Application deadline: August 14, 2023
European Research Council-funded project THINGSTIGATE aims to discover how aesthetic objects instigate sociopolitical change. We are seeking a postdoctoral researcher with a focus on public interventions as field methods. The position is full-time for two years, based at HDK-Valand—Academy of Art and Design, University of Gothenburg, Sweden starting in the fall semester 2023. The application deadline is August 14, 2023, at 4pm CET.
Practice-based researchers in art, design, craft, and cognate disciplines with a doctoral degree, with experience in object-based public interventions, ethnographic fieldwork, and/or participatory methods, are encouraged to apply. As a postdoctoral researcher in THINGSTIGATE, led by artist/researcher Dr Tintin Wulia (Principal Investigator), you will advance your research career through proactive participation in this prestigious European Research Council-funded (ERC) project’s research implementation, driving the success of its deliverables. Your responsibilities include (1) taking active part in the project’s core teamwork, (2) executing, developing, leading, and analyzing fieldworks and longitudinal survey, and (3) communicating research and new knowledge.
Candidates should, among other, submit a statement of purpose detailing your scholarly development goals as a researcher, demonstrating how your goals can work hand in hand with THINGSTIGATE’s scientific objectives, articulating how your current research intersects with its specific theoretical and methodological bases, and outlining specific strategies to employ and further develop your research expertise in shaping your role as part of the core team. To apply, visit here.
Project abstract
Things for Politics’ Sake: Aesthetic Objects and Social Change (THINGSTIGATE)
Many believe that art is transformative, that it can change society and politics. THINGSTIGATE aims to find out how this transformation happens. It begins with a hypothesis that this transformation pivots on aesthetic objects, and occurs within a tripartite framework of imagination, emotion, and sociopolitical institutions. The project combines archival data analysis, participatory art in everyday life, and longitudinal tracing of aesthetic objects, specifically ones that stimulate imagination and emotion on the nation-state as a sociopolitical institution. It will reinvent methods from large-scale studies of contentious politics to grammatically analyze the sociopolitical relations emanating out of objects in three decades of socially engaged art archives. Findings will be tested in public interventions—both physically in Sweden, Italy, USA, and digitally in Indonesia—where participants assemble and make aesthetic objects. These objects will be traced longitudinally to pinpoint when and how they instigate transformations within sociopolitical institutions. Read the project summary here.
Information on duties, eligibility, assessment criteria and how to apply here.
Applications must be received by: August 14, 2023 through the University recruitment system. See link above.
Contact information
If you have any questions about the position, please contact artist/PI Dr Tintin Wulia, tintin.wulia [at] gu.se. If you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Human Resources at HDK-Valand, hr [at] hdk-valand.gu.se.
The University of Gothenburg tackles society’s challenges with diverse knowledge. 56,000 students and 6,600 employees make the university a large and inspiring place to work and study. Strong research and attractive study programmes attract scientists and students from around the world. With new knowledge and new perspectives, the University contributes to a better future.
HDK-Valand—Academy of Art and Design, at the University of Gothenburg, conducts education and research in Design, Film, Photography, Fine Art, Crafts and Literary Composition—as well as teacher education in Visual Arts and Sloyd. We provide highly specialized degree programmes in an outgoing, international environment—where our unique and broad range of subjects also enables our students and staff to foster a broader artistic perspective, as well as to explore new working models and research fields. Together with our sister department—the Academy of Music and Drama—we form the most broad-ranging faculty of arts in Scandinavia.
