معرفی
Laura Gonzalez is a Professor of Research and Interdisciplinary Work at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and an Athenaeum Research Fellow. She serves as a summer faculty member, advisor, and supervisor for the MFA and PhD residency program at Transart Institute. Her work spans performance art, medical humanities, psychoanalysis, and embodied practices, with a particular focus on hysteria studies and breathwork.
Her educational background includes:
- PhD in Cultural Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI), Art and Design Research Centre, Sheffield Hallam University (2005-2010)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Art, Design and Communication (2004-2005)
- Master of Fine Art: Drawing, Wimbledon School of Art (2000-2001)
- Licenciada en Bellas Artes (BA equivalent), Universidad del Pais Vasco, Spain (1995-2000)
Gonzalez's research explores the intersections of performance, psychoanalysis, and medical humanities, with particular emphasis on hysteria as a cultural and embodied phenomenon. Her work investigates how knowledge is produced through the body, especially through 'illegitimate forms of knowledge' such as intuition, magic, and oracles. She examines the relationship between breath, performance, and consciousness, developing practices that connect somatic awareness with artistic expression. Her research also engages with feminist theory, exploring how women's bodies have been historically pathologized while simultaneously serving as sites of resistance and creative transformation.
Her recent publications reveal a consistent trajectory exploring embodiment, hysteria, and breath as artistic and scholarly concerns. She has increasingly focused on the medical humanities, examining historical medical texts and case histories through performance. Her work demonstrates a movement from theoretical analysis of seduction in art toward practical applications of breathwork and embodied knowledge in performance contexts. The interdisciplinary nature of her scholarship bridges art practice, psychoanalytic theory, and medical history.
Her notable awards and recognitions include:
- Shortlisted for the Adrian Howells Award For Intimate Performance (2019)
- Athenaeum Award – Knowledge Exchange Route (2023)
- Glasgow Medical Humanities Network Foundation Award (2023)
- Athenaeum Award for research (2021)
- Multiple Research Development Funds from The Glasgow School of Art (2012-2016)
- AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards (2005, 2006, 2013)
Gonzalez has supervised numerous doctoral students across institutions including the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow School of Art, and Transart Institute. Her supervision focuses on interdisciplinary projects at the intersection of performance, visual arts, and embodied research. She has secured significant grant funding for projects exploring the relationship between imitation and dance, breath practices, and hysteria studies. Her collaborative projects often involve partnerships with medical humanities scholars, performance practitioners, and community organizations.
She is actively involved in several research collectives including The Workroom (since 2017), where she develops collaborative performance projects. She co-founded @TheGlasgowJam (2015-2018), creating space for multidisciplinary arts exploration. In 2021, she created the Scottish Breath Network, fostering interdisciplinary research on breathing practices. She also co-founded the Dialectical Materialist Book Group with Ian Macbeth, exploring Marxist theory through collective reading.
