Role
Dr Paul Jones is Senior Lecturer in the Nottingham School of Art & Design and Course Leader for BA Fine Art.
Career overview
Paul started his academic journey at John Moores University in Liverpool, where he earned a BA (Hons) in Graphic Arts. He then furthered his studies with an MA in Fine Art from the University of Chester.
His teaching career began at further education Colleges, where he taught art and photography. Over the years, he worked at several institutions, including Cadbury Sixth Form College in Birmingham and Shrewsbury College of Art, where he took on leadership roles such as Programme Leader for the UAL foundation in Art & Design and Assistant Head of Department.
Paul joined Wrexham University as a Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Fine Art. He also led several MA modules and supervised PhD students. This position followed his position as a lecturer at Bath Spa University.
Paul completed his Doctorate at Aberystwyth University where he explored the concept of Heterotopic Friction through the study of territory, identity, and language.
Throughout his career, Paul has balanced teaching with his own established artistic practice. This includes experience as a curator, freelance stage designer for theatre, and studio holder at Bankley Studios & Gallery in Manchester. This mix of practical experience and academic knowledge has shaped his approach to research and art practice.
Exhibitions include a solo show 'Tiriogaeth y Ffin/Frontier Territory' at Aberystwyth Arts Centre (2018). His video work has been featured internationally, including at 'Hyperobjectivity' Video Art Hong Kong Showcase at Videotage for ArtBasel HK in 2023. Other significant exhibitions include group shows at g39 in Cardiff, Nunnery Bow Arts in London, and the Winnipeg Underground Film Festival. His recent publication is the book chapter 'Humour as Heterotopic Friction' in the edited volume 'Comedy in Crisis' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), edited by Chrisoula Lionis
Research areas
Paul's research interests include:
- Identity and territory, with a focus on Welsh cultural identity and geo-political borders
- Digital-analogue hybridity in art, including the use of AI, 3D scanning, and game engine, analogue photography and video
- Precarious pedagogies in higher education art and design teaching and learning
- Post-conceptual art practices and the epistemology of artistic research
- Exploring the entanglements between human activity, technology, and natural systems.
Paul’s current research examines the realm of digital-analogue hybridity, with a particular focus on its application in visualising the Anthropocene and exploring our evolving relationship with nature. His most recent work employs cutting-edge technologies such as AI, 3D scanning, and game engines to create speculative digital landscapes that overlay networks onto physical environments.
The "Speculative Fabulations" project (2020-ongoing) exemplifies this approach, using digitally rendered landscapes to speculate on the dystopian impacts of dark ecology. This body of work aims to foster critical discourse by revealing the slippages between physical borders, digital borders, and borders of possibility in the context of ecological catastrophe.
Recent exhibitions showcasing this research include "How to Become PostHuman" (Germany, 2022), "Hyperobjectivity" at the Video Art Hong Kong Showcase (2023), and "Digital-Analogue Hybrid Moving Image" at PONTIO, Bangor (2023). These projects demonstrate Paul’s ongoing exploration of how digital-analogue hybridity can be used to interrogate complex issues of identity, territory, and humanity's place in a rapidly changing world.
Previous research projects
2023-2024 Public Map Platform for Future Generations: Charting the green transition on the Isle of Anglesey/Ynys Mon (PMP), funded by ARHC, Initiated by Cambridge University (Architecture Department) and external partners: Isle of Anglesea County Council, University of Cardiff, Dotiau Ltd, Feral Ventures Limited, Free Ice Cream Ltd, Future Observatory, Multi Games Ltd, QOLF Trading Ltd. (ROLE: ASSISTANT PROJECT MANAGER/RESEARCHER) https://publicmap.org/en
2016-2019 Alien: I was part of an interdisciplinary project on migration called ALIEN, funded by Erasmus+. Our goal was to develop innovative educational tools for educators that draw from inquiry-based learning and human-centered design methods. These tools are embedded in multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives to enhance students' critical understanding and develop their 'research-type' graduate attributes. Participating universities included Polish Japanese Academy of Information Technology, Warsaw School of Economics, University of the West of Scotland, Aalto University and Technopolis (Athens, Greece). Grant: 387.315,00 € https://alienproject.pja.edu.pl/
2018 - River Dee Estuary Project (Jan 2018-Jun 2018), Project in collaboration with Adam Cooke (MMU), Wayne Clark (Wrexham Glyndwr University) and Damian O’Doherty (Liverpool University) and Hannah Knox (Manchester University) (ROLE: GRANT WRITER, PROJECT MANAGER, and RESEARCHER)
Publications
BOOK CHAPTERS:
Jones, P. R., (2023) ‘Humour as Heterotopic Friction’ in Lionis, C., (Ed) (2023), ‘Comedy in Crisis’ Palgrave MacMillian, London
