IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY (LJMU)

Introduction
STRUCTURE
LABS
Admissions
testimonials

The FIRST GLOBAL LOW-RESIDENCY
PRACTICE pHD

Our unique three year Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) full-time low-residency programme requires an average work commitment of 30 hours per week. Intensive dates and lengths will vary between 2 and 14 days. You will study wherever you live and work conducting independent research with the support of individual advisory teams and peer critique. Our programme is built around your practice and intensive residencies which offer opportunities to meet other established international artists, curators and writers; participate in presentations, symposia, fora, colloquia, research seminars and topical workshops, screenings, cultural excursions, talks, peer presentations; and other events. The Creative Research PhD is for everyone with a specific project or question/s whose practice embodies or essentially drives their research. 

For twenty years, Transart has been developing a global network of institutions in multiple countries. Students, professors, guests, alumni and advisors have successfully launched sustainable global relationships and projects through shared research, long term critique groups, exhibitions, symposia, screenings, publications and performances.

With Transart 3.0, our platform of exchange has extensive opportunities for cross-pollination between creative researchers that include collaborations with international institutions. With seventeen years of global creative research exchange as an independent institution, Transart is perfectly positioned to foster a new level of international exchange, intimately and from afar, for individual and collaborative research. 

To discuss Transart's PhD program, please click here.

Intimate INTENSIVES + INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ANYWHERE

Transart provides a unique entwinement of live and trans local intensives and interim mutual support in any form you and your advisors agree upon. There are no requirements as to how these communications take place in terms of presence, media, time and space, just guidelines. As a global community discussions, advisements, critiques, and meetings often take place by Zoom, Facetime and Skype, but can also occur in person, by letter, texts, phone or in a mix of myriad forms. Interim exchanges are determined by your locations, schedules and ultimately what serves your project best. 

Our institute does not offer pre-packaged online learning. We offer unique, one time workshops in person and trans-locally so that you can contribute and respond to exercises, assignments and projects in whatever media and genres you wish to work in. Workshops are selected based on the research interests of your class. No one has the option to participate in live intensives virtually. The intimate quality of time spent at intensives is not comparable to virtual encounters. Bonds are formed in person, in workshops and cafes, in collaborations and mutually shared experiences. We are away from our jobs, families, and everything familiar, navigating the unknown and the unexpected and given a precious opportunity to spend time focussing solely on our praxis, to gain new perspective and fresh inputs and insights in our process. Off-site we sustain relations and practices in complementary and supportive ways. 

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Led by your question/s —the scope of which will hold your attention for 3 years— your thesis will be an entwining of praxis, reflection and research in which writing is an integral contributor to your creative inquiry.

Accompanying your independent and/or collaborative research is an international community of researchers, including two dedicated advisors and one or more topic-based research/reading/genre/critique groups. Monthly meetings, by distance, intensive and informally off-site, are intended to support, inform, and sustain your focussed endeavour. 

Annual enrichment intensives in changing cities will: inform and contextualise your work; widen your networks; offer fresh, diverse and long term input; and offer opportunities to strengthen the ways in which you present your work, through a plethora of workshops, seminars, walkshops, lectures, artist talks, fora, panels, symposia, studio visits, pecha kuchas, slams, writing retreats, independent and lead tours of cultural institutions and performance venues, biennales and other events.

Your creative research-based project will culminate in a thesis —of no more than 40,000 words— a public presentation or Viva Voce, and an exhibition, publication, reading, model, performance, screening, or other form of dissemination suitable for presenting your new work at your final intensive.

A Creative Research PhD is for everyone who desires to: bring their praxis to a significantly new level in terms of creation and articulation; to contribute beyond their particular field to a broader artistic/academic context; to teach at all levels, transdisciplinarily or in more than one field; to continue to exhibit, publish, curate, and perform in and beyond our international community. We believe that creative practitioners deserve to receive the same level of recognition, respect and resources as those at the highest levels in other fields.

INTENsIVES

You will study wherever you live and work, conducting independent research with the support of individual advisory teams and peer critique. Our programme is built around your practice and intensive residencies which offer opportunities to meet other established international artists, curators and writers; participate in presentations, symposia, fora, research seminars and topical workshops, screenings, cultural excursions, talks, peer presentations; and other events.

