Many thanks to those who applied for the Critical Theory in Contemporary Art Practice Bursary! We received a high volume of inspiring applications from candidates who practice across a range of media and disciplines including sculpture, installation, painting, writing, design, sound, performance,  social engagement, activism and curating.

It was a very close and difficult decision, the selection was based on criteria that prioritised the needs of each candidate. The quality of the work and the level of commitment throughout was impressive and inspiring, as were the many crossovers between the projects. It would be a privilege to have all the candidates on the course.

The criteria for selection included a correspondence between the candidates’ research questions and the course topics, a demonstrable need for a supportive pedagogical environment, an unconventional and experimental practice motivated by a spirit of enquiry, an active interest in pedagogy and the politics of education and a motivation to collaborate with others.

Renata Minoldo Bursary Recipient

Congratulations to Renata Minoldo who is the Bursary recipient, we look forward to welcome her on the course. Renata explores the physical, spiritual and emotional body through sculpture, installation and participatory workshops, in her own words “My practice flows from the haptic to the ethereal, subtle experience”. She aims to bring emotional states into a physical dimension by creating objects and environments, using her practice as a tool to develop and research ideas of sensuality, self knowledge and healing. Renata self-consciously questions her practice while exploring the possibilities of an affective and embodied form of critical practice. She sees herself as a conduit that is activated in the process of making physical objects and organising collaborative experiences that help her understand her practice. She is a member of School of the Damned Class 2018 and facilitates workshops for adults and children researching alternative learning and teaching methods involving interdisciplinary practices and non hierarchical education. renataminoldo.com

Miki Holloway First Runner-Up

Miki Holloway has a practice that produces social forms. This includes a critique group, improvised narrative workshops, multi-media dialogues, performance and creating new social configurations. He experiments with context and setting to explore and re-negotiate the potential of institutions and social contexts to affect how meaning is produced.  He interrogates the role of authorship on social structures and the pragmatics of participation by blurring the boundaries between authors, collaborators and participants. Miki’s practice researches the artists’ role within capitalism, the potential for atomized spectators to become connected producers and the potential for art to have a political emancipatory effect. Miki is an associate at Set Studios’ in Bermondsey, he has contributed to Grizedale Arts programme of community-orientated work and he runs community art workshops on mental health. He has exhibited in group exhibitions, published zines and written articles on the Politics of Participation, Psychosomatic Muscle Tension, Ontology and Toxic Masculinity. Miki is also a political activist with experience and training in horizontal organizing and direct action. mikiholloway.com

Charlie Pritchard Second Runner-Up

Charlie Pritchard’s art practice focuses on immaterial or invisible forces and investigates how mediums such as performance, video, sound and text can channel imaginative frameworks and activate objects and places. He is interested in topics such as the relationship between matter and thinking, the paranormal, collective unconscious, perennial philosophy and how contemporary scientific theory collapses the distinctions between subject and object. Charlie’s research based practice relies on a community of peers. He studied at Arts University Bournemouth and engaged in theoretical research by attending symposia. He participated in the Many Voices residency at Wysing Arts Centre and delivered a presentation on Steven Connor’s Dumbstruck: a cultural history of Ventriloquism and the disembodied voice. He is a member of The Noematic Collective, a sound collective that responds to the hierarchy of vision in culture and education. charliepritchard.co.uk