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 – 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 Essex, I work closely with the Essex 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—ríos, 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
University of Essex
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Senior Lecturer in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex (1/10/2019 - present)
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Lecturer in Art History and Interdisciplinary Studies, School of Philosophy and Art History, University of Essex (1/8/2017 - 30/9/2019)
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Director MA Environment, Society and Culture, University of Essex (1/10/2021 - present)
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Director of Global Studies, University of Essex (1/10/2020 - present)
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Director of Latin American Studies, University of Essex (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. Penélope 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
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 – 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 HIDRÁULICOS Y ECOLOGÍAS RESIDUALES EN LA REPÚBLICA 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 hidráulicos y ecologías residuales en la República Dominincana. LASA Congress, Lima, Peru, 28 April1 May 2017
Lima, Peru, 2017
Después 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 Ángela 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 Fotografía, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, 7 December 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
Chavón Escuela de Diseño, Santo Domingo, 7 December 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
Chavón Escuela de Diseño, La Romana, 1 Decemer 2016
La Romana, Dominican Republic, 2016
Centro Eduardo Jiménes León, Santiago, 30 November 2016
Santiago, Chile, 2016
Archivo General de la Nación, Santo Domingo, 29 November 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
School of Architecture, Universidad Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Santo Domingo, 28 November 2016
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2016
School of Architecture, Pontificia Universidad Católica 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 própio sangr. A paisagem natural nas conmeoraçoes 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 América Latina y el Caribe, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Santo Domingo, 5-6 June 2015
Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic, 2015
Tortured Bodies as Lieux de Mémoire, 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 Érika 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 & Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, 14-15 November 2013
Paris, France, 2013
Como estar preso en un barril de petróleo: El imaginario desmemoriado de la modernidad venezolana, LASA Congress, Washington, 2731 May 2103
Washington D.C., United States, 2013
Cuerpo político/cuerpor dócil: Críticas y alteraciones del aparato del poder desde la fotografía contemporánea venezolana, PhotoEspaña: Encuentro de Críticos 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 (19)
Blackmore, L., Violencia en el Jardín de (la) Patria: la monumentalización de las hermanas Mirabal y el sitio de trauma en la posdictadura dominicana. Mitologías hoy. 12, 101-117
Blackmore, LM., Ruinas modernas y arte contemporáneo: El caso de El Helicoide de la Roca Tarpeya. Cuadernos de Literatura. 21 (42)
Blackmore, LM., Contraflujos: Poder hidráulico y ecologías 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 León, A., Toward Other Relationships through, from, in and with Water. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL. 1 (1), 7-26
Blackmore, L. and Ponce de León, A., Hacia otras relaciones en, desde, a través de y con el agua. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL. 1 (1), 7-27
Blackmore, L., (2023). La investigación artística y la participación pública como estrategias para la resiliencia territorial. Tabula Rasa, 89-110
Blackmore, L. and Heffes, G., (2023). Investigación académica y prácticas artísticas ambientales latinoamericanas. Tabula Rasa, 11-25
Blackmore, L. and Lozano Rocha, AM., (2022). Espabilar conversas hacia un arte ecopolítico. Cuadernos de Música, Artes Visuales y Artes Escénicas. 17 (2), 8-13
Blackmore, L., (2022). Cultivating Ongoingness Through Site-Specific Arts Research and Public Engagement. 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). Imaginando culturas hidrocomunes: investigaciones interdisciplinares y prácticas curatoriales entre ríos [Imagining Hydrcommons Cultures: Interdisciplinary Research and Curatorial Practices Between Rivers]. Heterotopías. 5 (10), 43-72
Blackmore, L., (2020). Hubristic Hydraulics: Water, Dictatorship, and Modernity in the Dominican Republic. Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture. 2 (1), 115-125
Blackmore, L., (2019). Contraflujos: Orden hidráulico y ecologías residuales en el paisaje dominicano. Iberoamericana. América Latina - España - Portugal. 19 (72), 57-80
Blackmore, L., (2018). Collective memory and research-led filmmaking: Spatial legacies of dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Popular Communication. 16 (2), 90-105
Blackmore, L., (2017). El Helicoide and La Torre de David as Phantom Pavilions: Rethinking Spectacles of Progress in Venezuela. Bulletin of Latin American Research. 36 (2), 206-222
Blackmore, L., (2015). Online photography beyond the selfie : The “shareware body” as tactical media in works by Érika Ordosgoitti. Artelogie. 7
Blackmore, L., (2014). Capture Life: The ‘Document-Monument’ in Recent Commemorations of Hugo Chávez. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies. 23 (3), 235-250
