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National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland

Dr. Fiona Whelan is an artist, writer and lecturer at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD). Her arts practice is committed to exploring and responding to systemic power relations and inequalities through long-term cross-sectoral collaborations with diverse individuals, groups and organisations. Since 2004, this practice has been rooted in Dublin south city, developing a series of collaborative, transgenerational projects, critically examining and responding to lived experiences of complex and interconnected systemic power relations (including class, gender, housing, policing). These durational and multi-faceted processes typically manifest as visual, performative or dialogical encounters in which multiple power relations are exposed and interrogated. Fiona’s writing focuses on the complex relationality, labour and ethical challenges of her collaborative methodology, which emerges at the intersection of socially engaged arts practice, youth work and education. At NCAD, she is committed to the professional development of practitioners with socially engaged and collaborative practices, through the development and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate provision.

Secondment destination:
Rosa Luxembourg Platz, Berlin

http://www.fionawhelan.com/

Coventry University, United Kingdom

Marley Treloar is a first year PhD researcher at Coventry University exploring the development of participatory community practice between digital and physical spaces within cultural organisations. She graduated from Kingston University MA Museum and Gallery Studies in 2019 and has worked across the arts and heritage sector working as a freelance curator, public programmer and education officer. Marley is the creative director of Co-Curation, artist run curatorial collective exploring participatory, community and digital collaborative artistic practice.

Secondment Destination:
Sirius Art Centre, Ireland: TBC

https://www.co-curation.co.uk

Coventry Biennial, UK

I am an artist and curator interested in learning and collaboration.  I am the Founder and Director of T Street Gallery, an artist-led gallery space in Birmingham, Uk which was born out of research into the lack of equality in the arts industry in the region. The space was created as an act of rebellion to the societal ‘normalities’ of the industry and producing an egalitarian environment for artists.

I am also Operations Director at Coventry Biennial – a social, political and critical platform for Contemporary Art.

My artistic practice explores concepts of identity through linking mortality and memory into narratives, using experiences and cultural nuances to sculpt themselves into the outcomes.

I have exhibited in places such as Eastside Projects, Ikon, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, The Herbert Art Gallery, the Barber Institute, Birmingham Grand Central Station, Grande Mosque of Rome & Palazzo Comunale E.Gagliardi, Vibo Valentia.

Throughout the SPACEX project I will seek to build international relationships and knowledge in support of Coventry Biennial’s impactful work with artists and communities.

Secondment Destination:
Universita Degli Studi Di Modena E Reggio Emilia: May/June 2023

Coventry University, UK

Alex is an artist doing a practice based PhD at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University exploring how art workshops act as a form of world building and speculative fiction – in terms of ideas, social relationships and materials produced. She has an interest in creating structures to support group work and is part of Studio Yea with Eva Freeman and Youngsook Choi who are a group of artists exploring how to support each other in these precarious times. Alex has an MA in Contemporary Art Practice: Public Sphere course from the Royal College of Art, and a BA in Social Anthropology and Media from Goldsmiths University. She has worked with the Pumphouse Gallery, FACT, and Hackney Council. Recent journal articles include ‘Structures within structures: Examining alternative cultures of learning in the institution’ (2021) with Sadie Edginton and Cicilia Östholm.

Secondment Destinations:
Home for Cooperation, Nicosia, Cyprus: TBC

Coventry University, UK

Giorgia Rizzioli is an AHRC – M4C PhD candidate at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures.

Her areas of interest revolve around media experimentation and cultural valorisation in film and media studies. In specific, in her doctoral project she is engaged with film curation as a method to investigate the connections between the cinematic dispositive and the urban space. Recently, she has collaborated as curatorial assistant and researcher in the setting up of the Coventry Biennial Hyper-Possible 2021. She has curated a practice-led project Screening Coventry: Past is Now an outdoor experimental cinematic event in Coventry, UK with the aim of investigating the bond between cinema, cultural programming and Coventry’s site-specificity.

Secondment destination:
Festival Dei Popoli, Florence, Italy: November 2022

Coventry University, UK

I am Associate Professor of Immersive Media, also leading a research theme on AI and Algorithmic Cultures at the Centre for Postdigital Cultures. My research draws from natural and computational systems, which I explore through both theory and practice. This includes AI, computational and systems thinking, pervasive technologies, physical computing, temporality and environmental sustainability. These are investigated through programming of software, exhibitions, events and performances, as well as academic and creative writing, drawing on my background combining anthropology, art and technology.

Current projects include: conducting a visual ethnography for Nine Earths; and undertaking technical R&D for Respiratrees.

Before joining Coventry I launched and led the Information Experience Design MA programme at the Royal College of Art in London from 2012-2019, and the Information Environments MRes programme at University of the Arts London in 2011-2012. I was a researcher at London Knowledge Lab from 2004-2010.

Secondment destinations:
Reserva na Fabrica, Lisbon, Portugal, 2023
Festivale dei popoli, Florence, Italy, 2023