Exhibition Research Lab

Exhibition Research Lab is an academic centre and public venue dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of exhibitions and curatorial knowledge.

Lab Leader: Professor Joasia Krysa

Founded in 2012 as part of Liverpool School of Art and Design, the Exhibition Research Lab (ERL) is uniquely positioned across academic research and the cultural ecology of Liverpool, underpinned by partnerships with cultural institutions in the city including Tate Liverpool, John Moores Painting Prize, and Liverpool Biennial.

ERL proposes curatorial practice as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production. It extends the traditional remit of an art gallery as a site for display or pedagogical resource, to an expanded concept of a ‘lab’ where experimental thinking and making takes place, and where curatorial knowledge is enacted, produced and made public.

ERL disseminates its research through the public programme of exhibitions, talks, seminars, conferences, workshops and publications, including partnership with DATA Browser book series (Open Humanities Press) and Liverpool Biennial journal Stages. The residencies and fellowship programme is dedicated to connecting international artists, curators and scholars working across diverse disciplines.

ERL runs MA Exhibition Studies programme and offers opportunities for Doctoral Research.

The lab supports research in the following areas:

  • Contemporary Curatorial Practice
  • Exhibitionary Practices and Histories
  • Museums and Institutions
  • Collections and Archival Practices
  • International Biennials
  • Socially Engaged Practice
  • Digital Curating
  • Computational Cultures and Curating

Check our Current Programme. Follow us on our Exhibition Research Lab Facebook and Exhibition Research Lab Instagram.

People

Prof Joasia Krysa, Professor of Exhibition Research, in partnership with Liverpool Biennial

Dr Michael Birchall, Honorary Research Fellow

Adam Carr, Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and Exhibition Studies

Dr Hana Leaper, John Moores Painting Prize Senior Lecturer 


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Researchers

Jonathan Hoskins

Mara Ambrožič

Sevie Tsampalla

James Schofield

Gabriela Silva

Helen Kaplinsky

Marialaura Ghidini


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Visiting Researchers and Residencies

Jorge Menna Barreto, Visiting Artist in partnership with Liverpool Biennial 2020,  University São Paulo, Brazil, 2019 /2020
Rosa Johan Uddoh,  Liverpool Biennial Fellowship 2018 / 2019
Ariel Schlesinger, Visiting Artist, Israel, 2019 / 2020
Dr Hilmar Schäfer, Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences at Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, 2018.
Dr. Stuart Bertolotti-Bailey / The Serving Library, supported by Arts Council England, 2017/2018
Gabriela Saenger Silva, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, 2017/2018.
James Charlton, Colab Research Centre, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand, supported by the Arts Council of New Zealand, 2016/2017.
Jaroslaw Czarnecki, Academy of Fine Art, Gdansk, supported by Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw, 2016.
Nur Cemelelioğlu Altın, Yıldız Technical University and Gazi University, Turkey, 2017.
Silvia Franceschini, Politecnico di Milano, Visiting PhD Fellow, 2017.
Jana Lukavečki, Curatorial Assistant, Academy of Applied Arts, University of Rijeka, Croatia, Erasmus+ Traineeship, 2016/2017.
Eleni Mali, Curatorial Assistant, Open Hellenic University, Greece, Erasmus+ Traineeship, 2016.
Helen Kaplinksy, Visiting Researcher in partnership with the Science Gallery London, 2018/2019.
Marialaura Ghidini, Visiting Researcher in partnership with the Italian Council / Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity (Italy), 2021.


