Dr Emily Rosamond

Emily’s research explores the implications of financialization and metrification for online identity and selfhood.

Staff details

Position

Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, co-Leader PhD in Advanced Practices

Department

Visual Cultures

Email

Emily.Rosamond (@gold.ac.uk)

Emily’s research explores reputation, personality and character in social media and financialized culture. Her recent writings have explored volatility in finance, art, and culture; character in social impact investing; and YouTube personalities as platform infrastructure, among other topics.

Emily is currently working on a monograph on online reputation. She runs the Digital Performance Research Lab, which fosters intergenerational research on the politics of social media performances. Her practice-led project, Somatic Infrastructures, seeks imaginative links between embodied experience and hidden communication infrastructures, such as WiFi, plant hormone signals, and carrier waves in radio.

Emily serves as Editor of Finance and Society, Advisory Board member of Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, and Director of Research for Visual Cultures. She teaches subjects including contemporary art theory, performance, infrastructures, online culture, and financialization.

Academic qualifications

PhD Art, Goldsmiths, University of London 2016
MFA Interdisciplinary Studies, Simon Fraser University 2007
Independent Studio Program, Toronto School of Art 2005
BFA Visual Arts, York University, Toronto 2002
PG Certificate Course in the Management of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Goldsmiths, University of London 2015
Certificate Course in University Teaching and Learning, Simon Fraser University 2007

Teaching and supervision

I teach on a wide range of topics across Visual Cultures BA programmes, including digital and data publics, online platform cultures, performance art, conceptual art, financialization, and art markets. My MA Contemporary Art Theory special subject explores the entanglements of performance with infrastructures in various senses (eg. financial, digital, relational). I welcome PhD proposals.

Research interests

My research explores unexpected connections between Western understandings of selfhood (through the contingent conceptual categories personality, reputation, and character), digital infrastructures, and financial systems. My book in progress, Reputation Warfare: Contested Credibility in Online Platforms, explores what online platforms do to reputation, by producing endless signs of credibility, popularity, and importance (such as like counts, follower counts, and reviews). Far from stabilizing the value of reputations, I argue, online platforms’ quantification of reputations amplifies long-developing conflicts about their value, and inaugurates reputation volatility as a force reshaping culture, politics and public debate.

Other recent writings have explored YouTube personalities as platform infrastructure (Distinktion, 2023), volatility in finance, art and culture (Finance and Society, 2023), the implications of social impact investing for socially engaged art practices (Finance and Society, 2016) and literary theories of character (Journal of Cultural Economy, 2020); post-truth as bullying (Fabricating Publics, Open Humanities Press, 2021); financialization, subjectivity and culture (Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism, Springer, 2022); and online dating platforms and assetized selves (Journal of Aesthetics & Culture, 2018). Currently, I am writing on topologies of race and reputation in conflict zones, and queer temporality and the poetics of entrapment in asset manager society.

My ongoing practice-led project, Somatic Infrastructures, explores ways to connect embodied experience with signalling infrastructures that cannot be directly sensed, such as carrier waves in radio, WiFi signals, and airborne plant hormone communication. This multimedia project includes a recent participatory choreographic work, The Carrier Wave; a two-person exhibition, Semio-Technical Traffics, SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhagen; and an accompanying bookwork, The Hidden Track.

Featured publications

2023: YouTube Personalities as Infrastructure: Assets, Attention Choreographies and Cohortification Processes

2023: Volatility in Finance, Art, and Culture
Special issue, Finance and Society

2020: Derivative Character Investments: Social Impact Bonds as Path-Changing Devices

2019: From Reputation Capital to Reputation Warfare: Online Ratings, Trolling, and the Logic of Volatility

2018: To sort, to match and to share: addressivity in online dating platforms

Grants and awards

2012: Commonwealth Scholarship - Doctoral, CSC United Kingdom

2009: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

2006: Canada Graduate Scholarship – Masters, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

