Dr Marq Smith joins LAHP as Deputy Director for Collaborations & Partnerships

Marq is Programme Leader of the MA Museums & Galleries in Education at UCL Institute of Education, Professor of Artistic Research at Vilnius Academy of Arts, and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Visual Culture. He loves working with cultural institutions such as Freud Museum, ICA, Tate, and Whitechapel on devising and delivering curatorial, programming, and publishing initiatives. He’s had recent roles as Board Member of Arts Catalyst and Live Art Development Agency, and as an Advisory Group Member, Inclusive Practice, at Wellcome Collection.

There are two often interwoven strands to Marq’s research, publishing, and curating activities (1) arts education, artistic research, practice-based research, and archives, and (2) the future of the human in the visual, material, and immaterial culture of capitalist modernity. Recent publications (often collaboratively conceived and realised, and all freely available) include: ‘The JVC Palestine Portfolio’ (2021), Pause. Fervour: Reflections on a Pandemic (2021), Decolonizing: The Curriculum, the Museum, and the Mind (2020), Research: Practitioner | Curator | Educator (2020). Recent curatorial projects include: ‘Do The Right Thing’ (Titanikas, Vilnius), ‘Solitary Pleasures’ (Freud Museum, London), the Nida Doctoral School (Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale), ‘How to Construct a Time Machine’ (MK Gallery), ‘Blood & Bones: Living with Cancer’ (UCLH), ‘The Global Archive’, and ‘How We Became Metadata’.

As an academic manager, Marq’s roles have included Head of the School of Art and Design History, Kingston University, Research Leader and Head of Doctoral Studies in the School of Humanities at Royal College of Art, and Founding Director of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at University of Westminster.

As Deputy Director (Collaborations and Partnerships), Marq is responsible for leading on the Collaborative Doctoral Awards Competition and the Placement Scheme, whilst working across LAHP to foster strong relationships with non-HEI partners.