Art and Exclusion: Visual and Embodied Methodologies Network Exhibition Catalogue

Art has a vital role to play in understanding exclusion, stigmatisation and violence. Art & Exclusions is an exhibition that presents the work of four artist/researcher collaborations at King’s College London; between a poet, a visual artist, an actor and playwright, an animation artist,  and four social scientists working on questions of exclusion, stigmatisation, marginalisation, conflict and violence in the Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy (SSPP).   This catalogue outlines the four contributions in the exhibition. These collaborations, held at the Somerset House Studios in July 2019, are part of the ‘VEM+’ project. Drawing on the emerging VEM Network (Visual, Embodied and Art-based Methodologies in the social sciences), the VEM+ Collaborations  is a cross-departmental project engaging artists and academics in an innovative dialogue about methodological practices in the arts and social sciences, moving beyond viewing culture as a site through which more standard social science research methods can be applied or as a means to illustrate social science research. Instead, these collaborations explore how visual, embodied and arts-based methodologies might transform research practices in social science, interrogating the potential of such methodologies to generate new, insightful and ultimately emancipatory knowledge for both the researcher and the researched, particularly in the study of sensitive issues.   Through video, film, performance, poetry, photography, and live events, the exhibition takes you through the collaborative process between the four researchers and artists, interrogating the methodological bridges created through these collaborations. It also invites you to discover some of the artistic forms and artwork that have emerged from this work.  Finally, through a series of public events, this exhibition also engages more deeply with each set of collaborative process, presenting art-research works to diverse audiences, and invites you to discover  the work of social scientists and artists within and outside of King’s College London who use visual, embodied and art-based methodologies in the study of sensitive issues.