Residency intensives are the heart of Transart Institute and critical hubs for events and exchange together with a myriad of exhibitions, screenings, performances, publications, conference, talks and other events that take place in-between by Transart members both collaboratively and individually—see them here. Residencies take place in Berlin, Liverpool, New York City and Mexico City and Nairobi. Transart is committed to being fluid, responsive and nomadic; to being inclusive and with a wide perspective in order to be a relevant, vital, vibrant and global community. An intensive is required each year, the dates are flexible and announced a semester in advance, subject to change only in the event of a force majeure. Translocal intensive sessions take place the last weekend of every month we are in session. These sessions are optional in your third year.

ADVISORS

Students normally work with one member of faculty from LJMU and one or two Transart advisors for the duration of their projects. You can indicate your suggestions for your Transart advisor(s) when you submit your proposal on the Expression of Interest (EOI) form. The list of potential Transart advisors can be found under People here: 

Once an LJMU and a TT advisor (or advisors) have agreed to work with you, unless an advisor becomes unavailable, a mutual commitment is made by the team at that point. We take your preferences into account when determining advisors however advisor workloads, availability and other relevant factors are also taken into account when the final decision is made.

The LJMU ‘Chair Advisor’ role is probably best understood in terms of being the person who takes primary responsibility for guiding the student through the milestones of the PhD and as such, what is of greatest importance is that they have a good general understanding of the PhD process and in-depth knowledge of LJMU’s processes and procedures. They may also have significant expertise to in relation to your specific project, but this will vary depending on the exact nature of your research.

TT advisors/co-advisors are intended to supply the primary creative and discipline-specific expertise that you need for your project, as well as their own understanding of and perspective on practice-based research

WORKSHOPS + SEMINARS

Research training workshops at intensives deal with four main strands that are critical to development of practice-based creative research projects: Mapping the field and evaluating sources; Epistemology, reflexivity, and critical thinking – how do we know what we know?; Methods and methodologies; Articulating, documenting and presenting your research. Each of these areas will be the focus of a workshop delivered by rotating members of faculty or visiting academics.

During each intensive we will also run workshops which draw on our tried and tested hybrid practice/theory model. In these sessions participants will explore relevant philosophical and theoretical concepts and frameworks and test new ideas and working methods through a series of creative exercises and assignments (realized in media of choice and completed individually or in collaboration). These workshops aim to equip participants with expanded conceptual and aesthetic toolsets; leaving them feeling invigorated and inventive about applying the workshop ideas and processes to their individual praxis. In addition, seminars are chosen from current cultural topics viewed through the lens of media studies, literature, sociology, philosophy, and art history.

Additionally, within the first 3 months of your studies, you’ll identify and select your own personally tailored research training program from the range of resources that are available through LJMU Doctoral Academy eDoc.

LJMU LABS

THE CITY LAB 

The Lab asks how we can use art more effectively in society.

Lab leader: Professor John Byrne

All the research fields within The City Lab expose the impact and influence of architecture, art, fashion and design within the context of our everyday environment. The City Lab’s research projects embody how the production of original knowledge, through practice and critical theory, can lead to real, impactful and sustainable change within our contemporary culture.

Rethinking and reimagining the city through constituent practices of sustainability, material constructions and applications of technology contributes to the enhancement of our local, national and global environments. 

The research themes of City Lab simultaneously occupy the cutting edge of their disciplinary specificities whilst remaining active within the real-world context of the city. City Lab supports research and practice that embraces or focuses on those elements that are undiscovered or operate in the realms of periphery, such as design for well-being and constituent practices that enable the reimagination of marginal cultures within the urban environment.

EXHIBITION RESEARCH LAB 

The Exhibition Research Lab is an academic centre and public venue dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of exhibitions and curatorial knowledge.

Lab leader: Professor Joasia Krysa

Founded in 2012 as part of Liverpool School of Art and Design, the Exhibition Research Lab (ERL) is uniquely positioned across academic research and the cultural ecology of Liverpool, underpinned by partnerships with cultural institutions in the city including Tate Liverpool, John Moores Painting Prize, and Liverpool Biennial.

