Staff Profile
Background
I work as a Researcher in the School of Arts and Cultures. My research interests focus on the intersections between public art, museology and heritage practice, and the processes and practices of visual arts audiencing.
Since 2011 I have worked with academic staff within the School of Arts and Cultures to support the development of practice-led research funding bids, leading to four successful AHRC awards. Prior to joining Newcastle University, I worked as a public art curator and project manager with Grit & Pearl PLC and as a Commissions Officer with Commissions North at Art Council England North East (2003-2010). I have also worked as a freelance arts consultant, and as a professional development advisor and editor with AN The Artists Information Company (1997-2003).
In 2018 I completed an AHRC-funded PhD in Media, Culture, Heritage (MCH, Newcastle) looking at issues of public art collection, interpretation and audiencing in Newcastle-Gateshead.
Roles and responsibilities
Research Associate – School of Arts and Cultures
Occasional Lecturer - Media, Culture, Heritage (MCH)
Qualifications
2018 PhD, MCH Newcastle University
1997 Postgraduate Diploma in Arts Management, Northumbria University
1991 MA Fine Art, Newcastle Polytechnic, MA Fine Art
1985 Postgraduate Diploma in Printmaking, Wimbledon School of Art
1982 BA Expressive Arts, Brighton Polytechnic
Current research
From 2017-2020 I was a Research Associate on the AHRC-funded project, Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience (MCAHE), led by PI Professor Andrew Burton. This was a three-year interdisciplinary project that critically examined the role and practice of temporary visual art commissioning within UK heritage sites. It aimed to map the landscape of current practice and to explore the impact of this activity on producers and heritage audiences. The project was delivered in collaboration with major UK heritage and arts partners, Arts & Heritage, The Churches Conservation Trust, The National Trust, English Heritage and the Contemporary Visual Arts Network (CVAN).
In 2020-21 was a Co-Investigator on 'Volunteer Voices', an AHRC-funded MCAHE Follow-on project for Impact and Engagement, working in collaboration with Arts&Heritage and national and regional heritage partners.
I continue to work with Prof. Vee Pollock on a portfolio of publication and research projects relating to MCAHE and our wider interests in public art practice and visual arts ecologies, with a particular focus on post-industrial and rural landscapes.
Previous projects
Other research and Impact projects that I have worked on in SACs include:
Think?ng Through Migration (led by Professor Chris Whitehead, MCH): development of an online toolkit designed to help museums and museum professionals respond to the phenomenon of migration and its contemporary challenges. The project was an output of the EU-funded research project, MeLa, European Museums in an Age of Migration.
Transfer Laban (led by Professor Wolfgang Weileder, Fine Art): development and presentation of a three-part artwork, including a temporary public art installation, film and dance performance, at Canary Wharf, London in 2016. Transfer Laban was a collaboration with the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, commissioned by Locus and supported by AHRC.
Second Moon App User Study: a research project (with Dr Areti Galani) investigating online audience digital engagement with Katie Paterson’s artwork Second Moon (2013-14). The research project was commissioned by Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice, Tyne & Wear Museums and Archives, and Locus .
I am an occasional Lecturer in Media, Culture, Heritage (MCH). I have taught on the following modules:
- MPrac. Art Museum and Gallery/Heritage/Museum Practice 'Caring for Collections'
- MA Media and Public Relations 'Methodologies: Researching Media, Culture and Society'
- MA Art Museum and Gallery Studies 'Art Curatorship'
- Farley R, Pollock VL. Contemporary art in heritage practice: mapping its intentions, claims and complexities. Heritage & Society 2022, epub ahead of print.
- Farley R, King J, Burton A, Claxton K. Volunteer Voices: Industry Stakeholders Report, April 2022. Newcastle upon Tyne: Newcastle University, 2022.
- Galani A, Durant A, Chatting D, Farley R. Designing for intersubjectivity and dialogicality in museum interactive installations about migration. Digital Creativity 2020, 31(4), 302-319.
- Black N, Farley R. Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience. In: Cass N; Powell A; Park G, ed. Contemporary Art in Heritage Spaces. London: Routledge, 2020, pp.15-31.
- Black N, Burton A, Cass N, Farley R, King J, Newman A, Pollock V. Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience: Industry Stakeholders Report. Newcastle upon Tyne: Arts and Humanities Research Council, 2020.
- Farley R. 'Public art talk': audience-based meaning-making in the public art cityscape. Cultural Geographies 2020. Submitted.
- Farley R, Pollock VL. Size Isn't Everything: The Failure of BIG Public Art. Public Art Dialogue 2020, 10(2), 197-216.
- Black N, Farley R, Pollock V, Cass N. Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience: reviewing an emerging field. International Journal of Heritage Studies 2019. Submitted.
- Farley R, Pollock V. Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience – publicly accessible online Google Map mapping the field of practice 1990-2018. 2019.
- Farley R. Strange alliance or a match that was meant to be? Interrelations between public art and the museum. Museum & Society 2019, 17(2), 263-266.
- Brown J, Edy C, Pepperall A, Farley R. Angel of the North Significance Assessment. Newcastle: North of England Civic Trust, commissioned by Historic England & Gateshead Council, 2017.
- Farley R, Weileder W. REcall Project: Reinterpreting and Representing ‘Difficult Heritage’: Interview with Wolfgang Weileder. In: Bassanelli, M., Gravano, V., Grechi, G., Postiglione, G, ed. Beyond Memorialisation: Design for Conflict Heritage. Milan: Politecnico de Milano, 2014, pp.57-63.