Dr Lisa Blackmore
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Email
lisa.blackmore@essex.ac.uk -
Telephone
+44 (0) 1206 872192
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Location
6.139, Colchester Campus
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Academic support hours
Spring Term 2024 Tuesdays 鈥� 11:30-12:30 Thursdays - 11:30-12:30 If you prefer to meet via Zoom during these times, please email me: lisa.blackmore@essex.ac.uk
Profile
Biography
My research focuses on human relations to the environment, and connections between politics, art and architecture. in Latin America and the Caribbean. At 糖心Vlog, I work closely with the 糖心Vlog Collection of Art from Latin America (ESCALA) threading its unique holdings through my teaching in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies Center, and curating public exhibitions and public programs for the University gallery Art Exchange. I am passionate about public engagement and draw on my experience working in journalism and cultural industries to connect my research to broader conversations and diverse audiences. My current projects merge practice and research, involving writing and editing publications on the arts and ecology, with curatorial and audiovisual projects. My most recent publications ask how humans relate to rivers through analyses of infrastructures, sound and installation art, poetry and sensory connections to water. In 2018, I founded the international interdisciplinary research group entre鈥攔铆os, a network of artists, scholars and active communities engaged in igniting connections to bodies of water through art practice, exhibitions, books and public programmes. Our projects are published on http://entre-rios.net - a digital platform that is always moving and changing. My previous research focused on the relationship between authoritarian politics and modernist art and architecture. My first book Spectacular Modernity: Dictatorship, Space and Visuality in Venezuela, 1948-1958, (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2017), analysed an array of visual and spatial phenomena, from vintage newsreel and state propaganda to carnival pageants and military parades, to show how authoritarian politics shaped public imaginaries of modernism. The follow-up book, Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison, edited with Celeste Olalquiaga, traced similar treads through the story of a unique modernist building designed as a shopping centre but now used as a political prison.This research featured in the BBC documentary "El Helicoide: The Shopping Mall That Became A Torture Prison" in 2019. My postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich focused on how authoritarian regimes affected bodies and landscapes, producing spaces of ruination and traces of violence in memory,. As part of this project, I co-directed the feature-length documentary film Despues de Trujillo/After Trujillo (2016), which told the story of urban modernisation and political violence under Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961) and the cultures of memory related to his regime. It is available online at https://dlf.uzh.ch/sites/despues-de-trujillo/ After studying Modern Languages at Cambridge University, I did a Masters degree in Latin American Cultural Studies and PhD in Spanish at Birkbeck College, London. I've taught at universities in Caracas and Leeds, and worked as a curator, journalist and translator. I joined the School of Philosophy and Art History 2017, where I am Director of Global Studies and Director of the MA in Environment, Society and Culture,
Qualifications
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PhD Birkbeck College, University of London, Latin American Cultural Studies
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MA Birkbeck College, University of London, Latin American Cultural Studies (Cultural Theory & Critique)
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MA (Cantab) University of Cambridge, Modern & Medieval Languages (French & Spanish)
Appointments
糖心Vlog
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Senior Lecturer in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Philosophy and Art History, 糖心Vlog (1/10/2019 - present)
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Lecturer in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Philosophy and Art History, 糖心Vlog (1/8/2017 - 30/9/2019)
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Director MA Environment, Society and Culture, 糖心Vlog (1/10/2021 - present)
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Director of Global Studies, 糖心Vlog (1/10/2020 - present)
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Director of Latin American Studies, 糖心Vlog (1/8/2017 - present)
Other academic
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Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Zurich (1/9/2014 - 31/7/2017)
Research and professional activities
Research interests
Modernity in Latin America
Visual culture
Space and politics
Memory politics
Human-nature relations
Water, hydraulics, liquid ecologies in the arts
Environmental aesthetics
Photography
Digital culture
Contemporary visual production in Latin America
VENEZUELA RESEARCH NETWORK. With Dr. Pen茅lope Plaza (University of Reading), Dr. Rebecca Jarman (University of Leeds).
Current research
Spatial Legacies of Dictatorship: My current research centres on spatial legacies of dictatorship in Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, and these countries' memory politics and historical amnesias. As well as tracing the uses of architecture and space to shore up authoritarian regimes, I explore the ways that such sites often slip from view and become ruins of dictatorship, and examine how contemporary artists recuerate such sites in their work to shed light on blind spots of collective memory.
