Gillian Whiteley

Dr. Gillian Whiteley is a Senior Lecturer in Art History and Visual Culture at Loughborough University, UK. She holds a PhD from the University of Leeds and has taught at institutions including the Open University and the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on creative dissent, art activism, and socio-political contexts of cultural production. She coordinates the Politicized Practice Research Group and co-organizes the RadicalAesthetics-RadicalArt initiative with Dr. Jane Tormey. Her projects, such as bricolagekitchen, explore improvisation, bricolage, and trash as artistic mediums. She is also a sonic and multimedia improviser, collaborating with groups like Gated Community and Alchemy/Schmalchemy. Her work interrogates transitory utopias, material culture, and the politics of art.

Education:

• PhD in Art History, University of Leeds
• MA in Sculpture Studies

Research Interests:

• Creative dissent and ludic protest
• Art activism and socio-political engagement
• Bricolage, detritus, and material ontologies
• Transdisciplinary practices in art and culture

Key Projects:

• RaRa (RadicalAesthetics-RadicalArt) book series with Bloomsbury
• Curated exhibitions like Radical Mayhem: Welfare State International and its Followers
• Publications on waste culture, improvisation, and 20th-century art movements

Advising & Grants:

• Curated the Re-imagining Citizenship exhibition at Loughborough University
• Contributed to interdisciplinary research on violence and art through the Cultures of Violence project

Labs/Teams: Politicized Practice Research Group, RadicalAesthetics-RadicalArt (RaRa), and collaborative art collectives such as bricolagekitchen.