Overview
Dr Colin Perry is a Senior Lecturer and arts writer. He has written widely on contemporary art for specialist arts magazines, journals and books. He has an ongoing research interest in rurality, nature and landscape in relation to contemporary art and wider publics. His recent edited volume Art and the Rural Imagination (MTP, 2022) is based on a conference that he convened in 2020.
Colin also has a specialist interest in artists’ moving image cultures, lens and screen-based media, television, and notions of publics and radical media activism. His first single-authored book, Radical Mainstream: Independent Film, Video and Television in Britain, 1974–90 (Intellect, 2020), examines the role of independent film and video art in re-shaping media ecology and public discourse.
Before joining Arts University Bournemouth, he taught at universities including Central Saint Martins (UAL), University of Westminster, Royal College of Art, Royal Academy and Falmouth University. He has worked with a range of major arts institutions including Tate, Hayward Gallery and Camden Art Centre.
He is the editor of numerous publications for specialist publishers such as Phaidon Press on subjects including painting and exhibition histories. As an arts writer for publications such as Art Monthly, he has covered diverse media, from painting, drawing and sculpture to performance, film and video.
Contact:
Qualifications
Qualifications
- PhD, Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London)
Teaching Qualification
- Postgraduate Certificate in Education
Teaching
Colin is a Senior Lecturer in theory and context on the BA (Hons) Fine Art at Arts University Bournemouth. He teaches across years, primarily at Level 5 and Level 6. He has undertaken significant course design and delivers a range of lectures on various mediums (painting, sculpture, performance, video and more), situating these in terms of wider theories, histories and critical discourses, as well as innovative seminars that combine practice and theory with a focus on practice-as-research.
Previously, he taught on the Culture, Criticism and Curation BA and MA at Central Saint Martins (University of the Arts London). He also led an MA/MRes module in documentary on the Film, Television and the Moving Image course at Westminster University (London). He has taught at numerous universities including the Royal College of Art, the Royal Academy and Falmouth University.
Courses
Research
Research Interests and Projects
Colin’s current research centres on rural spaces, ecology and nature within emerging artistic and literary publics. His research focuses on:
- Practices of artists’ moving image, film and video art.
- Contemporary practices of painting, sculpture, performance and installation.
- Popular and minor literary expressions and theories of nature.
His research is rooted in critical theories including:
- Theories that rethink traditions of ‘nature’, including posthumanism, animal studies, ecofeminism, queer studies and decolonial theory.
- Critical discourses of embodiment including affect theory, feminist phenomenology and emotion studies.
- Theories of land and nature-based identity and ecological justice, including queer and feminist studies; indigenous politics and knowledges; theories of race, migration and decoloniality.
- Public sphere theories; art histories and theories.
Colin studied for his PhD at University of the Arts London from 2013–17. His research resulted in a peer-reviewed academic book titled Radical Mainstream: Independent Film, Video and Television in Britain, 1974–90 (Intellect Books, 2020). The book examines independent film, video art and activism in Britain from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s in the context of struggles against capitalism, patriarchy, racism, colonialism and homophobia, examining relations between counterpublics and social change. He has published numerous other texts in books and academic journals related to this subject. Colin is on the board of the Moving Image Review and Art Journal (published by Intellect) and was previously the Reviews editor for the journal.
Colin recent research explores how contemporary art's counterpublics interact with wider public discourse in relation to nature and rurality. He co-organised (with Laura Eldret) the conference Art and the Rural Imagination (2020), which resulted in the edited publication of the same name (MTP, 2022). The conference and publication received funds from AUB and Arts Council. Colin has spoken at numerous academic conferences, including The Long View (2024), Fiction Machines (Bath Spa, 2023), AUB Research Conference (AUB, 2023).
In 2025, he co-founded the research group Grund (https://grund-res.org), alongside artists Dr Melanie Jackson (Senior Tutor, Royal College of Art), Jennet Thomas (Reader, Camberwell College of Art), and Laura Eldret (Researcher, University of the West of England). The group’s research explores contemporary art’s critical, imaginative, social and material potential at a time of ecological crisis. Recent activities include a public in-conversation between Colin, Dr Melanie Jackson and Dr Lana Locke at Camberwell Space (June 2025).
Research Supervision
Colin has supervised numerous MA and MRes students at AUB and other universities. Colin would welcome PhD applications in subjects including contemporary art and visual culture.
Professional Engagement
Colin's recent academic projects include the AUB and Arts Council-funded conference and publication Art and the Rural Imagination (2022).
As a teacher Colin has invited a range of key international artists as Guest Speakers to AUB including:
- 2024-25: Elizabeth Price, Naomi Frears, David Blandy, Robert Holyhead, Luke McCreadie.
- 2023-24: Rosa-Johan Uddoh, Vivien Zhang, Andrew Carnie, Amy Steel, Permindar Kaur, Linda Stupart.
- 2022–23: Goia Mukalli; Ilona Sagar; Flo Brooks; Melanie Jackson; Florence Peake; Adam Chodzko.
- 2021–22: Doug Fishbone; Tai Shani; Anne Tallentire; Sean Edwards; Teresa Solar; Lucy Stein; Prabhakar Pachpute.
- 2020–21: Otobong Nkanga; Jasmina Cibic; Ingrid Pollard; Caragh Thuring; Jennet Thomas; Robert Holyhead; Hardeep Pandhal; Becky Beasley.
Professional Engagement Links
Memberships
Advance HE Membership
- Fellow (FHEA)