Biography

I am the Head of Cluster of Ethnology & Folklore, Film & Visual Culture and Music. 
I am an elected senator for the School of LLMVC, and serve on the Senate Business Committee. I am also an elected Senate Assessor, representing the Arts and Social Sciences on Court.

From 2016-2021 I was Director of Postgraduate Studies for the School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture. From 2016-2019, I was the Director of the George Washington Wilson Centre for Visual Culture, for which I designed and launched the VIEW public engagement series. I have previously served as the chair of the Athena SWAN committee in LLMVC.

Prizes and Awards

Principal's Prize for Public Engagement, 2015

Latvian State Cultural Capital Funds award for the writing of the book Miervaldis Polis, 2013

Research Overview

My area of specialization is performance art in East-Central Europe.  

I wrote the first comprehensive history and analysis of performance art in Central and Eastern Europe, a monograph entitled Performance Art in Eastern Europe since 1960, which was published as part of Manchester University Press's Rethinking Art's Histories series in February 2017. My website,  www.performingtheeast.com , documents the research and writing of the book.

Current Research

My current research expands my comparative approach to performance art to include other peripheral performance histories from across the globe. I am also looking at pedagogical approaches to teaching performance art in East-Central Europe.

Past Research

My first book, Performing the East: Performance Art in Russia, Latvia and Poland since 1980, was published in 2013 by IB Tauris. My second book was a monograph on the Latvian painter and performance artist Miervaldis Polis, published by Neputns in Latvia in 2015.

Knowledge Exchange

From 2016-2019 I was Director of the George Washington Wilson Centre for Visual Culture, for which I developed the VIEW Visual Arts and Culture Public Engagement Programme. VIEW offers a range of events related to art and culture, including talks, interviews, screenings, exhibitions, performances and workshops, all of which are free to the public. The programme was awarded funding from the Aberdeen City Council and the University of Aberdeen Development Trust.

From 2014--2016 I hosted a range of performance events in the Northeast of Scotland, as part of my AHRC-funded research project, Performance Art in Eastern Europe. These included performances by Bozidar Jurjevic, Branko Miliskovic and Richard Demarco at the University of Aberdeen; and Tanja Ostojic and Karolina Kubik in Aberdeen and Perth.

Collaborations

I am part of the Mapping Performance Art Histories research group run by Heike Roms and Dror Harari, which looks at so-called 'peripheral' performance art histories from around the globe.

In 2014, I co-edited a special edition of Centropa: Journal of East European Art History and Architecture with Dr. Pavlina Morganova, with articles by scholars from the region on the development of performance art in Eastern Europe.

Funding and Grants

Total research grant income since 2009: £207,174

• 2022 University of Aberdeen Pump Prime Funding for research and Research Networks
• 2018 Aberdeen City Council Creative Funding for the George Washington Wilson Centre for Visual Culture VIEW Visual Arts and Culture Programme  
• 2018 Development Trust Funding for the George Washington Wilson Centre for Visual Culture   
• 2016 Principal's Prize for Public Engagement (Senior Category)
• 2015 Scottish Crucible Participant
• 2014 AHRC Early Career Fellowship (AH/M005585/1)
• 2013 Leverhulme Research Fellowship
• 2013 Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Emerging Scholars Research Grant
• 2012 Royal Society of Edinburgh CRF Visiting Research Fellowship
• 2012 Royal Society of Edinburgh Small Research Grant
• 2012 Carnegie Trust Research Grant
• 2012 Royal Society of Edinburgh Bilateral Exchange Grant: Slovak Academy of Sciences
• 2012 Royal Society of Edinburgh Bilateral Exchange Grant: Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• 2011 Latvian State Culture Capital Fund for the writing of a monograph on Miervaldis Polis
• 2011 Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Emerging Scholars Research Grant
• 2011 Royal Society of Edinburgh Bilateral Exchange Grant: Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
• 2010 Carnegie Trust Illustration Grant
• 2010 British Academy Small Research Grant
• 2009 Carnegie Trust Research Grant
• 2009 British Academy Overseas Conference Travel Grant

PhD Funding

• 2007-2008 Rutgers University Mary Bartlet Cowdrey Dissertation Fellowship (partial award)
• 2005-2006 Rutgers University Dodge Graduate Assistantship
• 2005 The Kosciuszko Foundation Graduate Study and Research Grant
• 2004-2005 J. William Fulbright Award for independent research in Latvia
• 2004 American Council of Learned Societies Language Training Grant for study in Latvia
• 2004 Rutgers University Mary Bartlet Cowdrey Dissertation Grant
• 2002-2004 Rutgers University Dodge Graduate Assistantship

Teaching Responsibilities

I teach courses on performance art, postmodern and contemporary art—all with a focus on Eastern Europe—and a course on 20th century Russian art.

I welcome inquiries from prospective PhD students who would like to pursue a research project on a topic related to contemporary art in Eastern Europe, in particular performance art, participatory art or socially engaged art.

Please see this video I made about how I teach performance art on campus at the University of Aberdeen: 

Non-course Teaching Responsibilities

Personal Tutor