Stephen Cornford

Stephen Cornford is a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Southampton’s School of Arts. He specializes in video, sound, installation, and digital art, with a focus on critiquing media technologies’ environmental impacts and materiality. His teaching includes leading BA Fine Art practice modules and curating annual degree shows.

• PhD in Fine Art (Winchester School of Art, 2018)
• Co-director of Critical Infrastructures and Image Politics research group
• Collaborations with geophysicists and volcanologists

Research explores intersections between media systems and planetary systems, particularly the toxicity of digital technologies and resource scarcity for imaging devices. Recent projects like Petrified Media and Spectral Index examine electronic waste stratification and satellite-based resource mapping practices.

Scientific awards include the 2022 Earth Art Fellowship at the University of Bristol. He supervised practice-based PhD projects in Fine Art, notably Patrick Farmer’s Listening, a correspondence. His work has been exhibited globally, including at ZKM Karlsruhe and ICC Tokyo.