Christine Ellison
Job title:
Senior Lecturer in Fine Art
Role:
Programme Director, MA Contemporary Art Practice; Director of Education for Art
Office:
D.13, Main Building
Biography
Christine Ellison is an Irish artist and educator based in Glasgow. She graduated from IADT, Dublin with a B.Des in Interactive Media, before completing her Masters in Textiles at Goldsmiths College, London in 2006. Her work is performance-based and encompasses movement, video, sound, costume, collage, animation and text. Christine has exhibited, performed and collaborated extensively across the UK, Ireland and internationally. As part of her performance project Pollyfibre: girlband from a digital dimension (2005- 2015), she performed and presented work at multiple international events including Dublin Electronic Arts Festival and Dublin Fringe, Kaunas Art Bienniel, Rapid Pulse Festival (Chicago), Performa (New York) as well as at galleries including White Box (New York), The Whitechapel Gallery (London), Embassy (Edinburgh), Eastside Projects and Grand Union, (Birmingham). Between 2013 and 2018 she organised performance events, talks and workshops as Agency of Noise. Since 2019 she has been developing graphic scores, films and performances as part of Hummingbirds and Hamburgers a performance-based research exchange with collaborators across Art, Film, Community Practice, Dance, Music and Interaction Design.
Christine was Associate Professor in Art at the University of Reading where she taught from 2006 until 2023. She took up her appointment as Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Edinburgh College of Art in September 2023.
Research interests
- Contemporary Art performance
- Graphic Scores
- Sound Art
- Participatory Practices
- Interdisciplinary Practices across Art and Design
As an educator, Christine is committed to engaging students through research-led teaching and active learning. Her interest in Participatory Art, Listening practices and Performance permeates her teaching methods. As such, she approaches the studio space as a live communal environment where new knowledge is co-produced through experimentation, critical reflection and discussion. Christine has extensive experience of programme and course design at all levels of undergraduate and postgraduate study. She has developed multiple seminars on Art writing, Documentation and Exhibition-making, as well as Sound and Performance Art Practice.
As leader of the MA Contemporary Art Practice, Christine oversees all courses on the programme and teaches Studio Practice, Site-specific practice and the Future Business of Art as well as supervising Masters Projects. Christine co-ordinates the Graduate Show for MA Contemporary Art Practice.
In her role as Director of Education in Art, Christine assists the Head of Art in providing strategic direction, leadership, and oversight of Art’s taught education portfolio at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Responsibilities include chairing of the Art Education Committee, and working closely with student representatives, including via the Student-Staff Liaison Committee. Christine oversees curriculum development and approval for the subject area, interfacing directly with ECA Board of Studies and is keen to further engage the student voice in policy-making in Art.
Research
Research
Christine’s research-led practice is performance based. Driven by an interest in how words and systems determine our actions she makes graphic scores, live performances and films in which familiar signs become performative propositions. Her research positions the body as a tool to re-wire preconditioned impulses in relation to language, with a focus on words and symbols of digital interfaces. Christine has exhibited and performed extensively across the UK, Ireland and internationally. She regularly collaborates with musicians, dancers, choreographers and designers and engages participants from academic and non-academic communities in workshops and performance-led research.She led a collaborative, interdisciplinary research residency at Fondazione Bonotto (IT) in November 2022. Other recent events include participatory research-led workshops at Documenta 15 (DE) and Reading Fringe (UK). She was a runner up for the Aesthetica Art Prize, UK (2024), and her film ‘something is Happening’ was screened at Light Moves Festival, Ireland (2023) and the international conference ‘Activating Fluxus: In and Out of the Archive’. Ellison was invited to develop a participatory performance work by Fondazione Bonotto in partnership with Opera Estate Festival projects, Italy, which was performed at Theatro Rimondini, Bassano, del Grappa (2022). Her film Let’s Interface the Music and Dance was selected for the exhibition On Waiting... at Museum Strauhof, Zurich (2021). Her sound piece ‘Restart’ was included in Audiosphere at Museo Reine Sofia, Madrid (2020). Her research has received support from The Arts Council of England, University of Reading, University of the Arts Zurich, The Elephant Trust and The Arts Council of Ireland.