Modern Ruins: I am completing a multi-disciplinary, co-edited volume on El Helicoide: a modernist, spiral-shaped, drive-through shopping center built in the 1950s in Caracas, then left unfinished, used as an emergency shelter for flood victims, then eventually taken over by the intelligence police as a headquarters and jail. Combining archival documents, critical analysis, literary texts, and visual commentary, the book traces the turbulent history of this living ruin and reveals the dystopic side of urban modernity.
Hydraulics and Aesthetics: Parallel to this, I am working on two articles that address the intersection of hydraulics and aesthetics in spatial arrangements and visual production, looking at human-nature relations in fluvial landscapes, hydropower, river shanty towns, and ecocritical art.
PROYECTO HELICOIDE. With Celeste Olalquiaga, Caracas-New York-Santiago.
Conferences and presentations
Pulsos del r铆o Bogot谩: comunidad, cuidado y curadur铆a en un territorio hidroel茅ctrico
LASA 2024, Bogota, 14/6/2024
Keynote - Pr谩cticas curatoriales y comunidades de afinidad en el R铆o Bogot谩
Keynote presentation, Pensar el antropoceno desde el sur, Santiago, 26/10/2023
Hydrocommons Cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean
ASLE 2024, Portland, 11/7/2023
Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison
Invited presentation, PLAS Program in Latin American Studies, Princeton, United States, 6/3/2019
The construction of a spectacular architectural modernity in Venezuela in the 1950s and its spatial legacy in the 1960s
Invited presentation, Contesting Modernity: Art and Politics in Mid-Century Venezuela, Houston, United States, 27/10/2018
Counterflows: Decomposed Landscapes and the Visual Economy of Mass Tourism
Global Dominican 鈥� Politics, Economics and Cultural Production, ILAS/IMLR University of London, London, United Kingdom, 22/6/2018
(De)colonizing Flow: The Aesthetics of Water in South America
Marine Transgressions, Bristol, United Kingdom, 8/6/2018
Counterflows: Hydraulic Imaginaries and the Landscape in the Dominican Republic
Decentred / Dissenting Connections: Envisioning Caribbean Film and Visual Cultures, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, 29/5/2018
CONTRAFLUJOS: IMAGINARIOS HIDR脕ULICOS Y ECOLOG脥AS RESIDUALES EN LA REP脷BLICA DOMINICANA
Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference, Latin American Studies Association Annual Conference, Lima, Peru, 30/4/2017
Hydraulics and Aesthetics in the Orinoco Basin. Natura: Environmental Aesthetics After Landscape, University of Zurich, 13 June 2017
Zurich, Switzerland, 2017
Contraflujos: Imaginarios hidr谩ulicos y ecolog铆as residuales en la Rep煤blica Dominincana. LASA Congress, Lima, Peru, 28 April1 May 2017
Lima, Peru, 2017
Despu茅s de Trujillo: Telling Stories - Academic Research and Filmmaking, LASA Congress,Lima, Peru, 28 April1 May 2017
Lima, Peru, 2017
Archival Landscapes and Epistemic Frontiers: Notes on the Work of 脕ngela Bonadies. College Art Association, New York, 1518 February 2017
New York, United States, 2017
Kino Toni, ZhDK, Zurich,1 April 2017
Winterthur, Switzerland, 2017
Ethnokino, University of Bern, 27 March 2017
Bern, Switzerland, 2017
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, 16 February 2017
New York, United States, 2017
Skidmore College John B. Moore Documentary Studies Collaborative, 13 February 2017
Saratoga Springs, United States, 2017
University of Toronto (Mississagua & St George Campuses), 8-9 Feburary 2017
Toronto, Canada, 2017
Life Aquatic: Contemporary Dominican Landscapes. ABRALIC, Rio de Janeiro, 1923 September 2016
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2016
Blind Spots in the Modern Landscape, LASA Congress, New York, 27 May1 June 2016
New York, United States, 2016
Blind Spots: Towards a Revision of the Modern Landscape, Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies Conference, University of Oxford, 6-7 January 2016
Oxford, United Kingdom, 2016
Broadcast on Canal 4, Dominican Republic, 18 December 2016
Dominican Republic, 2016
Museo Memorial de la Resistencia Dominicana, Santo Domingo, 8 December 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
Escuela de Cine, TV, y Fotograf铆a, Universidad Aut贸noma de Santo Domingo, 7 December 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
Chav贸n Escuela de Dise帽o, Santo Domingo, 7 December 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
