Research and Scholarship at Plymouth College of Art

Plymouth College of Art supports and promotes research and scholarly activity that furthers the institutional mission to advance the College as a progressive and professionally active learning community. The College has developed (and continues to evolve) a research philosophy that reflects its ethos as a small specialist and independent art school and which supports its higher education identity as manifested through the professional art and design focus of its academic portfolio. This approach views research in art and design as forming an integral part of the creative process and inclusive of activities whose outputs can - as witnessed in the listing below - consist of artefacts, audio constructions, creative writing forms, exhibitions, screening festivals, workshops, symposia and conferences, and the production of ephemeral and time-based performances and related phenomenon.

In this respect the College recognises that the work of the ‘artist’ or ‘designer’ frequently incorporates a practice-based research component which, whilst needing to be suitably articulated, nonetheless has a strong relationship with (and often overlaps) professional and pedagogic practices. Thus the College seeks to be sensitive to the ways in which new knowledge, understanding and improved insights in art and design are often deeply entangled in the practice-based routines and embodied performances frequently (if not typically) manifested in professional and teaching practices. We therefore seek to judiciously encourage and develop links between research and professional practice, and research and pedagogy.

The following listing represents a selection of staff-led projects supported by the College's Research Sub-Committee intended to show the subject range and diversity of approaches:

• "Break on Through to the Other Side..." (contemporary Chinese video art)
• Cafe Concrete Plymouth City Project - CCPCP part 1 (experimental sound project)
• Colour Light and Shadow (an exploration of cutting effects on blown glass)
• Confessions of a Recovering Data Collector (launch event as 'therapy session')
• 'Dry Run' and 'On Preparedness' (live art projects)
• Flipside Festival (independent film festival)
• From Bolivia to Johannesburg: Fairtrade Gold and Silver and Fairmade Jewellers (sourcing of ethical materials)
• Global Embrace & the Theatre of Belonging (performance art)
• Ideological Constructs - Past Visions/Future Possibilities: Evaluating the Minority Specialist Subjects in the Context of Emerging Global Sustainablity and New Glass Furnace Design for a Sustainable Business Model (development of new furnace technologies)
• Philosophy and Art (an exploration of the way the political is conceived in relation to art)
• SITE - the Sustainability Information Teaching Exchange (art and design sustainability resource)
• "To the Best of My Knowledge"- CCPCP part 2 (live/sonic art performances)
• WHIPPIT BERLIN: Tipping Points (exhibition)