Professor Sarah James

Professor of Visual Culture

I am an art historian and art writer. My research specialisms and interests include contemporary art, photography, photobooks and documentary practices; the visual cultures of the Cold War; German art - particularly art from the former East Germany and the interwar avant-garde; Frankfurt School Critical Theory, and British art and visual culture since the 1960s. For the last twenty years I have researched and taught in the fields of contemporary and modern art, visual culture and interdisciplinary theoretical methodologies.

I’ve written two major monographs - 'Common Ground: German Photographic Cultures Across the Iron Curtain' (Yale University Press, 2013), and 'Paper Revolutions: An Invisible Avant-Garde' (The MIT Press, 2022) - and have published numerous book chapters, peer-reviewed articles and exhibition catalogue essays. My research and scholarship have been recognised and supported by major grants and fellowships from UK and international funding bodies including the AHRC, the British Academy, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Gerda Henkel Foundation, and the Paul Mellon Centre.

Since 2004 I've written more than 90 feature essays and exhibition reviews in the international art press (writing regularly for Art Monthly, and previously for Frieze, Photoworks, Art Review and Aperture). These texts have focused on contemporary art, photographic practices and exhibition-making, situating them in relation to broader political, cultural, institutional and pedagogical contexts and debates.

I’ve held academic appointments in both history of art departments and art schools, including Liverpool School of Art, LJMU (2022-2023), University College London (2010-2018), and the University of Oxford (2008-2010). I was a Visiting Tutor/Lecturer at the Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford (2004-2007), the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2002-2007), and the University of Cambridge (2004). I’ve been a Visiting Research Fellow and Guest Lecturer at the Goethe Universität Frankfurt, the Kunstgeschichte Institut Leipzig Universität, and the Humboldt Universität, Berlin. And I enjoy delivering public lectures and talks on my research at museums, galleries and universities around the world.

In 2022 I co-curated a major international loans exhibition, 'Anti-Social Art', with Prof. Sara Blaylock (University of Minnesota, Duluth), at the Tweed Museum, Minnesota. This was related to my most recent monograph, focusing on art and activism, ephemeral practices and artist zines, books and portfolios from the former East Germany. The exhibition contextualised these art practices in relation to current social movements and cultural censorship. I was Senior Curator of Exhibitions at Tate Liverpool (2022-2023), where I curated the 2022 Turner Prize, and led the curatorial team in delivering the exhibitions and collection displays and in devising future programming. Over the last twenty years I have collaborated on research projects with international art institutions in the UK, Germany and the USA (including HKW Berlin, the Reina Sofia Madrid, and The MoMA, New York). These projects have been embedded in a collective and collaborative model of research.

I enjoy working closely and collaboratively with artists and practitioners. My research - like my art criticism and curating - is rooted in an interdisciplinary approach to visual cultures, which seeks to bridge and relate the historical and contemporary periods, engaging in close and careful visual analysis alongside an interrogation of art’s wider political, social, and cultural contexts. My new research has begun to explore art and disaster, focusing on cold war and contemporary practices (including sound and screen-based work) in relation to nuclearity, the climate catastrophe, racial capitalism, decolonisation and eco-socialism.

I received a B.A. in Social and Political Sciences and the History of Art from King’s College, the University of Cambridge in 2001. I was awarded my M.A. with distinction in Contemporary British Art in 2002, and my PhD in the History of Art in 2007, both from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London.

I always welcome enquiries from potential PhD students - both practice-based and entirely research-focused. Potential research topics I would be particularly interested in supervising include: contemporary art; documentary and screen-based practices; ephemeral art practices, including mail art; German art; East German art and collectives; histories and theories of photography; histories of exhibition-making; Eastern European art; the visual cultures, politics and technologies of the Cold War, art and the climate emergency; Marxism and the Frankfurt School thinkers; the interwar avant-garde, and other topics that align with my research interests. Potential applicants should contact me directly to discuss your proposals.

Languages

German

Degrees

PhD, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 2007.
MA (Dist), Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, 2002.
BA Hons., University of Cambridge, 2001.

Academic appointments

Research Professorship, Gerda Henkel Foundation, 2020 - 2022
Mid-Career Fellowship, Paul Mellon Centre, 2019 - 2020
Senior Research Fellowship, Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, Goethe University Frankfurt, 2019 - 2020
Assoc Prof/Lecturer, University College London, 2010 - 2018
Lecturer, University of Oxford, 2008 - 2010
Director of Studies, Christ Church, History of Art, University of Oxford, 2008 - 2010
Postdoctoral Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung Research Fellowship, Art History, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2007 - 2008
Visiting Lecturer/Tutor, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford, 2004 - 2008