Visiting speakers

Ei Arakawa, Elise Atangana, Ryan Avent, Elmgreen & Dragset, Jessica Coon, Geoff Cox,  Meehan Crist, Eoin Dara, Juliana Engberg, Marina Fokidis, Kristoffer Gansing, Verina Gfader, Candice Hopkins, Anne Kølbæk Iversen, Silke Otto-Knapp, Lars Bang Larsen, Jacob Lund, Raimundas Malaŝauskas, Francesco Manacorda, Mark Miodownik, Angela Nagle, Jussi Parikka, Alexander Provan, Kuba Szreder, Terry Smith, Cornelia Sollfrank, Wolfgang Sützl, Sally Tallant, Eyal Weizman


Research Intensives and Seminar Series

Hypertext Reading Group ‘Flickering Monstrosity’, series developed by Helen Kaplinsky;
Open Forum: on artist-led, series developed by James Schofield
Contemporary Research, in partnership with Aarhus University, Denmark and Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2017
Excessive Research, in partnership with Aarhus University, Denmark, and Transmediale Festival for Art and Digital Culture, Berlin, 2015/2016


Publications

2017, Birchall, M., Situating Participatory Art between Process and Practice.” ARKEN Journal 7 (2017): 56–74.
2017, Birchall, M., “The Precarious Nature of Curatorial Work.” In Who Runs the Artworld: Money, Power and Ethics, edited by Brad Buckley and John Conomos. Faringdon: LibriPublishing, 2017.
2020, Birchall, M., “A History of Socially Engaged Art and the Expanded Field of Public Art Production.”, In More Art in the Public Eye, edited by Micaela Martegani, Emma Elizabeth Drew, and Jeffrey Aaron Kasper. New York: Duke University Press 2020.
2017, Birchall, M., Cox,G., Krysa, J., Lund, Contemporary Research IntensiveContemporary Condition series (ed. Cox, Lund), Sternberg Press, 2018.
Systemics, or Exhibition as a Series, (ed.) Krysa J., Sternberg Press, 2017.
2017, Krysa J.,‘Exhibitionary practices at the intersection of academic research and public display’, in Futures of Artistic Research (eds. Seppä A, Slager H, Kaila J.), University of the Arts Helsinki, 2017.
2015. Krysa, J, 'The Politics of Contemporary Curating: a Technological Perspective', chapter in The Routledge Companion to Art and Politics, Randy Martin (ed.), Routledge, 2015.
2020. Krysa J., “Exhibitionary practices at the intersection of academic research and public display”, chapter in Institution as Praxis – New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research, Rito, C., Balaskas B. (eds.), Sternberg Press, 2020.
2020. Birchall, M., “The Role of Public Practice in the Museum”, chapter in Institution as Praxis – New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research, Rito, C., Balaskas B. (eds.), Sternberg Press, 2020.


Conferences and Talks

Curating Now: curating in the age of globalisation, biennalisation, and Artificial Intelligence.
Keynote, Krysa, J. Annual Conference of Spanish Researchers in the UK, Liverpool University, June 2019, UK.
Beautiful World, Where Are You?, programme of talks curated by The Serving Library, in partnership with Liverpool Biennial 2018
Design and Empire, curated by Emily King and Prem Krishnamurthy, in partnership with Liverpool Biennial and RIBA North, 2017
The Biennial Condition: On Contemporaneity and the Episodic, in partnership with Aarhus University and Liverpool Biennial 2016


Exhibitions

Quantum Real: Art and Particles, featuring Matthew Willson  and Jol Thompson, curated by Lars Bang Larsen and Joasia Krysa, 2018/2019
The John Moores Painting Prize and the Rise of the Sixties in Liverpool, curated by Hanna Leaper, 2019
The Serving Library, and Paul Elliman’s Vauxhall Astra 2020, part of  Liverpool Biennial 2018
Catch | Bounce: towards a relational ontology of the digital in art practice, James Charlton, doctoral project and exhibition, 2017
HFT The Gardener by Suzanne Treister,  part of Liverpool Biennial 2016



Contact details

Get in touch with researchers from the Exhibition Research Lab

If you’d like to ask a question or find out more information, please contact the team using the details below.

Contact: Prof Joasia Krysa

Email: J.M.Krysa@ljmu.ac.uk

Address:

Exhibition Research Lab
John Lennon Art and Design Building
Duckinfield Street
Liverpool
L3 5RD