Dr John Cussans
Senior Lecturer Fine Art
School of Arts
Art & Design Communication
Art and Design Communication
email: j.cussans@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 85 5332
Dr Cussans is an artist and writer working across the fields of contemporary art, cultural history and practice-led artistic research. His work explores the legacies of colonialism in art, cinema and popular culture from anthropological, psychological and science fictional perspectives.
Dr Cussans has a special interest in the use of diagrams in art and design education and is a member of the Social Morphologies Research Unit (SMRU), a collaboration between anthropologists and artists investigating the creative, political and educational use of diagrams.
Dr Cussans is the leader of the Arts and Health Research Group
Qualifications
PhD Cultural History, Royal College of Art
MA Art History and Theory, ºüÀêÊÓƵ of Essex
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Art, Design and Communication, ºüÀêÊÓƵ of the Arts,
BA (Hons.) Graphic Design and Illustration, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Polytechnic
Teaching and Research Interests
Contemporary Art
Art and Psychology
Art History and Theory
Art and Anthropology
Critical Theory
Philosophy
Science Fiction Studies
Horror Studies
Social Psychology
Environmental Psychology
Diagrammatics
Recent Exhibitions and Public Presentations
‘Art, Ecology and Science Fiction Talks Program’, Stroud Valley Arts (June-November 2019)
‘Tansy and Me: Invasive Species, Ecological Imperialism and Hereditary Biogeography’ presentation at Supernormal Festival, Braziers Park, Oxford (August 2019)
Public Talk ‘BC Time-Slip/Cannibal Metaphysics (Part.2)’, part of the Morphologies of Invisible Agents, Space Studios, London (May 2019)
Talk ‘Vodou 2.0: Countering Popular Misconceptions of Vodou for the 21st Century’, Konesans Conference on Haitian Studies, Newcastle ºüÀêÊÓƵ (April 2019)
Installation Authority Figures (The Eerie and Uncanny Invasion of One Person’s World by Another Person’s World) w/Kelly Fagan Robinson as part of the group show Morphologies of Invisible Agents, Space Studios, London (April-May 2019)
Talk on the theme of ‘Crowds’ for the inaugural event of the Invisible College’s 9 Gates series, hosted by the Philadelphia Association, London (January 2019)
Lecture ‘Bwa Kayiman and the Simbi-Makaya Egregor’ at Occulture Esoteric Conference, Berlin, (November 2018)
Presentation ‘The Revolutionary Practice of Art Theory: Pedagogical Diagrams for Art and Social Change since the 1960s’, Association of Social Anthropologists Annual Conference, ºüÀêÊÓƵ of Oxford (September 2018)
Research Installation BC Time-Slip (The Empire Never Ended), Dynamo Arts Association, Vancouver (August 2016).
Recent Publications
‘A Taste for Blood and Truth: Bill Gunn’s Ganja and Hess’ in Scared Sacred: Idolatry, Religion and Worship in the Horror Film, House of Leaves Press (2020)
‘Special Investigations: Randy Cutler Interviews John Cussans’ in Knowings and Knots: Methodologies and Ecologies in Practice-Led Research, ºüÀêÊÓƵ of Alberta Press (2019)
‘The Exhausting Contours of Exuberance’ essay for Dau Bulletin #5, Phenomen Films, London (2019)
‘In the House of The Man-Eater’ catalogue essay in Beau Dick: Devoured by Consumerism, Figure.1 Vancouver (2019)
‘WEIRD Commerce (Proverbs from the Gossip Wall)’, Ghetto Biennale Catalogue 2009-215, Central Books, London (2017)
Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex, Strange Attractor/MIT Press, London (2017)
External Roles
Member of ORCID Academia and Beyond: Arts and Humanities Taskforce (Apr. – Nov. 2019)
Peer reviewer for Working with Diagrams issue of Social Analysis journal, Berghahn Books (Oct. 2018)
External Examiner for RCA PhD candidate Susannah E. Haslam. Thesis: After the Educational Turn – Alternatives to the Alternative Art School (May 2018)
External Examiner for RCA PhD candidate Hyukgue Kwon. Thesis: Curating Beyond Representation - the paradox of curating as a site of dialogics (May 2016)
Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, ºüÀêÊÓƵ of London (Sep. 2013 – 2016)
External Examiner for BA Fine Art (Theory) and BA Arts and Media (Theory), ºüÀêÊÓƵ of the Creative Arts, Farnham (2013 – 17)