Professor Richard Noble

Richard Noble is Professor and Head of the Art Department at Goldsmiths College. He is a political philosopher by training, who has migrated into the art world. His research is primarily focused on utopian strategies in contemporary art and their connection to the concept of utopia in philosophy and political thought. He is the editor of Utopias, which was published in the MIT/Whitechapel Documents in Contemporary Art series, and has written numerous essays on contemporary artists, including Antony Gormley, Rachel Whiteread, David Batchelor, Mona Hatoum and Hannah Collins. He is currently working on a monograph about the public art works of Cristina Iglesias and an essay on Adrian Villas Rojas.

Professor Noble has been Head of the Art Department at Goldsmiths for 10 years, and was the driving force behind the building of the new Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art.

Academic qualifications

• 1980 B.A. (Politics) University of British Columbia
• 1982 M.Sc. (Political Philosophy) London School of Economics
• 1987 Ph.D. London School of Economics

Teaching

Richard lectures in contemporary art history and criticism. He supervises undergraduate work and postgraduate dissertations in critical theory on art and politics aesthetics. 

Publications and research outputs

Book Section

Noble, Richard. 2018. Stillness, Movement, Space. In: , ed. Antony Gormley - Still Moving. Shanghai: The Long Museum, pp. 15-28. ISBN 978-7-5479-1707-7

Noble, Richard. 2014. States and Conditions: A conversation between Antony Gormley and Richard Noble. In: , ed. States and Conditions, Hong Kong. Hong Kong: White Cube, pp. 13-39. ISBN 9781906072865

Noble, Richard. 2007. The Utopian Body. In: Michael Mack, ed. Antony Gormley. Steidl/Mack, pp. 11-51. ISBN 9783865210296

Article

Noble, Richard. 2005. Art Since 1900 : A Review Essay. Art Monthly, ISSN 0142-6702

Noble, Richard. 2004. Start Making Sense. catalogue essay for Michael Craig-Martin: Surfacing,

Noble, Richard. 2004. ‘The Aesthetics of Contingency’. catalogue of David Batchelor: Shiny/Dirty,

Exhibition Catalogue

Noble, Richard. 2009. The lure of utopia.

Edited Book

Blazwick, Iwona and Noble, Richard, eds. 2021. Liquid Sculpture: The Public Art of Cristina Iglesias. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz. ISBN 9783775748230

Research Interests

Contemporary Art and Artists
Critical Theory
Art and Politics
Political Philosophy