Acatia Finbow

Email:

 

College: College of Humanities
Discipline: English
Department: English

I studied for my BA and MA at the University of Leeds from 2009 until 2013. My BA was in Managing Performance in the School for Performance and Cultural Industries, where I discovered a particular interest in museums and galleries. As part of my practise within my BA, I worked on an installation-style performance at the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery for the Museums at Night event, which sparked a particular interest in the place of performance in museums and galleries. I then moved into the School of Fine Art, History of Art, and Cultural Studies, where I undertook an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies. As well as gaining experience in curation through a practical project, I was also able to focus more particularly on contemporary funding and policy issues in museums and cultural organisations, and on the position of performance within the museum. My MA dissertation used Marina Abramovic's 'The Artist is Present' retrospective as a case study through which to explore the difficulties of presenting live art in the museum. 

Following the completion of my MA, I went to work in a commercial art and craft gallery in Cambridge as a gallery assistant for a year, where I helped to prepare for the gallery's first presentation at the Cambridge Art Fair. 

In 2014 I was awarded a studentship in order to undertake a Collaborative Doctoral Award at Tate and University of Exeter. I am part of the larger AHRC funded research project 'Performance at Tate: Collective, Archiving and Sharing Performance and the Performative' which looks at the place of performance in the history of Tate. 

Outside of academia, I enjoy exploring contemporary theatre, including immersive and participatory experiences. I lead an ESOL class for primary and secondary school-aged girls once a week at a local centre for girls and women in Brixton where I am currently based. I am also an archive volunteer at the Royal Watercolour Society.