ERL proposes curatorial practice as a form of critical inquiry and knowledge production. It extends the traditional remit of an art gallery as a site for display or pedagogical resource, to an expanded concept of a ‘lab’ where experimental thinking and making takes place, and where curatorial knowledge is enacted, produced and made public.

ERL disseminates its research through the public programme of exhibitions, talks, seminars, conferences, workshops and publications, including partnership with DATA Browser book series (Open Humanities Press) and Liverpool Biennial journal Stages. The residencies and fellowship programme is dedicated to connecting international artists, curators and scholars working across diverse disciplines.

The lab supports research in the following areas: Contemporary Curatorial PracticeExhibitionary Practices and Histories; Museums and Institutions; Collections and Archival Practices; World Biennials; Socially Engaged Practice; Digital Curating; Computational Cultures and Curating.

CONTEMPORARY ART LAB

Work undertaken at the Contemporary Art Lab is dedicated to historical, theoretical and practice-led research in the creative and performing arts.

Lab leader: Professor Colin Fallows

The Contemporary Art Lab is an interdisciplinary research group within the Liverpool School of Art and Design – representing the latest incarnation of the oldest research area in LJMU dating back to the 1820s. The Contemporary Art Lab and its forerunners have a long tradition of engagement with the academic and cultural ecology of Liverpool, together with well-established national and international collaborative partnerships.

The Lab supports research and practice in a diverse range of fields which intersect with concerns and concepts in contemporary art and curatorial practice. It explores understandings of contemporary art and curatorial practice as forms of critical inquiry and knowledge production.

It extends the traditional remit of artistic practice to an expanded research centre or ‘lab’ where experimental thinking and making takes place, and where artistic and curatorial knowledge is enacted, produced and published.

The Lab specialises in sound and visual arts, live performance, conceptual art, environmental art and contemporary printmaking.

Contemporary Art Lab produces: Art; Exhibitions and performances; Books, catalogues, recordings and journal publications; Research fellowships; Research and education at postgraduate and doctoral levels.

The Contemporary Art Lab produces work for a range of audiences through diverse media including: sound and performance, exhibitions, installations, interventions, workshops, screenings, talks and conference presentations. The fellowship programme is dedicated to artistic and curatorial research, the dissemination of knowledge, connecting members of the Lab to other national/international artists, curators and scholars working across disciplines. It also operates as a conduit to disseminate the work of its members and its key partners internationally.

Experimental Technologies Lab

Experimental Technologies Lab invites people to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation  

Lab Leaders: Mark Wright and Pete Woodbridge

Experimental Technologies Lab (ETL) is an enhancement upon four years of research pursued at our pioneering workshop and research space, FACTLab, a collaboration with Liverpool’s FACT, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technologies, the UK’s leading new technologies arts organisation. In ETL, researchers, artists and technologists produce innovative projects together as teams and you will also find artists in residence at work.

At Exhibition Technologies Lab we have perfected a research methodology of co-design. People are invited to explore the possibilities of creative technology through hands-on experimentation, with participants of a diversity of constituencies interested in getting involved with making and experimenting with electronics.

Since 2015, we have welcomed over 4,500 visitors to our events and activities. We are continuously exploring new ways to engage visitors and we work within a series of space resources: Liverpool Fab Lab for beta origination; Live Lab for testing; and the X-Gallery for dissemination. People are invited to become actively involved in what we do, no matter what their experience.

ETL operates across disciplines and functions as an incubator of creative production and critical thinking for practice-based research and experimentation in the context of critical research and theoretical expertise. In a future that we are literally creating, talent and skills development are amongst our objectives. ETL develops projects and activities aiming at cultural production and sharing of knowledge and resources, in collaboration with artists, designers, scientists, technologists, HEIs and the commercial sector.

Our facilities include traditional workshops, TV and sound studios, the X-Gallery digital and creative gallery for experimental media, an immersive projection room that we can set up for room scale multiplayer VR and projection mapping, wireless HTC Vives, Occulus Quests, Mixed Reality headsets, projectors, interactive sensors, 3D modelling tools, holographic displays, digital fabrication and 3d printing, 3D object scanners, 3D room scanners, 8K Stereoscopic 360 cameras, depth sensors, microcontrollers and sensors and a range of high end tablets, pcs, phones (iOS & Android) and devices for interface development.

