2024 RTP round - Culture/War: the politics and ethics of art and visual culture in war today

Status: Closed

Applications open: 7/07/2023
Applications close: 25/08/2023

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About this scholarship
Description/Applicant information

For most of us outside of war current zones, our understandings of those conflicts come almost entirely through their representations in visual culture.  And yet, the visual culture of news media, social media and contemporary art is a hotly contested space.  As we saw following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, war unfolding on the battlefields of the Donbas was accompanied by a war of visual culture.  We live in a time when war is a hybrid of the hard power of military violence and soft power of culture war.  
Misinformation and disinformation are central to what has been termed the ‘Gerasimov Doctrine’, named after Russia’s Chief of the General Staff General Valery Gerasimov. He says, ‘In the 21st century we have seen a tendency toward blurring the lines between the states of war and peace. Wars are no longer declared and, having begun, proceed according to an unfamiliar template.’ Fundamental to this idea is that these undeclared wars are fought through the subversion of civil and peacetime mechanisms, and that they are, as Mark Galeotti says, ‘not the prelude to war, but the war itself’. 
British contemporary artist, James Bridle recognises that ‘This is a deeply dark time, in which the structures we have built to expand the sphere of our communications and discourses are being used against us – all of us – in systematic and automated ways’. For Bridle, this ‘New Dark Age’ is characterised by regimes of invisibility, in which the systems of the military are infused within the civic structures of the state and of corporations, essentially hiding war within the very physical but often invisible structures of peace. 
Australian contemporary artists have been particularly active in war zones: in the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, Australia’s high-profile war artist George Gittoes set up a studio in Kyiv, and worked closely with artists in Odessa and Kyiv on collaborative public art projects and exhibitions.  Australia has a particularly strong tradition of contemporary artists working within war zones, including Ben Quilty, Wendy Sharpe, Ex de Medici, Jon Cattapan, Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, and Shaun Gladwell. They have created art that has come to serve as our public memory of the conflicts they visited.  
However, what are the ethical complexities around Australian and other western artists making art in active war zones? What of the often less-visible perspectives of artists in those countries—or artists who have fled those countries?  How might their perceptions significantly differ from ours? Are western interventions in active war zones a form of ‘dark tourism’ or do they create a vital lifeline between artists in war zones and the rest of the world? 

The Aims of this PhD research project are:
• To contribute to a greater understanding of the important role of Australian and other western contemporary artists within current or recent war zones;
• To create new understandings of the complex relationship between western war artists and artists caught in war without choice;
• To formulate new and creative ways of thinking about the complex ethics of visual culture and contemporary art in relation to violent conflict. 

The Objectives of this PhD research project are:
• To research alongside a cohort of academic scholars and higher degree researchers, as part of an existing and growing area of research into the art and visual culture of war at Curtin University;
• To contribute to the field of research through the developments of methods that may include creative practice, particularly contemporary art studio practice (although other modes of creative practice are possible); 
• To work in parallel with existing projects the art and visual culture of war at Curtin University, such as the Art of Peace project (this project is not part of that project, but does relate strongly to its themes). 

This PhD research is part of a well-established and growing area of research at Curtin University, following on from the past Art in Conflict research project and working alongside the Art of Peace research project.  As such, this PhD project addresses vital issues that have arisen from this ongoing research, particularly issues around contemporary art and visual culture in war zones, and on the ethical complexities of western contemporary artists representing victims of war in other countries.  This ongoing research at Curtin has always valued the importance of creative practice in thinking through these vexed issues, and as such this project can be approached either as thesis-only research or as a creative practice PhD, in which the candidate presents for examination an exegetical written dissertation and a body of creative practice work. 

 

Student type

• Future Students

Faculty

• Faculty of Humanities

Course type

• Higher Degree by Research

Citizenship

• Australian Citizen
• Australian Permanent Resident
• New Zealand Citizen
• Permanent Humanitarian Visa

Scholarship base

• Merit Based

Value

The annual scholarship package (stipend and tuition fees) is approx. $60,000 - $70,000 p.a.

Successful HDR applicants for admission will receive a 100% fee offset for up to 4 years, stipend scholarships at the 2023 RTP rate valued at $32,250 p.a. for up to a maximum of 3 years, with a possible 6 month completion scholarship. Applicants are determined via a competitive selection process and will be notified of the scholarship outcome in November 2023. 

For detailed information, visit: Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarships | Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

Scholarship Details
Maximum number awarded

1

Eligible courses

All applicable HDR courses

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants with a publishing and/or creative practice track record. 
• English language IELTS level minimum of 6.5 
• Bachelor’s degree with Honours or a Master’s degree in fine art, visual culture, art theory or a related field. Significant relevant professional experience will also be favourably considered. 
• Demonstrated research interest is aspects of contemporary art, visual culture and war. 
• Demonstrated written and/or creative practice skills in a field relevant to this project. 

Application process

If this project excites you, and your research skills and experience are a good fit for this specific project, you should contact the Project Lead (listed below in the enquires section) via the Expression of Interest (EOI) form. ahead of the closing date. Please note you should apply as soon as possible, as once a suitable candidate has been identified this opportunity will no longer be available to receive an EOI.

Enrolment Requirements

Eligible to enrol in a Higher Degree by Research Course at Curtin University by March 2024.

Recipients must complete their milestone 1 within 6 month of enrolment and remain enrolled on a full-time basis for the duration of the scholarship.

Enquiries

To enquire about this project opportunity that includes a scholarship application, contact the Project lead, Kit Messham-Muir via the EOI form above.

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