Supervised by Professor Ben Walmsley and Dr Sarah Feinstein, School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds, and Jude Comyn, Head of Audience Insight, Tate
October 2021 –
Future Roads – photograph taken alongside the Piazza San Marco, where light creates a pathway in the dark for the couple in the frame. Here, they are heading towards a brighter destination in the distance
Photo © Vanessa Violette Arias Bujía
This AHRC funded research is established as a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with Tate and the University of Leeds, and is particularly focused on bridging access to digital dimensions for audiences at Tate.
The impetus for this project is grounded in my existing research, which aligns with a societal need for museums and galleries to act as facilitators of positive change. I seek to conduct an investigation to address the barriers to democratised access to art that digital audiences face, and to develop audience engagement methods that confront and tackle these challenges.
My aims for this research are firmly rooted in a strong belief that there is a need to not only acknowledge underrepresented audiences within the arts and cultural sector, but that organisations have a responsibility to develop a thorough understanding of what a carefully considered digital visitor journey through the online art dimension feels like for those who experience it.
Where Tate defines access to art as a universal human right, this project will address and promote the organisation’s desire to lead positive change and social impact in diversifying and expanding accessibility across Tate’s digital realm.
WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THIS RESEARCH?
Whoever you are, wherever you are, you deserve equal and democratised access to art. Where digital dimensions offer an ocean of opportunity to this effect, my project with Tate aims to get as many people as possible connected.
About Vanessa Arias Bujía
As a photographer and visual artist/designer, Vanessa Arias Bujía uses digital techniques to shape and disseminate multi-sensory form across a variety of mediums. She has developed and led art and wellness workshops internationally since 2014, working with children and teachers from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ara Hou school in Napier, New Zealand, and co-curated with local communities both online and onsite across Maui, Honolulu, Hong Kong and Galicia. She has also designed virtual photography-based exhibitions with the Rijkmuseum, Tony Harrison and West Yorkshire Playhouse physical and digital archives.
Twitter @SculptureViolet
Instagram @sculptureviolet