Software includes games engines (Unity), 3D Creation (Maya, Cinema 4D), Adobe Creative Suite (After Effects, Photoshop, Premiere etc), Projection Mapping (Madmapper, Lightform, Heavy M) and Volumetric Capture tools (Dephkit).

STUDENT RESEARCH LABS

Creative research journal 

Think of your CRJ as a research laboratory, journal, archive and source for communicating and connecting research within the TT research community. You maintain a quarterly Creative Research Journal commencing with your proposal that documents your ideas, processes and the progress of your research, respond to critique in order to reflect, articulate and digest each interaction. We encourage you to devise a format that best suits your own research, making it a vital part of your practice where you experiment with presentation, documentation and articulation. Final thesis and documentation are attached here as well. Your Creative Research Journal can be password protected but will be available to your peers, advisors, critics and other invited guests forming an invaluable resource, archive and means of communication for the broader Transart research community.

PEER RESEARCH SESSIONS

Transart researchers self-organize themselves around common interests, topics, genres etc. You will hold initial meetings at residencies then continuing offsite every month (when Transart is in session) however and whenever the group decides: to present and critique each other's research; discuss readings; share publications or plan events. Given Transart's low-residency global model these groups are extremely useful and many graduates continue meeting to sustain and enrich their praxes, make vital international connections and organise exhibitions, publications, performances, screenings, panels and other events in their various localities.

“I think transart provides an environment that is only comparable to Black Mountain College. There's a freedom to excel in multiple media and a support system that goes beyond the traditional teacher-student relationship. With dedication and self-motivation, you can develop lasting connections with your work, faculty and peers in a way that isn't possible in traditional academic settings. I like the optimism and trust that travels through the entire community as we work together.”

— Allison Geremia, PhD

At a certain point in my career, I realised my questions were PhD questions, and that although I was teaching part-time at a university, a PhD might help me become more desirable in the market for a full-time post. I graduated in 2017, and the next year was moving across the ocean to take on my first full-time academic position. That was wonderful, but there is much more to Transart's doctoral program than the potential in the academy. They offer a connection to larger communities, and a more global perspective. Transart has put me in touch with a wider network of artists and academics than I'd ever imagined. Unlike some other programs I've been part of, I'm still in touch with former students and instructors, and we continue to collaborate. There isn't a box for people who think outside the box, but what Transart offers is as close as I'd ever want to get to that.

— Kit Danowski

“Transart presented the ideal configuration of structure and independence to successfully complete my PhD. It provided the fertile soil and parameters inside of which I had all the room I needed to freely engage with ideas--and my work-- in my own studio in my own time, as well as all the support necessary for me to grow as a thinker. My studio work has been enhanced by the ability to engage philosophy as a tool to better articulate my practice and to understand the structure of research and the progress it allows.

My fellow students were impressive. I gained interesting as well as just plain cool friends. The classes were provocative and intense, and the residency locations offered access to art and culture that further enhanced my project. My supervisors were extraordinary. Their engagement with my project was active and inspiring. They appeared well informed and interested in my project and ably assisted me through the PhD process.”

I found Transart to offer a rigorous and informed doctoral program for practicing artists.

— Lisa Osborn, PhD

“My time with Transart was a great blessing in my life. The majority of my career up until enrolling in the PhD program was spent both working and then teaching in the design disciplines. That aspect of my creative life has and continues to be rewarding due in no small part to exposure to the unique structure and curricula of Transart residencies and mentorship. The diversity of thought and artistic practice manifest in Transart faculty and fellow students has afforded me a clarity of purpose I consider uncommon in academia. As a result, I am not only a better educator, but as a Transart trained artist researcher my practice has been renewed and wonderfully enriched. In a time of remote learning, Transart is not only ahead of the curve in the delivery of curricula, but in the humanizing of arts education. Consequently, I now consider myself a designer and a writer, storyteller, painter, photographer, and even more significantly if not succinctly stated: a practicing artist.”

— Steven Evans, PhD