PhD Scholarship at Goldsmiths, University of London

We are delighted to announce our international Open Call for the Asymmetry PhD Scholarship in the “Advanced Practices” programme at the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London.

About the PhD Scholarship
Beginning in the academic year of autumn 2023, we are offering a bespoke, fully funded Scholarship in the innovative PhD programme “Advanced Practices” at Goldsmiths. The four-year placement is a unique academic opportunity within the field of curatorial practices and cross-cultural research, awarded to one successful candidate who identifies to any extent with Greater Chinese and Sinophone cultures and identities, based in the regions or internationally.

The Scholarship fully covers four years of the PhD programme, including tuition fees, monthly rent and living costs. The ideal candidate will be an academically determined art professional, an inventive thinker with a background in curatorial studies and/or contemporary art and relevant work experience. While we are open to all applications, we strongly welcome applicants with work experience and innovative project portfolios or academic publications.

About the PhD programme
The MPhil/PhD and MRes “Advanced Practices” programme at Goldsmiths engages with recent developments in how “research” is operating in creative practices. Through an interrelated programme of teaching, projects and collaborations, the course encourages practitioners to respond to the growing importance of practice-driven research within knowledge production, public exhibiting, and cultural organising. ‘Advanced Practices’ is geared towards advancing the grounds for different forms of practice, from artistic to infrastructural. Animated by concepts that vary from anthropology as cultural critique, curatorial knowledges to the exhibitionary matrix, amongst others, the programme encourages applicants to invent new methodologies, reframing and expanding the notions of “practice” beyond forms of making or performing.

Seminars are taught six times a year, encouraging those working in the field to be able to maintain their work. This is a practice-driven and research-based programme that can incorporate projects in progress, collaborations with organisations, and platforms. It can also be an opportunity to rethink the circulation and meaning of how/to whom work is communicated, and to put forms of transdisciplinarity and trans-operationality into practice. The Department of Visual Cultures is a small but vibrant research-active department in the School of Culture and Society at Goldsmiths, comprised of globally acclaimed researchers, artists, and curators from across many fields.

The current PhD Scholarships are running from September 2021–25 and September 2022–26.

Application deadline: March 1, 2023
Scholarship duration: September 2023–27

For more details on the programme, application process and to apply, please visit our website.

Live Zoom Q&A: February 16, 2023, 10am GMT
We are thrilled to be hosting a Live Zoom Q&A Session with our current PhD Scholars Weitian Liu and Yuhang Zhang, in conversation with Deputy Director Michèle Ruo Yi Landolt. Delving into the research-based programme’s core fields of study, our Scholars will be sharing their experiences of the course and their active engagement in curatorial projects and events that explore and promote critical discourse around the Sinophone art community in London and beyond. Together they will be answering questions ahead of your application in a Q&A geared towards prospective candidates who are interested in applying for the Scholarship and wish to learn more about the programme.

To sign up for the Zoom Q&A, please visit here to register.

About Asymmetry Art Foundation
Asymmetry is a London-based independent, non-profit foundation, dedicated to nurturing curatorial practice and disseminating knowledge about Chinese and Sinophone contemporary art. Through its support of academics, writers and curators from Greater China, and in partnership with leading UK and European institutions, the foundation promotes cultural exchange, pioneering research, collaboration, and production between arts practitioners, institutions, and audiences.