The bookRoom Research Cluster, Farnham
bookRoom promotes institutionally, nationally and internationally, a community of practice that advances book art in the digital age at the interface of photographic, graphic and text based interventions.
bookRoom was established as a research cluster in 2004 by Professor Anna Fox and Reader in photography Emmanuelle Waeckerlé from the photography department. The cluster now acts as an umbrella organisation with it's own Board to manage a number of interrelated activities.
bookRoom board - Emmanuelle Waeckerlé (artist, Reader in Photography and bookRoom lead academic ), Professor Anna Fox (photographer), Jamie Dobson (Associate Dean for Postgraduate and Research), Stephen Bull (photographer, course leader in Photography), Jane Cradock Watson (Associate Dean School of Media & Culture), Helen Bacon (librarian), Clare Wunderly (Research & Enterprise Manager), Richard Sawdon-Smith (photographer, Head of Arts & Media Department, London South Bank University), Gordon McDonald (curator, photographer and Head of Publications at Photoworks)
Mission
bookRoom focuses on critical and practice based research into the concept of the book as art work in digital, analogue and hybrid formats.
bookRoom supports researchers to engage with cultural, artistic and creative production, debate and dissemination of on the page works, embedded in an inclusive and innovative research culture and environment.
Aims
- To develop and promote new creative and interdisciplinary research at the interface of Photography, Design and Digital Media.
- To disseminate resultant knowledge through publication, exhibitions, conferences and teaching.
- To build upon and develop productive links and collaborations with other research initiatives nationally and internationally, in academic and non-academic contexts.
- To develop and foster mutually fruitful/nurturing relationships between research and teaching so that new knowledge can inform and enhance the student learning experience, drive new developments in undergraduate and postgraduate education and inform emergent research initiatives.
- To secure external income and partnerships in order to sustain the expansion of the research cluster, thus contributing towards the delivery of the University's Research and Enterprise Strategy.
bookRoom study days
bookRoom has developed a reputation for delivering high quality debate, through its unique annual study days, bringing together international contributors, established researchers, contemporary artists, photographers, curators, undergraduate and postgraduate students around a particular theme. Book Time and Written in the Margins (February 2011), Once Upon Time (March 2009), Land and Space Talks (April 2008), IN print (November 2006), A Case of Books (June 2006), Pasar página: presente y futuro de las revistas de fotografía, MUVIM museum, Valencia (December 2008).
bookRoom press
Established in October 2010, the Press provides unique facilities combining traditional print and production technology with the latest digital developments to produce book and on the page work. It is dedicated to enabling new practice, by research staff as well as postgraduate students from the Photography, Design and Fine Art courses in Farnham. The Press offers the opportunity to experiment with designs and processes in a specialist environment and is set up to encourage research and innovation in the field.
Collection
bookRoom has a growing collection of bookworks by recent graduates, cluster members, visiting artists and contributors. This collection is a valuable teaching and research resource for internal and external students, staff and researchers at all levels of the community. The collection is now housed in the UCA library at Farnham and is accessible via the online catalogue.
Book fairs
bookRoom promotes its activities at a number of international fairs including the Whitechapel book fair. Works have been sold to various collections including the V&A, Women's Library, British Library, Poetry Library and the Bibliotheque Nationale de Paris.
Service bureau
bookRoom press facilities, equipment and expertise are now set up as a competitive service bureau for small run or edition of commercial work. This was done in collaboration with Edge.
Postgraduate study and research degrees
bookRoom supports and contributes to the MA in book art and Publishing, the MFA and BA in in Photography in Farnham. as well as a range of staff research projects across Photography, Graphic Design and Time based Media.
bookRoom is welcoming application for artists in residence and research degree students (MPhil and PhD) on the following themes:
- Photography and the book
- The notion of the book as a time based media
- The contemporary dialogue between electronic and print culture
- The combining of digital and traditional technologies in the making of images and on the page works ( photographic, graphic and text based)
- Political and social history of independent publishing and what is called an artist books
