art and design research institute - Research - University of Ulster

2. Foreword by the
Research Institute Director
Over the past year, the Research Institute Art and Design has further grown with
the membership of five early career researchers recruited to the University of
Ulster including the first of two RCUK Fellows for the Digital Human project
led by Justin Magee. Three research contracts have been made permanent as
Research Lecturers in Fine Art (Chan, Shipsides) and a Senior Research Fellow in
Textile / Digital Print (Belford) respectively.
Our researchers’ excellence and capacity for innovation has received international
recognition through participation in a number of prestigious exhibitions, amongst
them New Art from Northern Ireland at Katzen Arts Center, and the Made in
Northern Ireland: a dynamic change exposition at the S Dillon Ripley Center,
both in Washington DC in Spring and Summer 2006, as well as at the Regina
Gouger Miller Gallery in Pittsburgh, USA, in January 2007. Art and design works
by individual researchers were successfully displayed in many art institutions
and contexts internationally and in Northern Ireland. Equally important were
the challenging and invigorating interventions in the public domain, in which
researchers have engaged creatively with a range of communities and contexts
to address politics of place, neighbourhood renewal and civil transformation
processes.
Interface: Research in Art, Technologies and Design held a programmed series
of events titled: I confess, that I was there: Art, Archives and Locations, during
November and December 2006. Realised in collaboration with international
researchers these public events produced significant insights into ongoing
research processes facilitated in Interface.
The Research Institute’s strategy, which is encapsulated in the concept of ‘Engaged
Creativity’, received further vital impulses through the award of a number of
significant research grants in the area of fabric innovation and woven concrete,
complemented by project grants in Fine Art.
Continued and new substantial knowledge and technology exchange activities
underpin the Research Institute’s focus on user needs and benefits of its activities
for the creativity, well-being and wealth of society.
A range of high-level conference presentations, and participations in international
trade fairs have provided important showcases for research outputs in Art and
Design. The publication of articles in peer-reviewed journals and of authored and
edited books in the area of History and Theory of the Visual Arts has continued
to grow in scope, quality and impact.
This past year saw the successful hosting of the prestigious international conference
of the Association of Art Historians (12-14 April 2007), entitled ‘Contestations’,