Dr Kirsten Lloyd

Job title:

Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art History and Curating

Role:

Programme Director, Collections and Curating Practices MScR

Kirsten.Lloyd@ed.ac.uk
+44 (0)131 650 4118

Office:

Room O.48, Higgitt Gallery, Hunter Building

Research Output:

Edinburgh Research Explorer link

Biography

Before joining the University of Edinburgh I worked as a curator, commissioning artists, leading residency programmes and making exhibitions. I gained by PhD in contemporary art history in 2017 from The University of Edinburgh. I am currently a Research Fellow with the ‘Feminism, Art, Maintenance’ (2019 – ) project, funded by the Swedish Research Council, and the Academic Lead for the University’s Contemporary Art Research Collection.

Between 2019 and 2023 I was the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities’ Discipline+Catalyst Lead for Cultural and Museum Studies. I have served on the Boards of Edinburgh Art Festival (2005-2008), Scottish Contemporary Art Network (2008-2012) and Market Gallery (2011-2015).

I designed and directed the MSc by Research in Collections and Curating Practices, led in partnership with National Galleries of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, Fruitmarket and the National Library of Scotland. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research interests

Contemporary Art History
Curatorial Studies

Teaching

Kirsten is on research leave for the 2023/24 academic year and is not teaching over this period.

Art and Capitalist Life (Year 3 Hons)

Curating Contemporary Art: Histories, Theories and Practice (Year 4 Hons)

The Need to Document: Contemporary Art from Performance to Biopolitics (Postgraduate Taught)

Guided Research Placement

Research

My research focuses on late 20th and 21st art and mediation, including lens-based practice, participatory work and realism. Recent publications include ‘Art, Life and Capitalist Social Reproduction: Curating Social Practice’ in the Journal of Curatorial Studies (2021). I am currently working on the next phase of the collaborative exhibition and research project Life Support: Forms of Care in Art and Activism with Glasgow Women’s Library and a book called Contemporary Art and Capitalist Life supported by Leverhulme Research Fellowship.