Kitty Whittell

PhD supervisor: Cadence Kinsey
Working title for PhD: ‘Clear Boundaries: Interfaces and Art from 1965 – 2019’ 

My research examines the ramifications of the dissolution of boundaries described by post-internet artists and critics. Examining the relationship between technological developments from the 1960s to 2019 highlights how boundaries still form, but in different terms, not as a separating limit but as an interfacial process of forming and defining interaction. Using the fluid interface as a concrete definition for this process, I critique the idea that boundaries have disappeared and highlight ways it proves productive when considered as a process. I identify how this boundary manifests in artworks that deal with fluidity and boundaries, ranging from Gustave Metzger’s Liquid Crystal Environment (1965), to Hito Steyerl’s Strike I (2010) and Strike II (2011). My research culminates with considering how boundary conditions form and shape subjectivity, and how this relates to technological development through Cecile B. Evans  ‘Amos World’, and Chen Chen-yu’s Vapour Equilibrium (2017).

Conference papers and presentations:

• AAH New Voices Symposium 2018: ‘Simulated Slow Down: Movement in Serafin Alvarez ‘Maze Walkthrough (2014).’
• IAFOR European Arts and Heritage Conference 2018: ‘The Future of Art and Soft Power in a Global Context.’
• AAH Annual Conference April 2021: ‘Agents of Mediation: What is at stake at the interface?’ 

Teaching: 

• Action/Re-action – Autumn 2020.

Email: katherine.whittell@ucl.ac.uk

Qualifications:
BA UCL History of Art
MA SOAS, History of Art