David Stent

Subject Leader - Fine Art

Dr David Stent is an artist, writer, curator and performer. His practice has drawn on various media, from drawing and painting to film, video, sonic and sculptural installation. His most recent work has been concerned with the role of writing in art practice, particularly in association with artists' publications, relations between image and text, and the use of theory and philosophy in contemporary art. He holds a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Reading, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. David is Chair of West Dean College’s Research Committee and a PhD Advisor at Kingston University.

Research interests

The life and work of Edward James; Artists' Publications; Theory and Philosophy in Contemporary Art; Text/image as score for performance.

Recent outputs

  • ‘Lost in the Labyrinth – Edward James and Minotaure’ – Surrealisms 2019 conference, University of Exeter, 2019
  • 'Dalí/Duchamp in light of Edward James – The International Surrealist Exhibition 1936', Avant-Garde Studies Journal Issue 3, edited by Dawn Ades and William Jeffett. The Dalí Museum, Florida / [https://thedali.org/programs/avant-garde/issue-2-fall-2016-2/]
    Originally delivered at Dali/Duchamp symposium Royal Academy, London, 2017
  • The Patient – durational performance of composition by Joseph Clayton Mills, Headington Hill Hall, Oxford, 2018
  • ‘Blue Slip Stone Burst: Takuro Kuwata and Destructive Plasticity’ – Ceramic Plasticity symposium, West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, 2018
  • Antelope Hotel (with Neil Chapman) Artists’ publication, Force 8 and The Mothership, 2017, ISBN 978-0-9544901-6-4
  • 'Sound Observatory’, Sound I’m particular lecture series, The Old Fire Station, Oxford, 2016
  • ‘Collaboration in These Weak Kindnesses', Artists’ Books: Collaborations conference, American International University, London, 2016
  • ‘Not to be Introduced – Portraits of Edward James, Georges Perec and others’, Species of Spaces: Transdisciplinary Approaches to the Work of Georges Perec, Teesside University, 2014
  • BORE (2015-2018) – co-founder and contributing editor (with Sarah Hughes) of journal dedicated to text and graphic scores for performance

Other exhibitions

Objects of Conjecture (with Sarah Hughes) Hardwick Gallery; Montem, Casa de Cultura, Xilitla, San Luís Potosi, Mexico; Beton Machine III - Marso Galeria, Mexico City. Residencies: Arnolfini, Bristol; Modern Art Oxford.

Top banner photo credit: Jack Lawson

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