Dr. Anthony Downey
Programme Director, MA Contemporary Art, London



Anthony Downey has been the Programme Director of the MA in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art - London since 2006. Prior to that he lectured at Goldsmiths College and Birkbeck, University of London. An editorial board member of Third Text, he has published essays, criticism and interviews in numerous international journals. In 2009 he was appointed external assessor for the revalidation of the Royal College of Art's MA in Curating Contemporary Art programme and sat on the curatorial committee for Guest Projects in London. He has recently given interviews for CNN’s African Voices programme and the BBC’s Islam and the Popular Imagination. He will also contribute to the documentary Iran Beyond its Borders (1960-2010) as part of the Bruges Cultural project “Horizons” in October 2010.

His research activities and teaching across MA Contemporary Art - London focuses on African and Middle Eastern artists, collaborative and participative art practices, human rights, and the ethics of contemporary art practices. On the MA Contemporary Art programme in London, Anthony has recently invited in a number of speakers, including Turner Prize winner Mark Leckey, Bob and Roberta Smith, and Paul Goodwin of the Tate. The MA Contemporary Art cohort have recently had study trips to the East End of London (taking in Parasol Unit, Raven Row, Victoria Miro Gallery and Waterside Projects) and are preparing for an extended study trip to Holland and Belgium which will involve visiting seven cities and visits to institutions such as the world-renowned Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, the DePont Collection in Tilburg, De Appel in Amsterdam, BAK and Casco in Utrecht, and Witte de With in Rotterdam.

Forthcoming essays by Anthony on Artur Zmijewski, Giorgio Agamben and Yinka Shonibare respectively will appear in Conspiracy Dwellings: Surveillance in Contemporary Art, ed. by Pam Skelton and Outi Remes (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010); Cultural Theory, ed. by David Oswell (Sage Publications, 2010); and Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artist’s Writings (revised ed.), edited by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (University of California Press: California, 2009).

Anthony has selected some recently published essays below.

Selected Recent Publications

“An Ethics of Engagement: Collaborative Art Practices and the Return of the Ethnographer”, in Third Text, issue 100, 2009, pp. 593-603. Download PDF.

“Zones of Indistinction: Giorgio Agamben’s Bare Life and the Ethics of Aesthetics,” Third Text, issue 97, 2009. Download PDF. [This essay is to be republished in Open Space, ed. by Gulsen Bal, Vienna, 2010, and Cultural Theory, ed. by David Oswell (Sage Publications, 2010)].

“Towards a Politics of (Relational) Aesthetics”, Third Text, issue 86, vol. 21, no. 3. May 2007. Download PDF.

For further reading go to: www.sothebysinstitute.com/anthony_downey_bio.html


Join Sotheby's Institute of Art’s Alumni social media sites: