I joined the department in 2007. Before arriving at Goldsmiths, I was a lecturer in Contemporary Art Theory & Practice at the International Centre for Cultural & Heritage Studies, Newcastle University. There, I established a new MA - ‘Gallery and Art Museum Education Studies’ - which was the first of its kind in the UK. Prior to this, I was Head of Education & Research at the John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton. Here I worked with a wide range of artists, academics, curators, writers, city councilors, other gallery sector professional and members of the public, to stimulate public debate and to create new opportunities for research to occur at the interstices between art and politics. I played a key role in the successful application for a £5.2m HLF funded Capital Build Project to relocate the John Hansard Gallery into Southampton city centre.
In 2007 I won, in conjunction with Tate Modern, AHRC funding for a research student to undertake a new Collaborative Doctoral Award. The studentship has since been filled by Alex Hodby and it will explore the politics of ‘new institutionalism’ as exemplified by Tate Modern. I am a Board Member of Tate Papers and the Journal for Museum Education. I am also a member of Polarts, the ECPR Standing Group for Politics and the Arts. I was awarded a bursary from Historical & Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College, to conduct doctoral research into the ontology of curating and in 2003, I was awarded a PhD without Correction.
Buckley, Bernadette. 2005. Terrible Beauties. In: Graham Coulter-Smith and Maurice Owen, eds. Art in the Age of Terrorism. Paul Holberton, pp. 10-33. ISBN 1903470412
My research interests traverse a number of different fields. I have long since been interested in the complex relationships between art and war and/or art and terrorism. Simultaneously however, my interest in ‘Gallery Studies’ has led me to explore the relationship between ‘curating’ and ‘creating’ and to investigate the ontology of curating from the perspective of the ‘event’. In this vein also, I am interested in the (de) differentiation between ‘contemporary art’, ‘heritage’, ‘education’ and other areas of practice. Additionally here I have explored notions of (un)‘education’ both in ‘artistic’ and in ‘gallery’ practices.
I have recently been involved in a collaborative research project, funded by Arts Council England, engage, Museums and Library Archives Association and the Reading Agency. This study investigated the practices, learning outcomes and impact of writers/ visual artists who are currently working with young people and educators in cultural sites and schools.
I was co-investigator for the En-quire research project (Phases 2-3), which explored pedagogical skill-sharing amongst artists in educational projects.
I was also Academic Advisor for the Panacea project funded by Wellcome Foundation for Medical Research: 2006-2007 (£94k).
