. Newcastle University: Hatton Gallery, 2.