Chav贸n Escuela de Dise帽o, La Romana, 1 Decemer 2016
La Romana, Dominican Republic, 2016
Centro Eduardo Jim茅nes Le贸n, Santiago, 30 November 2016
Santiago, Chile, 2016
Archivo General de la Naci贸n, Santo Domingo, 29 November 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
School of Architecture, Universidad Pedro Henr铆quez Ure帽a, Santo Domingo, 28 November 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
School of Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica Madre y Maestra, Santo Domingo, 22 November 2016
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, 2016
Modern Ruins and Contemporary Art: Towards a New Monumentality? 17th Colloquium for Young Researchers of Art History, University of Zurich, 6-7 November 2015
Zurich, Switzerland, 2015
Adubaram a terra com o pr贸pio sangr. A paisagem natural nas conmeora莽oes das irmas Mirabal. A Naturaleza dos discursos, Casa Rui Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro, 16-17 July 2015
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2015
Escombros: Cimientos del paisaje moderno. Paisajes modernos de Am茅rica Latina y el Caribe, Pontificia Universidad Cat贸lica Madre y Maestra, Santo Domingo, 5-6 June 2015
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, 2015
Tortured Bodies as Lieux de M茅moire, LASA Congress, San Juan, 27 May1 June 2015
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2015
Phantom Pavilions: El Helicoide and La Torre de David as Contested Microcosms of the Nation-State, Society for Latin American Studies (SLAS) Conference, University of Aberdeen, 1718 April 2015
Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 2015
Tell me the truth... The Problematic Status of Photography in Contemporary Venezuela, LASA Congress, Chicago, 2124 May 2014
Chicago, United States, 2014
Promiscuous Images: Censorship and Collective Authorship in the work of 脡rika Ordosgoitti, Society for Latin American Studies Conference, Birkbeck College, 3-4 April 2014
London, United Kingdom, 2014
Capture Life: Tropes of the Archive in Recent Venezuelan Visual Culture, Art et mondialisation, Centre Pompidou & Mus茅e du Quai Branly, Paris, 14-15 November 2013
Paris, France, 2013
Como estar preso en un barril de petr贸leo: El imaginario desmemoriado de la modernidad venezolana, LASA Congress, Washington, 2731 May 2103
Washington D.C., United States, 2013
Cuerpo pol铆tico/cuerpor d贸cil: Cr铆ticas y alteraciones del aparato del poder desde la fotograf铆a contempor谩nea venezolana, PhotoEspa帽a: Encuentro de Cr铆ticos y curadores. Miami, 3-4 December 2012
Miami, United States, 2012
Teaching and supervision
Current teaching responsibilities
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Collecting Art From Latin America (AR915)
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Ways of Knowing (CS112)
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Global Challenges in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Water Conflicts, Water Cultures (CS315)
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Research Project (HR831)
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Human Rights and the Arts (HU932)
Previous supervision
Degree subject: Creative Writing
Degree type: Doctor of Philosophy
Awarded date: 24/7/2019
Publications
Journal articles (21)
Blackmore, L., Violencia en el Jard铆n de (la) Patria: la monumentalizaci贸n de las hermanas Mirabal y el sitio de trauma en la posdictadura dominicana. Mitolog铆as hoy. 12, 101-117
Blackmore, LM., . Cuadernos de Literatura. 21 (42)
Blackmore, LM., Contraflujos: Poder hidr谩ulico y ecolog铆as residuales en el paisaje dominicano. Revista Iberoamericana
Blackmore, L., Hydrocommons Cultures: Art, Pedagogy and Care Practices across the Americas/Toward Other Relationships through, from, in and with Water/Liquid Pedagogies/Artistic Practices for Living Waters/Hydrocommons Map. LA ESCUELA_JOURNAL. 1 (1)
Blackmore, L. and Ponce de Le贸n, A., Toward Other Relationships through, from, in and with Water. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL. 1 (1), 7-26
Blackmore, L. and Ponce de Le贸n, A., Hacia otras relaciones en, desde, a trav茅s de y con el agua. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL. 1 (1), 7-27
Blackmore, L., (2025). Art for the Hydrocommons: Rethinking Human-Water Relations in Latin America. Environmental Humanities. 17 (1), 23-44
Blackmore, L., (2023). La investigaci贸n art铆stica y la participaci贸n p煤blica como estrategias para la resiliencia territorial. Tabula Rasa, 89-110