1998: President’s Scholarship, York University, Toronto

Publications and research outputs

Edited Journal

Volatility in Finance, Art, and Culture Lee, Benjamin and Rosamond, Emily, eds. 2023. Volatility in Finance, Art, and Culture, Finance and Society, 9(3). 2059-5999

Book Section

Social networks and serendipitous desire Rosamond, Emily. 2023. Social networks and serendipitous desire. In: Amin Samman and Earl Gammon, eds. Clickbait Capitalism: Economies of Desire in the Twenty-First Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 98-115. ISBN 9781526168160
Techniques of Aberrant Extraction: Transacting Surplus Acts in an Age of Speculation Rosamond, Emily. 2023. Techniques of Aberrant Extraction: Transacting Surplus Acts in an Age of Speculation. In: Marsha Bradfield; Cinzia Cremona; Amy McDonnell and Eva Sajovic, eds. Transacting as Art, Design and Architecture: A Non-Commercial Market. Bristol: Intellect Books, pp. 203-212. ISBN 9781789384437
Cloud Relationality Rosamond, Emily. 2022. Cloud Relationality. In: Catherine Parayre, ed. Cloud: Donna Szöke. St. Catharines, Ontario: Small Walker Press, pp. 40-51. ISBN 9781990208195

Finance and the Financialization of Capitalism Ascher, Ivan; Hardin, Carolyn; Klein, Steven; Montgomerie, Johnna and Rosamond, Emily. 2022. Finance and the Financialization of Capitalism. In: Albena Azmanova and James Chamberlain, eds. Capitalism, Democracy, Socialism: Critical Debates. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 71-97. ISBN 9783031084065
Algorithmic Rating Rosamond, Emily. 2021. Algorithmic Rating. In: Ilan Manouach and Anna Engelhardt, eds. Chimeras: Inventory of Synthetic Cognition. Athens: Ariona/Onassis Foundation. ISBN 9786188536180
Post-Truth as Bullying Rosamond, Emily. 2021. Post-Truth as Bullying. In: Bill Balaskas and Carolina Rito, eds. Fabricating Publics: The Dissemination of Culture in the Post-Truth Era. Open Humanities Press, pp. 99-120. ISBN 9781785421051
The Future-Oracular: Prediction, Divination and the Politics of Certainty Rosamond, Emily. 2019. The Future-Oracular: Prediction, Divination and the Politics of Certainty. In: , ed. Schemas of Uncertainty. Amsterdam: Sandberg Instituut, pp. 141-158.
Surveillance Capitalist Aesthetics Rosamond, Emily. 2018. Surveillance Capitalist Aesthetics. In: Katleen Vermeir and Ronny Heiremans, eds. A Modest Proposal. Brussels: Jubilee vzw, pp. 31-35. ISBN 9789082966206
It Sees (Notes Toward a Cultural History of Financial Vision) Rosamond, Emily. 2017. It Sees (Notes Toward a Cultural History of Financial Vision). In: Inte Gloerich; Geert Lovink and Patricia de Vries, eds. Moneylab Reader Reader 2: Overcoming the Hype. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, pp. 101-114. ISBN 978-94-92302-19-9
Reputation Addiction Rosamond, Emily. 2017. Reputation Addiction. In: Vanessa Bartlett and Henrietta Bowden-Jones, eds. Are We All Addicts Now? Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, pp. 96-103. ISBN 978-1-78694-081-0
Theatre of Information Rosamond, Emily. 2017. Theatre of Information. In: Sam Smith and Andrea Zucchini, eds. Here the Sun does not enter. London: Assembly Point. ISBN 978-0-9957691-0-6
Speculative Labour: On the Work of Charlotte Warne Thomas Rosamond, Emily. 2015. Speculative Labour: On the Work of Charlotte Warne Thomas. In: Margarida Bröco Amorim; Alejandro J. Ball; Miriam La Rosa and Stefania Sorrentino, eds. In Transition: The Artistic and Curatorial Residency. London: CTC Press, pp. 24-33. ISBN 9780993358708
Electricity Enslaved: Tonal Imagery of Progress, Incorporation, Extinction Rosamond, Emily. 2012. Electricity Enslaved: Tonal Imagery of Progress, Incorporation, Extinction. In: , ed. Necrospective. London: Danielle Arnaud. ISBN 9780955872167
Factory-esque: Temporalities of Critique in Michael Landy's Breakdown Rosamond, Emily. 2011. Factory-esque: Temporalities of Critique in Michael Landy's Breakdown. In: Ahlia Moussa and Simon Bentley, eds. Revisiting Ephemera. London, Ontario, Canada: MacIntosh Gallery/Blue Medium Press, pp. 37-52. ISBN 9780986750663 0986750662

