The Administrative Turn in Contemporary Art: The Figure of the Arts Administrator — a case study of the Taipei Biennial (1996-2020)

This PhD uses “the Administrative Turn” to describe the specific, but also the more general, changing nature of the local and global administrative networks which support contemporary art. Through a case study of the figure of the arts administrator at the Taipei Biennial (TB), this research examines these changes in three ways – on (1) changes in institutional principles of arts administration, (2) changes in administrative methodology, and (3) changes in function for arts administrators. Taking a transdisciplinary approach drawing on Arts Management, Curatorial Studies, Museum Studies and Art History, this thesis engages critically with the value of “the administrative” as a necessary approach to catalyse a shift in focus away from the highly visible and spectacularised norm of the global contemporary art world, towards the infrastructural significance of the backstage. This change in perspective through the study of the TB arts administrators sets out to present a missing puzzle of what makes that art world functions as it does and how in fact the support network of the contemporary art practices have transformed because of changes in the administrative capacity in terms of its institution, methodology and function. Chapter 1 details the developmental history of the system of arts administration at TB, as an institution situated within a government-backed, museum-based, contemporary art exhibitionary ecosystem, and finds that the institution history and design principles of arts administration are not only a reflection but also an active author of Taiwanese national identity. Chapter 2 demonstrates how arts management and its methodology as a practice-centric tradecraft based on the narrative of professionalism and a stewardship process, is iterative and relies on a balance of control and care. With a close analysis of the administrative capacity, Chapter 3 establishes the figure of the arts administrators as reflexive and its function pedagogical and consultative. This research concludes that acting as critical infrastructure, arts administrators as ascending co-development stewards, possess the transformative agency to radically re-imagine their sphere of practice and re-conceptualise how the support network could better function for a fast-evolving and increasingly multi-stakeholder production reality, which underpins the culture of contemporary art biennials globally

CIB International Conference 2014: W55/65/89/92/96/102/117 & TG72/74/81/83 Construction in a changing world: Book of Abstracts

It is no exaggeration to say that CIB is the world's foremost platform for international cooperation and information exchange in the area of building and construction research and innovation. What takes place at CIB events is the very essence of CIB's raison d'être and, outside the triennial CIB Congress, an unprecedented number of CIB working commissions and task groups are represented at this Conference and we have worked to facilitate interaction with a rich mix of specialist streams, opportunities for informal networking and a series of challenging keynotes. With its focus of “Construction in a Changing World”, the Conference provides a forum for researchers worldwide to debate and exchange ideas and experiences on a broad range of issues. Driven by technology innovation, demographic growth, environmental change, a new economic order and a strong undercurrent of social and political desire for change, the world is changing quickly. Construction doesn’t exist in isolation and, in a fast-changing world, the sector has the vital role of providing the requisite built environment to meet the challenges presented by these changes. In order to deliver value, maintain competitiveness and address the needs of society, the construction industry will need to develop its capabilities for managing innovation and technical change. The Conference will bring together resources and knowledge across different fields, technologies and disciplines to deal with the major challenges that construction professionals will be confronted with in the coming years

Universities and Regional Engagement

The study of universities’ role in regional engagement has traditionally been focusing on exceptional cases. This book presents a reconceptualision which embraces its underlying complexity, and proposes a roadmap for a renewed research agenda. Starting from the grassroots level of universities’ "everyday" engagements, the book delves into the manifold ways in which university knowledge agents build connections with regional partners. Through eleven empirical chapters, the authors not only chart the diversity amongst case institutions, engagement mechanisms and regional contexts, but also use that diversity to advance a novel conceptual framework for unpacking university-regions’ everyday activities, taking into account the dynamic, complex and co-evolving interplay between (a) key social agents and institutions, (b) the contexts in which they are embedded, as well as (c) the historical trajectories and strategic ambitions underpinning context-specific social- arrangements and interactions that are mediated by temporal and spatial dimensions. Drawing on evolutionary economic geography, innovation studies, management and organisation studies, and historical perspectives, the volume advances a new mode of understanding university-regional engagement as a form of extendable temporary coupling, which also helps to address perennial policy and managerial questions alike of what to do with universities that do not serve local labour market needs, and/or are located in regions suffering from brain drain.　The book illustrates such dynamics from diverse national contexts: Brazil, Caribbean, China, Italy, Norway, and Poland. This book will be valuable reading for advanced students, researchers and policy makers working in economic geography, regional development, innovation and higher education management