Blackmore, L. and Heffes, G., (2023). Investigaci贸n acad茅mica y pr谩cticas art铆sticas ambientales latinoamericanas. Tabula Rasa, 11-25
Blackmore, L. and Lozano Rocha, AM., (2022). . Cuadernos de M煤sica, Artes Visuales y Artes Esc茅nicas. 17 (2), 8-13
Blackmore, L., (2022). . Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 31 (1), 159-176
Blackmore, L. and Heffes, G., (2022). Latin American Environmental Research and Practice. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 31 (1), 105-114
Blackmore, L., (2022). . Heterotop铆as. 5 (10), 43-72
Rocha, AML. and Blackmore, L., (2022). Awakening conversations towards ecopolitical art. CUADERNOS DE MUSICA ARTES VISUALES Y ARTES ESCENICAS. 17 (2), 8-13
Blackmore, L., (2020). . Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture. 2 (1), 115-125
Blackmore, L., (2019). . Iberoamericana. Am茅rica Latina - Espa帽a - Portugal. 19 (72), 57-80
Blackmore, L., (2018). . Popular Communication. 16 (2), 90-105
Blackmore, L., (2017). . Bulletin of Latin American Research. 36 (2), 206-222
Blackmore, L., (2015). Online photography beyond the selfie : The 鈥渟hareware body鈥� as tactical media in works by 脡rika Ordosgoitti. Artelogie. 7
Blackmore, L., (2014). Capture Life: The 鈥楧ocument-Monument鈥� in Recent Commemorations of Hugo Ch谩vez. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 23 (3), 235-250
Blackmore, L., (2014). Tecnolog铆as visuales y el "archivo" de la desmemoria: El caso de Se llamaba SN. Estudios: Revista de Investigaciones Literarias y Culturales. .39 (2012), 127-157
Books (9)
Blackmore, L., Giraldo-Mart铆nez, L., Steiner, J. and Pi帽eros Garc铆a, D., (2023). . entre--r铆os. 978-628-01-1771-3
Blackmore, L., Dominguez, MF., Lozano, AM., Jaime, A., Sanchez Lobo, D., Herrera, A., Velandia, F., Mulet, T., Pe帽aloza, A., Echavez, S., Buitrago, E., Vasquez, L., Botero, A., Cespedes, D., Celis, A., Navarro, E., Sanchez, S., Rodriguez, J., Cadavid, N. and Diaz, R., (2021). entre鈥攔铆os: Del p谩ramo a la represa. 糖心Vlog. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L., De Valdenebro, E., Lozano Rocha, AM., Acevedo-Zapata, D., Camelo, A., Rodriguez, C., Osejo, A. and Ungar, P., (2021). . Instituto de Recursos Biol贸gicos Alexander von Humboldt. 978-958-5183-22-3
Blackmore, L. and G贸mez, L., (2020). . Routledge. 0429533888. 9780367198985
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). . Wiley Blackwell. 978-1-119-53103-6
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). . Wiley Blackwell
Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., (2018). Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison. 978-1-947198-00-5
Andermann, J., Blackmore, L. and Carrillo Morell, D., (2018). Natura Environmental Aesthetics After Landscape. diaphanes. 3035800537. 9783035800531
Blackmore, L., (2017). . University of Pittsburgh Press. 0822964384. 9780822964384
Book chapters (20)
Blackmore, L., Counterflows: Hydraulic Order and Residual Ecologies in Caribbean Fantasy Landscapes. In: Pushing Past the Human in Latin American Cinema. Editors: Fornoff, C. and Heffes, G., . SUNY Press
Blackmore, L., How to Eat a Polluted River? Curatorial Practice, Metabolic Literacies and Cultures of Care. diaphanes
Blackmore, L., (2025). . In: Momentum: Art & Ecology in Contemporary Latin America. Editors: Kazenstein, I., Carrion, MDC. and Murphy Turner, M., . Duke University Press/The Museum of Modern Art. 978-1-63345-148-3
Blackmore, L., (2023). When the River Summons... Poetic Hydraulics and Aquatic Enchantments. NC ARTE. 138- 146
Blackmore, L., (2023). . In: Handbook of Latin American Environmental Aesthetics. Editors: Andermann, J., Giorgi, G. and Saramago, V., . Walter de Gruyter. 421- 438. 9783110775969
Blackmore, L., (2022). . In: Alexandre da Cunha, Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset. Editors: Pinfield, E., . Kerber Verlag. 17- 33. 978-3-7356-0771-3
Blackmore, L., (2022). . In: The Routledge Companion to Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Latin American Literary and Cultural Forms. Editors: De Ferrari, G. and Siskind, M., . Routledge. 249- 261. 9780429058912