Blackmore, L., (2014). Tecnologías 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-Martínez, L., Steiner, J. and Piñeros García, D., (2023). Cómo cuidar un río. entre--ríos. 978-628-01-1771-3
Blackmore, L., Dominguez, MF., Lozano, AM., Jaime, A., Sanchez Lobo, D., Herrera, A., Velandia, F., Mulet, T., Peñaloza, 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—ríos: Del páramo a la represa. University of Essex. 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). Cuerpos permeables: páramos, arte y ciencia en diálogo con las obras de Eulalia De Valdenebro [Permeable bodies: moors, art and science in dialogue with the works of Eulalia De Valdenebro]. Instituto de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. 978-958-5183-22-3
Blackmore, L. and Gómez, L., (2020). Liquid Ecologies in Latin American and Caribbean Art. Routledge. 0429533888. 9780367198985
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). The Politics of Culture in the Chávez Era. Wiley Blackwell. 978-1-119-53103-6
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). The Politics of Culture in the Chávez Era. 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). Spectacular Modernity Dictatorship, Space, and Visuality in Venezuela, 1948-1958. University of Pittsburgh Press. 0822964384. 9780822964384
Book chapters (19)
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., (2023). Water. In: Handbook of Latin American Environmental Aesthetics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. 3110775964. 9783110775969
Blackmore, L., (2023). When the River Summons... Poetic Hydraulics and Aquatic Enchantments. NC ARTE. 138- 146
Blackmore, L., (2022). On the Tides of Time: Alexandre da Cunha's Sunset, Sunrise, Sunset. Kerber Verlag. 17- 33. 978-3-7356-0771-3
Blackmore, L., (2022). Being River: Ambient Poetics and Somatic Experiences of More-than-Human Flows. In: The Routledge Companion to Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Latin American Literary and Cultural Forms. Editors: Siskind, M. and De Ferrari, G., . 9780429058912
Blackmore, L., (2021). Estando entre—Apuntes sobre la porosidad. In: entre—ríos: Del páramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . University of Essex. 32- 51. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., (2021). Los ríos no saben de fronteras. In: entre—ríos: Del páramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . University of Essex. 12- 31. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L., (2021). El embalse y el río. In: entre—ríos: Del páramo a la represa. Editors: Blackmore, L. and Dominguez, MF., . University of Essex. 187- 195. 978-0-9929994-1-4
Blackmore, L., (2021). Colaborar con el páramo: Hacia otros arraigos socioecológicos. In: Cuerpos permeables: páramos, arte y ciencia en diálogo con las obras de Eulalia De Valdenebro. Editors: Blackmore, L. and De Valdenebro, E., . Instituto de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. 978-958-5183-21-6
Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., (2019). Introduction: Charting Cultural Currents in Venezuela's Pink Tide. In: The Politics of Culture in the Chávez Era. Editors: Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., . Wiley-Blackwell. 5- 17. 9781119531036
Blackmore, L., (2019). El Helicoide and La Torre de David as Phantom Pavilions: Rethinking Spectacles of Progress in Venezuela. In: The Politics of Culture in the Chávez Era. Editors: Blackmore, L., Jarman, R. and Plaza, P., . Wiley-Blackwell. 136- 157. 9781119531036
Blackmore, L. and Olalquiaga, C., (2018). Introduction. 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). Out of the Ashes: Building and Rebuilding the Nation. 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). Makeshift Modernity: Container Homes and Slumscrapers. 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). Colonizing Flow: Hydropower and Post-Kinetic Assemblages in the Orinoco Basin. In: Natura: Environmental Aesthetics After Landscape. Editors: Andermann, J., Blackmore, L. and Carrillo Morell, D., . diaphanes / University of Chicago Press. 9783035800531
Blackmore, L., (2018). Original Copies and Obscure Traces: Ángela Bonadies' Metaphotographic Inquiries. 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 críticas al cine actual. Editors: Tolentino, A. and Tomé, P., . Almenara Press. 31- 60
Exhibitions (3)
Blackmore, L., Chocano, D. and Chapela, E., Live Streams. Digital exhibition, online public programme and in-gallery exhibition
Blackmore, L., Corpus páramo 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 ecología (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
Other (3)
Blackmore, L., Culturas hidrocomunes: Arte, pedagogía y prácticas de cuidado en las Américas. 1(1)
Blackmore, L., Hydrocommons Cultures: Art, Pedagogy and Care Practices across the Americas. LA ESCUELA__JOURNAL
Blackmore, L., Ponce de León, A. and Mulet, T., (2024).Hydrocommons Map
Grants and funding
2024
Talking Tablecloths: Curating Conversations to Protect the Bogot� River
UOE Participatory Research Fund
2023
Pulses and Portraits of the Bogota River: Translating Water Quality through Art and Science
University of Essex (QR Impact Fund)
2022
Imagining the Hydrocommons: Water, Art and Infrastructure in Latin America
British Academy
2021
entre�r�os: Engaging Audiences with River Wellbeing through Digital Arts Practices
University of Essex (GCRF)
2020
Sustainable Rivers: Planning and Pre-production Activities for Phase II (Bogota)
University of Essex (GCRF)
entre�r�os: Connecting Rivers through Digital Design (Peru-Colombia-Mexico)
University of Essex (GCRF)
2019
Sustainable Rivers: Planning and Pre-production Activities
University of Essex (GCRF)
River Artists Connecting researchers of riverine ecologies through digital design
University of Essex (GCRF)
Sustainable Rivers: Creative Methodologies for Social and Ecological Wellbeing
University of Essex (GCRF)
Contact
Academic support hours:
Spring Term 2024 Tuesdays – 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