Cooke, A & Jones, P., (2020) ‘DOT DOT DASH’ in Campbell, L (Ed) (2020), ‘Leap Into Action Companion: Critical Performative Pedagogies in Art & Design Education’, Peter Lang Publishing, London
Jones, P. ‘Cerbyd as Project’ In Numbers Publication, Published by BRG,(2013). ISBN 978-1-908452-42-9
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2024 - Controlling the Narrative, Modal Gallery, SODA, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
2024 – Rites of Way, Oriel Davies, Newtown, https://orieldavies.org...tes-of-way-paul-r-jones
2023 - ‘Digital-Analogue Hybrid Moving Image’, IKT 2023 Congress: Art & Advanced Technologies, PONTIO, Bangor University, Oct 2023 https://www.iktsite.org...s-2023-news/hybrid-life
2023 – ‘Hyperobjectivity’ Video Art Hong Kong Showcase, Videotage, ArtBasel HK https://www.videotage.o.../video/hyperobjectivity
2022 - How to Become PostHuman, Digital Exhibition, Hosted by Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Potsdam, Germany https://exhibition.fabulationforfuture.net/
2021 – Oriel Lockdown, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Wales
2020 – Ways of Protest, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, Wales https://www.elysiumgall...2020-23rd-january-2021/
2020 – Epona (on-line exhibition) Amgen Eisteddfod 2020 https://eisteddfod.wales/y-lle-celf-3d
2018 – Tiriogaeth y Ffin/Frontier Territory, (Solo Exhibition), Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth (Solo Exhibition), Aberystwyth Arts Centre, Aberystwyth https://www.artrabbit.c...itory-tiriogaeth-y-ffin
2017 - Listen to the Voice of Fire, Aberystwyth University, Wales
2017 - Framing the Crisis, System Gallery, Newcastle
2017 - Images of Wales, Oriel Ynys Môn, Anglesey
2017 - Pound Shop Logic, Mayman & Jones, Oriel Sycharth Gallery, Wrexham https://www.facebook.com/OrielSycharthGallery/
2016 - Winniepeg Underground Film Festival (WUFF), Canada
2016 - Guardians of the Border, Oriel Wrexham Offsite Projects, Holt, Wrexham 2015 - Carbon Meets Silicon (ITA15), Oriel Sycharth, Wrexham
2015 – Adopt[ed] Slideshow, MIRIAD, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester 2015 - Playing with Space, Live Art Development Agency, London
2015 - DATAMOSH, Oriel Wrecsam, Wrecsam http://thisproject.co.uk/events/datamosh/ https://www.artrabbit.com/events/datamosh
2014 - National Eisteddford of Wales, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire
2014 - Unit(e), g39, Cardiff https://g39.org/cgi-bin...exhibitions&id=4376
2014 - The Walking Encyclopaedia, AirSpace Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent https://www.airspacegal..._of_variable_resistance
2013 - WNDX FESTIVAL OF MOVING IMAGE, Winnipeg, Canada,
2013 - CREEKSIDE OPEN 2013 exhibition selected by Ceri Hand, A.P.T Gallery, Deptford https://www.aptstudios.org/creekside-open
2013 - From Slapstick to Horror, Studio 1.1, Shoreditch
2012 - 'Begining of the End' SIMULANT Festival, Romania
2012 - Bread & Roses, Motorcade/Flashparade, Bristol
2012 - FILMIDEO 2012, INDEX ART CENTER, NEW YORK
2012 - FLAT OUT, AC Institute, New York
2012 - National Eisteddfod of Wales 2012, Vale of Glamorgan, Llandow
2012 - The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp, g39, Cardiff https://g39.org/cgi-bin...exhibitions&id=1562
2012 - THE MAN DON’T GIVE A F***, Motorcade Flash Parade, Bristol https://www.artrabbit.c...he-man-dont-give-a-fuck
2011 - AMBruno: 101, The LAB Gallery, New York
2011 - CINE CITY - Brighton Film Festival, Nightingale, Brighton 2011 - MADATAC 2011, The City Mile of Art, Madrid
2011 - Migrant Assignment: Deterritorialisation/Reterritorialisation, Water Tower Arts Fest 2011, Sofia, Bulgaria
2011 - Mountain Light Box Cinema, BasketHouseVillageUniverse, London
2011 - SlapsticktoHorror @ Latitude Festival, Latitude Festival 2011, Henham Park
2011 - Tenderflix Experimental Film Competition, Tenderpixel Gallery, Cecil Court, London
2011 - VIDEOHOLICA INTERNATIONAL VIDEO ART FESTIVAL, VIDEOHOLICA, Varna
2010 - DOMESTIC, University of Barcelona, Barcelona
2010 - 'Investigating Site' Other/Other/Other, Norwich Arts centre, Norwich 2010 - Wälschen, National Eisteddfod, Ebbw Vale
2008 - Croeso I Gymru, Eisteddfod, Cardiff
CURATORIAL PRACTICE:
2023 – ongoing RUKA, a collaborative Curatorial project, Nomadic
2021 – curatorial committee member for INSERT Gallery, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wrexham https://www.artrabbit.com/events/predatorprey
2019 - Curatorial committee member for Dispensary Gallery, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wrexham
2019 – 2020 – Ystafell 23, School of Creative Arts, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wrexham
2018 - Dazzle Cinema, School of Creative Arts, Wrexham Glyndwr University, Wrexham
2015 - On Brevity, Hugh Sanders, solo show, Undegun Artist Space, Wrexham https://www.artrabbit.c...brevity-dual-exhibition
TELEVISION:
2011 'Leap of Faith' rftv 2 (duration 1min 32secs) Spain, broadcast on the 23 December 2011
2009 ‘The Street’, The One Show, (duration: 4mins 33secs), BBC 1, broadcast on the 6th August 2009, Mentorn Productions, Scotland.
AWARDS:
2011 Metrópolis Awards, MADATAC 2011, ‘Leap of Faith’, Performance
Course(s) I teach on
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Undergraduate | Full-time / SandwichCOURSE
Fine Art - BA (Hons)
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/art-and-design/ug/ba-hons-fine-art