Kelcy Davenport

Kelcy is an artist and PhD candidate at the Cambridge School of Art, supervised by David Ryan. She is also an Associate Lecturer at ARU and the Institute of Continuing Education, at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores the relationship between invisible labour and a post-conceptual, research-based practice.

Background

Kelcy is a Cambridge-based artist and researcher who previously completed her MFA Fine Art (2011-2014) at Anglia Ruskin University and BA (Hons) Photography and Video Art at the University of Luton (2004 - 2007). Her artistic practice to date spans video installation, experimental film, net art, live performance and intervention.

Research interests

• Experimental art and the common
• Experimental art and geology
• Experimental art and critical pedagogy
• Political philosophy
• Political theatre

Research synopsis:

Kelcy’s research explores the relationship between ‘invisible labour’ and a research-based creative practice. In doing so, she draws on certain concepts from political philosophy, as formulated by Hardt and Negri (2000-date), asking, how does art function as resistance today in the production of knowledge?

As part of her PhD research, Kelcy is involved in an ongoing collaboration (2016-date) with Iraq-based Geologist, Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab (University of Basrah).

Kelcy has a passion for experimental, transformative and emancipatory learning via creative practice. As a teacher she implements a ‘slow-working’ approach, with the aim of facilitating deeper critical engagement between students and their self-directed, creative practices (independent and collaborative). This involves asking, what is the minimum output necessary to meet set learning outcomes? Thereby, providing maximum time for dialogue and debate, experimentation, and reflection.

Teaching

Modules taught:

• Time-Based Media
• Photography Multimedia Practices

Selected recent publications

Forthcoming: The Archive and the Contested Landscape - collective essay with Dr Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab, Sally Stenton and Sarah Strachan, for ‘ROAR’, edited by Marina Velez Vago and Rosanna Greaves. Published by Art.earth.

July 2019: Exploring Bending as a Form of Resistance - essay with Pernille Frandsen and Sally Stenton, for ‘THEOREM: Doctoral Research in the Visual Arts and Design’. Edited by Jane Boyer. Published by Ruskin Arts Publications.

July 2018: Swarm Rehearsal Notes and Reflections - essay for artists' book THEOREM, edited by Jane Boyer, Ruskin Arts Press, Cambridge School of Art.

Feb 2018: Feeling the Benefits: A Report - essay for artists’ book RE:PRINT, edited by Dr Veronique Chance and Duncan Ganley, Marmalade Publishers of Visual Theory.

Sept 2017: From Basrah to Cambridge and Back - essay with Dr Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab, for the ‘Basrah: its history, culture and heritage’ conference proceedings. Edited and published by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq.

Recent exhibitions and performances

March-June 2019: Aphorisms: Large ensemble, experimental, sonic performance and workshops, with movement and live video. Directed by David Ryan. With Tilda Borrows, Dominic Cooper, William Crosby, Kevin Flanagan, Cristina Grifone, Krisztian Hofstadter, Justyna Latoch, Klara Lucznik, Ian Mitchell, Leo Oakley, James W Norton, Pina Santoro, Caitlin Shek, and Joe Zeitlin. Funded by Anglia Ruskin University Arts Council.

October 2018: The Archive and the Contested Landscape - exhibition, co-curated with Dr Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab, Cambridge and Basrah.

July 2018: Exploring Bending as a form of Resistance - workshop with Sally Stenton and Pernille Frandsen, for THEOREM, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge.

May 2018: Recitativo/ Clouds and Noise: Fragments from Lucretius and Negri by David Ryan - performance with William Crosby, Cristina Grifone, Clare Simmonds and Joe Zeitlin, for the Cultural Programme at the British Institute of Florence, Italy.

Jan 2018: Manifesting Monuments: Al-Hadr - film with James W Norton, in collaboration with SIX Collective, for the exhibition ‘PLACE: Relinking, Relating, Relaying’ (Art Language Location), at Gallery 9 in Cambridge.

Sept 2017: What is the purpose of radical theory? - workshop with Pernille Frandsen, Olga Maya, and Fernanda Watt as part of Academics Against the Arms Trade’s day of action, DSEI UK Arms Fair, London.

July 2017: Rehearsing Swarm| Didactics of the Militant (Negri, 2004) - with Pernille Frandsen, Pamela Jenner, Olga Maya, Sally Stenton, Simon Sterrow, Dima Wannous, and Fernanda Watt for THEOREM, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge.

May 2017: What Makes Us? - Soundwork for Creative Reactions, with Dr Sarah Abel and Assistant Professor Hannes Schroeder, as part of the global Pint of Science festival.

Feb 2017: Recitativo (Fragments after Lucretius and Negri) by David Ryan - performance with Cristina Grifone, Kevin Flanagan, Ian Mitchell, William Crosby and Clare Simmonds, for the Borough New Music Series, St George the Martyr, London. Funded by the Arts Council England.

Feb 2017: Recitativo (Fragments after Lucretius and Negri) by David Ryan – performance with Cristina Grifone, Gianni Trovalusci, Alberto Popolla, Ian Mitchell, William Crosby and Clare Simmonds, the British School at Rome, Italy.

Oct 2016: Manifesting Monuments: Al-Hadr - film with James W Norton, in collaboration with SIX Collective, for Art Language Location, at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Funded by the Arts Council England.

April 2016: 15th February 2003 - 40 hour sustained drawing for the Sustainability Art Prize exhibition, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge.

March 2016: Recitativo Fragments (after Lucretius and Negri) - performance, with David Ryan and William Crosby, 395 Project Space, Southwark, London.

March 2016: What kind of society can emerge from terror-induced change? - Multi-screen video and painting installation for PSEUDIO, Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge.

Recent presentations and conferences

July 2019: Geology & Art: A Sustainable Approach for a Complex Area - paper presentation, with Dr Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab, for the 'BRISMES Conference 2019 - Joining the Dots: Interdisciplinarity in Middle East Studies', University of Leeds.

July 2018: Analysis: The Bent Man (Negri, 2005) - with Pernille Frandsen, for THEOREM, Cambridge School of Art.

Mar 2018: The Archive and the Contested Landscape - with Jananne Al Ani, Dr Nawrast Sabah, and Sarah Nankivell (Forensic Architecture), at the Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge. Funded by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq.

Sept 2017: The Will to Art in Peace and War - paper presentation at the 11th Pan-European Conference on International Relations: Politics in a time of Crisis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.

July 2017: Religion and Swarm Resistance - paper presentation with Pernille Frandsen, for THEOREM, Cambridge School of Art.

Sept 2016: From Basrah to Cambridge and Back, with Nawrast Sabah Abd Alwahab for the 'Basrah: its history, culture and heritage' conference, Iraq.

Sept 2016: Solidarity and Suffering? - paper presentation for the ‘2nd International Solidarity, Memory and Identity Conference’, University of Gdansk, Poland.