Inaugural Lecture: Mel Jordan, Professor of Postdigital Cultures

Art, Slogans and democracy

Mel’s research enquires into how public sphere theory can contribute to an expanded understanding of art, politics and its publics. She has explored the relationship between art and its publics through the production of props and tools, social encounters and pedagogic techniques towards opinion formation. Mel’s Inaugural Lecture marked International Artists Day.

Mel is an artist and writer, her research addresses the ways in which public sphere theory can contribute to an expanded understanding of art, politics and its publics. Mel explores this idea through the production of slogans, props and tools, as well as social encounters in the public realm. In this lecture she introduced the rationale for slogans works, the sociality of a kiosk; and the value of agnostic engagement.

Professor Mel Jordan, is an artist and academic. She is currently Professor of Art & the Public Sphere in the Centre of Postdigital Cultures (CPC), Coventry University. Before joining CPC, she initiated and led the Contemporary Art Practice Programme at the Royal College of Art. From 2004 – 2018 she worked with Dave Beech and Andy Hewitt as the Free art collective. Professor Mel Jordan, is an artist and academic. She is currently Professor of Art & the Public Sphere in the Centre of Postdigital Cultures (CPC), Coventry University. Before joining CPC, she initiated and led the Contemporary Art Practice Programme at the Royal College of Art. From 2004 – 2018 she worked with Dave Beech and Andy Hewitt as the Free art collective. In 2018, along with Hewitt, she started the Partisan Social Club; an on-going and continually reforming art and design collective with its first presentation at Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall, London, November 2018. Jordan has contributed artworks to over 50 exhibitions; including BAK, Utrecht, NL; Istanbul Biennial; Milton Keynes Art Gallery; Monterhermoso Cultural Centre Spain; Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art; SMART Project Space, NL; ICA, London; Wysing Arts Cambridge; Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; nGbK Berlin.

Jordan’s research is situated within the practice, histories and theories of art and its potential to impact upon publics and communities, through its role as a type of opinion formation in the public domain. She is the founding editor of the journal Art & the Public Sphere.

Watch Professor Mel Jordan's Inaugural Lecture 'Art, Slogans and Democracy'.