Dr Alan Dunn
Reader Leeds Beckett
- Leeds
Alan Dunn's research explores new models for curating content for non-gallery audiences.
Media
Social
Biography
Alan studied at Glasgow School of Art and School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His research explores new models for curating content for non-gallery audiences and his PhD considered the relationship between sound art and the everyday.
Alan (b. 1967, Glasgow) was curator of The Bellgrove Station Billboard Project (Glasgow 1990-91), lead artist on the tenantspin project (FACT, Liverpool 2001-7) and completed his PhD at Leeds Beckett University on sound art based on the 10xCD opus 'The sounds of ideas forming.' He has developed collaborations with The Big Issue, Shelter, Great North Run, Channel 4, BBC Radio and MIT Press; he runs the cantaudio sound art label and has published/curated numerous zines including ZERO PLAN, TATA and TOP TEN.
Through these projects, Alan has developed collaborative content with Bill Drummond, Douglas Gordon, Yoko Ono, Bikini Kill, Philip Jeck, redmentv, Pauline Oliveros, Einsturzende Neubauten and Brian Eno. He currently lives and works in Liverpool City Region. In 2012 he was short-listed for the Liverpool Art Prize and has been the joint arts editor of the online journal Stimulus Respond, Board Member of East Street Arts (2016-20) and basementartsproject (2021-date) in Leeds and is co-founder of Alternator Studio in Birkenhead.
Industry Expertise
Areas of Expertise
Education
The Glasgow School of Art
MFA
Environmental Art
1991
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
MA
Fine/Studio Arts, General
1990
Links
Languages
- English
Media Appearances
Bruntwood expands Leeds team ahead of flagship Platform building launch
Bdaily online
2017-11-20
“We’ve just commissioned a new work titled ‘Four Words’, which is led by Dr Alan Dunn of Leeds Beckett School of Art and will be a collaboration between students, lecturers and artists. This piece will be live for our launch event on 23rd November.”
Bradford remembers: 50th anniversary since Pink Floyd played a gig in the city
Telegraph and Argus online
2017-07-01
An essay, written by Alan Dunn, who attended art school with Douglas, describes how the artist explored how close he could get to his idols before they burst into flames.
Articles
Curating the Sound of the Word Revolution
Sound Curating2019
Dr. Alan Dunn, Senior Lecturer at Leeds Beckett University, reflects upon his sound art project Artists’ uses of the word revolution in relation to pedagogy, curating and distribution. The project formed part of a new pedagogic model established at Leeds between Dunn, Chris Watson and visual art students, exploring the spaces between sound recording and sound recordings, and between lecturing and administration. The curatorial methodologies deployed throughout the project considered some of the core behavioral drivers that lead professionals and amateurs to return to the record button and why we often revisit the same themes when recording. One of these themes is explored in this text, namely a desire to (sound like one wishes to) change the status quo through the sound of the word ‘revolution’. Dunn curated the collection non-hierarchically, using material from art lecturers and students, artists, archives and other professionals. The work was disseminated in phone boxes, handed out on streets, and more formally shared at events at the Sharjah Art Foundation, Liverpool Art Prize, Auricle Sonic Arts Gallery in Christchurch, Cirrus Gallery in Los Angeles and the ICA and DeptfordX in London.