Blackmore, L., (2021). Estando entre鈥擜puntes sobre la porosidad. In: entre鈥攔铆os: Del p谩ramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . 糖心Vlog. 32- 51. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., (2021). Los r铆os no saben de fronteras. In: entre鈥攔铆os: Del p谩ramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . 糖心Vlog. 12- 31. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L., (2021). El embalse y el r铆o. In: entre鈥攔铆os: Del p谩ramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . 糖心Vlog. 187- 195. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L., (2021). . In: Cuerpos permeables: p谩ramos, arte y ciencia en di谩logo con las obras de Eulalia De Valdenebro. Editors: Blackmore, L. and De Valdenebro, E., . Instituto de Recursos Biol贸gicos Alexander von Humboldt. 978-958-5183-21-6
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). . In: The Politics of Culture in the Ch谩vez Era. Editors: Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., . Wiley-Blackwell. 5- 17. 9781119531036
Blackmore, L., (2019). . In: The Politics of Culture in the Ch谩vez Era. Editors: Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., . Wiley-Blackwell. 136- 157. 9781119531036
Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., (2018). . In: Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., . Urban Research/Terreform. 6- 11. 978-1-947198-00-5
Blackmore, L., (2018). . In: Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., . Urban Research/Terreform. 68- 79. 978-1-947198-00-5
Blackmore, L., (2018). . In: Downward Spiral: El Helicoide's Descent from Mall to Prison. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., . Urban Research / Terreform. 156- 171. 978-1-947198-00-5
Blackmore, L., (2018). . In: Natura: Environmental Aesthetics After Landscape. Editors: Andermann, J., Blackmore, L. and Carrillo Morell, D., . diaphanes / University of Chicago Press. 9783035800531
Blackmore, L., (2018). . In: The Matter of Photography in the Americas. Editors: Brizuela, N. and Roberts, J., . Stanford University Press. 92- 93. 1503605426. 9781503605428
Blackmore, L., (2018). Molina-Pantin, Luis. In: Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online
Blackmore, LM., (2017). Cine en postdictadura. La memoria cultural de las hermanas Mirabal. In: La gran pantalla dominicana. Miradas cr铆ticas al cine actual. Editors: Tolentino, A. and Tom茅, P., . Almenara Press. 31- 60
Exhibitions (5)
Blackmore, L., Chocano, D. and Chapela, E., Live Streams. Digital exhibition, online public programme and in-gallery exhibition
Blackmore, L., Corpus p谩ramo Exhibition of works by Eulalia De Valdenebro Curated by Lisa Blackmore. Physical art exhibition
Blackmore, L., Chapela, E. and Chocano, D., Pulsos del Usumacinta: Encuentros entre arte y ecolog铆a (Pulses of the Usumacinta: Encounters between art and ecology) Co-curated with Emilio Chapela and Diego Chocano. Curated online streamed conference, embedded proceedings in bespoke microsite
Blackmore, L., Leonel Vasquez - Templo del agua: rio Bogota
Blackmore, L., Pulsos del r铆o Bogota - arte-ciencia-comunidad
Other (3)
Blackmore, L., Culturas hidrocomunes: Arte, pedagog铆a y pr谩cticas de cuidado en las Am茅ricas. 1(1)
Blackmore, L., Hydrocommons Cultures: Art, Pedagogy and Care Practices across the Americas. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL
Blackmore, L., Ponce de Le贸n, A. and Mulet, T., (2024).Hydrocommons Map
Grants and funding
2025
Promoting Citizen River Care at COP16
糖心Vlog (QR Impact Fund)
2024
Talking Tablecloths: Curating Conversations to Protect the Bogot锟� River
UOE Participatory Research Fund
2023
Pulses and Portraits of the Bogota River: Translating Water Quality through Art and Science
糖心Vlog (QR Impact Fund)
2022
Imagining the Hydrocommons: Water, Art and Infrastructure in Latin America
British Academy
2021
entre锟絩锟給s: Engaging Audiences with River Wellbeing through Digital Arts Practices
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
2020
Sustainable Rivers: Planning and Pre-production Activities for Phase II (Bogota)
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
entre锟絩锟給s: Connecting Rivers through Digital Design (Peru-Colombia-Mexico)
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
2019
Sustainable Rivers: Planning and Pre-production Activities
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
River Artists Connecting researchers of riverine ecologies through digital design
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
Sustainable Rivers: Creative Methodologies for Social and Ecological Wellbeing
糖心Vlog (GCRF)
Contact
Academic support hours:
Spring Term 2024 Tuesdays 鈥� 11:30-12:30 Thursdays - 11:30-12:30 If you prefer to meet via Zoom during these times, please email me: lisa.blackmore@essex.ac.uk