Article

Introduction: Volatility in Finance, Art, and Culture Lee, Benjamin and Rosamond, Emily. 2023. Introduction: Volatility in Finance, Art, and Culture. Finance and Society, 9(3), pp. 1-17. ISSN 2059-5999
Communities, cohorts and counter-speculators Rosamond, Emily. 2023. Communities, cohorts and counter-speculators. Journal of Cultural Economy, 16(2), pp. 294-297. ISSN 1753-0350
YouTube Personalities as Infrastructure: Assets, Attention Choreographies and Cohortification Processes Rosamond, Emily. 2023. YouTube Personalities as Infrastructure: Assets, Attention Choreographies and Cohortification Processes. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, 24(2), pp. 254-282. ISSN 1600-910X

Conference or Workshop Item

Queer Temporality and the Poetics of Entrapment in Asset Manager Society Rosamond, Emily. 2024. 'Queer Temporality and the Poetics of Entrapment in Asset Manager Society'. In: Intersections of Finance and Society Conference 2024. University of Sheffield, United Kingdom 12-13 September 2024.
Entrapments: Models, Affects, and Cultures of Asset Manager Society Rosamond, Emily. 2024. 'Entrapments: Models, Affects, and Cultures of Asset Manager Society'. In: Model Imaginaries: Literature, Economics, Abstraction. John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany 4-6 July 2024.
Clickbait Capitalism: A Panel Discussion Samman, Amin; Gammon, Earl and Rosamond, Emily. 2023. 'Clickbait Capitalism: A Panel Discussion'. In: Clickbait Capitalism: A panel discussion. UCL Centre for Capitalism Studies, United Kingdom 23 February 2024.

Art Object

Wifi Coming Through the Wallpaper Rosamond, Emily. 2016. Wifi Coming Through the Wallpaper.
Decision Aperture in Light Heat (simmer in the measure) Rosamond, Emily. 2016. Decision Aperture in Light Heat (simmer in the measure).
A trigger for each of the oracle's moods, as if she could cut through the thick through the thick crust Rosamond, Emily. 2016. A trigger for each of the oracle's moods, as if she could cut through the thick through the thick crust.

Audio

Art Monthly Talk Show on Resonance FM McCormack, Chris. 2022. Art Monthly Talk Show on Resonance FM.

Performance

Tall Grass Tells the Time Rosamond, Emily. 2019. Tall Grass Tells the Time. In: "Performance Night!", A.P.T. Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 16 February 2019.
Zine//o//morph Rosamond, Emily; Milne, Alexis and Oi, Lu Ma. 2018. Zine//o//morph. In: "Zine//o//morph", ASC Studios, Empson Street, London, United Kingdom, 26 January 2018.
You must answer in the form of a question! Rosamond, Emily; Harris, Rowena; Prevett, James; Zaharia, Madalina and Craig, Kit. 2016. You must answer in the form of a question!. In: "You must answer in the form of a question!", ASC Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 3 October 2016.

