Sophie J Williamson

Title of Dissertation: Aims without Objectives: Artist Placement Group and The Potential of Uncertain Outcomes

I have previously worked on a range of major international exhibitions, including the inaugural Singapore Biennale (2006), the Venice Biennale (2007), and the first Asia Triennial Manchester (2008), as well as a range of projects across Europe, Asia, the UK and online. Throughout my MA, I have worked as exhibition organiser at Raven Row, as well as writing for Art Monthly and Culture+Conflict.

The political potential of art is a subject that is of particular importance to me, and during my time at the RCA, I have written broadly around subjects of institutional critique, activist art practices, and the social and political role of the curator.

My dissertation sought to reposition the work of the Artist Placement Group and trace the influence of their ‘open brief’ projects over the past 40 years, in order to critique current Neoliberal arts policy. As public funding for the arts in the UK increasingly demands tangible, and what are seen to be ‘successful’, outcomes, I explore how projects where results are uncertain, intangible and sometimes unrealised, can have an equal - if not a greater - cultural and social impact than those that are predictable or predefined.

I am keen to peruse a career where as a curator I can play a more active role, primarily through research, writing, projects and exhibitions, and importantly within institutional settings. I am keen to work internationally, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, while developing a more specialist knowledge of politically engaged practices in these regions.