A Study of Curation, Location and Temporality in Contemporary Art Fairs

This PhD by Published Work critically analyses a series of five exhibitions curated by the author at London Art Fair between 2016-2020, which form the portfolio of projects within this thesis. Each exhibition explored notions of temporality and site, focusing on how these concepts are reframed and problematised by being examined within a contemporary art fair. The motivation for the projects stemmed from researching curated art shows from recent years that addressed notions of time and finding a lack of analysis in relation to how these might be affected by their location, which suggested a new field of enquiry. To address this area, the curatorial aim of each exhibition within the portfolio sought to test how differing conceptions of temporality – whether an artwork might be considered permanent or ephemeral, finished or unfinished, occurring now or in the past – might impact upon and be impacted by ideas of site – such as whether an artwork is physical or virtual, located within the art fair or situated elsewhere. The methodology that guided the portfolio of projects was transversal and brought together analytical systems from three differing areas of intellectual enquiry, combining a rhizomatic approach, which emphasised the interconnected nature of the exhibitions, with methods derived from phenomenology (to promote a questioning of received definitions relating to location and time) and institutional critique (to critically engage with the art fair setting). The outcomes from the portfolio support the contention that curatorial practice, temporality and site are not discrete elements within a contemporary art fair environment, but rather forces that are wholly interdependent. Additionally, the physical and temporal boundaries of the exhibited artworks, and the exhibition as a whole, might be considered problematic to define with any fixity. This PhD thesis proposes a twofold contribution to new knowledge as a result: firstly, that a fuller appreciation of the interaction between curation, setting and temporality within curated exhibitions at contemporary art fairs requires a conceptualisation of these three factors as being a single entity; secondly, that this entity can encompass, without contradiction, multiple definitions of both location and temporality

Calypso cricket: connecting cultures in California

This paper is an early field-report from an ongoing PhD project investigating socio-cultural phenomena displayed through cricket in the USA. The targeted location, Los Angeles, California, is a melting pot of cultures from English to Indian, Jamaican to Australian, and not forgetting American, so it is an ideal place for ethnographic research around this trans-cultural activity. The paper attempts to highlight the grounded nature of ethnography when using narratives to (a) approach the field, followed by (b) observation notes in the field through participant observation, arriving at (c) representation of emergent concepts or new themes to guide the research further. The field notes made in the USA (b) are chronological and written stylistically to include a rich, detailed description of events that took place across one social cricket match (in the 4th tier of the Southern California Cricket Association) between teams from Bangladeshi and Caribbean backgrounds. This glimpse into the world of cricket in the USA mimics a style of writing in minutia used by Nicholson Baker (1988) when describing his observations during a lunch hour at work

Utilisation and impact of predict prostate on decision‐making among clinicians and patients in a specialist tertiary referral centre: A retrospective cohort study

Publication status: PublishedAbstractBackgroundPatients with intermediate‐risk prostate cancer are faced with the decision of whether to undergo radical treatment. Decision‐making aids, such as Predict Prostate, can empower both clinicians and patients to make treatment decisions with personalised information, but their impact on multi‐disciplinary team (MDT) decision‐making and uptake of radical treatment remains unknown.ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to assess the utilisation and utility of Predict Prostate in informing treatment decisions for patients with intermediate‐risk prostate cancer.Patients and MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted in Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) of patients referred to the prostate cancer specialist multi‐disciplinary team (pcSMDT) and robotic prostatectomy clinic (ROPD) between September 2019 and August 2021 for consideration of radical prostatectomy (RARP). Data on patient characteristics, use of PredictProstate and management decisions were collected from the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) of 839 patients, of whom 386 had intermediate‐risk prostate cancer.ResultsThe use of Predict Prostate at the pcSMDT increased in the second half of the study period (34.5% vs. 23.8%, p &lt; 0.001). The use of Predict Prostate was associated with an increased likelihood of attending ROPD for men with CPG2 prostate cancer (OR = 2.155, 95% CI = 1.158–4.013, p = 0.015) but a reduced likelihood of proceeding with RARP for men with CPG2 (OR = 0.397, 95% CI = 0.209–0.753, p = 0.005) and CPG3 (OR = 0.305, 95% CI = 0.108–0.861, p = 0.025) prostate cancer.ConclusionOur study showed that the use of Predict Prostate for patients with intermediate‐risk prostate cancer is associated with increased attendance at specialist surgical clinic and a reduced chance of undergoing radical prostate surgery.</jats:sec