Printed Ephemera

Swarm Signals Rosamond, Emily. 2021. Swarm Signals.
The Hidden Track Rosamond, Emily. 2019. The Hidden Track.
The Ethylene Trio, Part 3: Oracles Rosamond, Emily. 2018. The Ethylene Trio, Part 3: Oracles.

Professional Activity

Associate Editor, Finance and Society Rosamond, Emily. 2021. Associate Editor, Finance and Society.
Advisory Board Member, Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory Rosamond, Emily. Advisory Board Member, Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory.

Show/Exhibition

Semio-Technical Traffics Rosamond, Emily; Ørum, Kristoffer and Elmstrom, Iben. 2020. Semio-Technical Traffics. In: "Semio-Technical Traffics", SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhage, Denmark, 10 January - 15 February 2020.
Mimesis; Narrative; Against Hegemony! Rosamond, Emily; Charlesworth, Dave; Cove, Ben; Estna, Merike; Gainan, Justin; Goodwin, Katie; Hughes, Catherine; Kiernander, Trevor; Pathan, Alia; Selby, Lisa; Systems House, M.; Taylor, Ross; Tilley, Annabel; Whatmore, Poppy and Zaharia, Madalina. 2019. Mimesis; Narrative; Against Hegemony!. In: "Mimesis; Narrative; Against Hegemony!", A.P.T. Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 25 January - 16 February 2019.
Small Things Considered - Ceteris Paribus Rosamond, Emily. 2018. Small Things Considered - Ceteris Paribus. In: "Small Things Considered - Ceteris Paribus", Leu Gallery, Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 12 March - 4 May 2018.

Thesis

Economies of Character (or, Character in the Age of Big Data) Rosamond, Emily. 2016. Economies of Character (or, Character in the Age of Big Data). Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London

Professional projects

Semio-Technical Traffics
Two-person Exhibition (with Kristoffer Ørum)
SixtyEight Art Institute, Copenhagen
10 January - 15 February, 2020

Conferences and talks

2019: “Character Capital: Social Impact Bonds and the Financialization of Behaviour”
Intersections of Finance and Society conference, City, University of London

2019: “Volatile Measures: the Financialization of Online Reputation”
Eleventh Critical Finance Studies Conference, University of Birmingham

2019: “The Future-Oracular”
Schemas of Uncertainty: Soothsayers and Soft AI symposium, Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam

2018: “The Investment-Image of Contemporary Art”
Post-Capitalist Photography Now!, The Photographers Gallery, London

2018: “Surveillance Capitalist Aesthetics”
AMP Symposium, Royal College of Art, in partnership with Pump House Gallery, London

2018: “Volatile Measurement Environments”
New Narratives 2: Thinking Economics Differently, Kunstgebäude, Stuttgart

2018: “Profiling in Predictive Cultures”
Fine Art Lecture Series, Oxford Brookes University

2018: “It Sees”
MoneyLab #4, Somerset House, London

2018: “Reputation and Surveillance Capitalist Aesthetics”
Intersections of Finance and Society conference, University of Edinburgh

2018: “Second Selves: Auto/Biography, Figuration and the Financial Subject”
Tenth Critical Finance Studies Conference, University of Gothenburg

2017: “Reputation Power”
MFA Art and Curating Monday Night Art Lecture Series, Goldsmiths

2017: “Identity Trouble (On the Blockchain)”
DAOWO Blockchain Laboratory and Debate Series, Goethe Institute, London

2017: “Financial Vision and the Disinterested Gaze of Power”
Intersections of Finance and Society conference, City, University of London

2017: “Reputation Capital/Reputation Warfare: Two Versions of the Optimal”
All Things Optimal, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick

2017: “Removing the Cap: Institutional Affectivity and the Financialization of British Art Education”
Ninth Critical Finance Studies Conference, University of Leicester

2017: “Reputation Management, Surveillance Capitalism and the Politics of Nudging”
London Critical conference, London Southbank University

2016: “Algorithmic Witnesses”
MFA Art and Curating Monday Night Art Lecture Series, Goldsmiths