معرفی
Frances Robertson is a Professor in the Department of Communication Design within the School of Design and Innovation at The Glasgow School of Art, specializing in the intersections of print culture, technical drawing history, and landscape materiality. Her research spans visual epistemology in engineering contexts, material agency in post-industrial landscapes, and the sensory dimensions of art school pedagogy.
Robertson's research interests center on the historical and contemporary relationships between visual representation and material practice. Her work explores how print technologies shape cultural knowledge, with particular focus on letterpress traditions, technical draughtsmanship in industrial contexts, and landscape as a site of cultural negotiation. Recent projects investigate energy transitions through fieldwork methodologies and the haptic dimensions of art education. Her scholarship demonstrates how visual techniques—from 19th-century engineering drawings to contemporary ultrasound imaging—mediate human engagement with material environments.
As co-editor of Special Issue: Multisensory materialities in the art school and lead researcher for the Caseroom Research Cluster, Robertson has established significant collaborative frameworks for examining material culture. Her fieldwork projects like Practicing Landscape and exhibitions such as Ultrasonic Glasgow demonstrate applied research connecting historical inquiry with contemporary practice. The Visible Language exhibition (2022) showcased the Caseroom Cluster's investigation into typographic materiality and archival practices.
Robertson's academic leadership is evident through her extensive publication record including monographs like Print Culture (2013) and the forthcoming The Caseroom: 60 Years of Letterpress etc. (2025). Her editorial work for journals such as Studies in Material Thinking and contributions to major reference works including The Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press establish her as a key voice in visual and material culture studies. Current projects examine James Watt's instruction manuals and the material agency of energy landscapes.
