https://reeves-evison.co.uk Theo Reeves-Evison Wed, 28 Apr 2021 20:22:15 +0000 https://reeves-evison.co.uk en https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Header Wed, 13 May 2020 20:26:38 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Header https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Events-Talks Wed, 13 May 2020 20:26:38 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Events-Talks Events / Talks Recent and Upcoming Thinking with Sentinel Species: Materialising More-than-Human Futures of Distaster, presentation at Anticipation 2026, 1-3 July 2026, Politecnico Milano, Italy Grid Imaginaries in Art and Culture, seminar series co-organised with Becky Shaw, March-June 2026, online A Lock-Picker’s Guide to Environmental Futures, Visual Cultures public lecture, 4 December 2025, Goldsmiths, University of London Nature that Capital Cannot See, presentation at (Re)Creativity for Ecological Justice, 17 September 2025, Nottingham Futures of the Deep: Visuality, Temporality and Terrestrial Bias in Deep Sea-Mining, presentation at STS-HUB 2025: Diffracting the Critical, 11-14 March 2025, Berlin All Events https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Publications Wed, 13 May 2020 20:26:38 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Publications Publications <img width="2000" height="3019" width_o="2000" height_o="3019" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eac4c5f8fe23db200ebce93e8aa8657e190ff96ae9bc0c73c333fae3eed645d3/The-Art-of-Disciplined-Imagination-cover---saved-for-web---big.jpg" data-mid="110592236" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eac4c5f8fe23db200ebce93e8aa8657e190ff96ae9bc0c73c333fae3eed645d3/The-Art-of-Disciplined-Imagination-cover---saved-for-web---big.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="2647" width_o="2000" height_o="2647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51c20551cece04f34b7887675583e1160571f2adf11fb848abeb07a0e85c9f5b/Free-Range--Born-Slippy---2021---page-1---saved-for-web.jpg" data-mid="106769568" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/51c20551cece04f34b7887675583e1160571f2adf11fb848abeb07a0e85c9f5b/Free-Range--Born-Slippy---2021---page-1---saved-for-web.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="2998" width_o="2000" height_o="2998" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edf3bf3960183c3dd3188110c5afd4bfa78db5463f4211b289d0ca37e4a8e9e7/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art---saved-for-web---big.jpg" data-mid="70905922" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/edf3bf3960183c3dd3188110c5afd4bfa78db5463f4211b289d0ca37e4a8e9e7/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art---saved-for-web---big.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="1405" width_o="1000" height_o="1405" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eac9d501bc67c0f70d0152aa69039b7f5ce406bea29418d493376e3740f75a70/Border-Agency-cover---medium.jpg" data-mid="71103820" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eac9d501bc67c0f70d0152aa69039b7f5ce406bea29418d493376e3740f75a70/Border-Agency-cover---medium.jpg" /> <img width="1000" height="1515" width_o="1000" height_o="1515" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/62dabdecd3f39902ebdc3246c7deeaa341eaeb70aa81fb9665d0e053e25ffbbe/Fiction-as-Method---saved-for-web---medium.jpg" data-mid="70905927" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/62dabdecd3f39902ebdc3246c7deeaa341eaeb70aa81fb9665d0e053e25ffbbe/Fiction-as-Method---saved-for-web---medium.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="2882" width_o="2000" height_o="2882" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/06f1d5ec6c56fb8d5c11b7e4ec31bbe5400333672635f5e4e32984bc01d9d1df/New-Formations---saved-for-web---big.jpg" data-mid="70905831" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/06f1d5ec6c56fb8d5c11b7e4ec31bbe5400333672635f5e4e32984bc01d9d1df/New-Formations---saved-for-web---big.jpg" /> <img width="1400" height="2206" width_o="1400" height_o="2206" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/47f8b4dfd33ac38b7b67d6967b495e5e6c76c0d1ced26baa479b635ec5b81799/Futures-and-Fictions-book-cover.jpg" data-mid="70905794" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/47f8b4dfd33ac38b7b67d6967b495e5e6c76c0d1ced26baa479b635ec5b81799/Futures-and-Fictions-book-cover.jpg" /> <img width="2000" height="2580" width_o="2000" height_o="2580" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d8f5ca33530bd95f64e5f4b24bac75b999d60283132658699a217809170bb0bf/Ethico-Aesthetic-Repairs-cover---saved-for-web---big.jpeg" data-mid="70905808" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d8f5ca33530bd95f64e5f4b24bac75b999d60283132658699a217809170bb0bf/Ethico-Aesthetic-Repairs-cover---saved-for-web---big.jpeg" /> All Publications https://reeves-evison.co.uk/About Wed, 13 May 2020 20:26:39 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/About Info Theo Reeves-Evison is a writer, researcher and Senior Lecturer in Theoretical and Contextual Studies at Birmingham School of Art, where his research focuses on the critical imbrications of art, ecology and speculation. From 2018-22 he was the principal investigator on the Leverhulme funded research project ‘Speculative Natures: Contemporary Art and Interventionist Ecology’, which resulted in several publications, workshops and curated events. He holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Goldsmiths College and an MA in Critical Theory from the University of Nottingham. He is the editor, together with Jon K. Shaw, of Fiction as Method (Sternberg, 2017), and has published articles in journals such as New Formations and Critical Inquiry and Environmental Humanities. In 2018 he edited a special issue of the journal&nbsp;Third Text on the theme of ‘ethico-aesthetic repairs’ with Mark Rainey, and his first monograph on the Ethics of Contemporary Art was published in 2020 by Bloomsbury Academic Press. As a speaker, he has made invited presentations and chaired discussions at institutions such as the Southbank Centre, MACBA, and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie’s Studium Generale. Projects currently in development include a second monograph entitled Futures in the Making (MIT Press, 2026) and a collaborative research project on the ‘Political Ecology of Volume’ together with Lydia Cole and Yolande Ariadne Collins. His experience as a PhD supervisor covers a diverse range of topics in contemporary art, cultural theory, and the environmental humanities. If you’d like to get in touch, please e-mail evisonreeves[at]gmail.com, or follow the instagram link for sporadic visual updates. &nbsp; ︎ ︎ A&nbsp; https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Liquid-landscapes Thu, 14 May 2020 17:47:43 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Liquid-landscapes <img width="1000" height="1405" width_o="1000" height_o="1405" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eac9d501bc67c0f70d0152aa69039b7f5ce406bea29418d493376e3740f75a70/Border-Agency-cover---medium.jpg" data-mid="71117926" border="0" alt="border agency" data-caption="border agency" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eac9d501bc67c0f70d0152aa69039b7f5ce406bea29418d493376e3740f75a70/Border-Agency-cover---medium.jpg" /> Essay:&nbsp;‘Walking on numbers’, in&nbsp;Liquid Land­scapes: what if the ground under your feet cannot be trusted? (Forthcoming, 2020)Invited contribution to a book project by the artist collective Border Agency, who attempt to visualise subject-space-technology relations that define the experience of the contemporary landscape. Their exhibtion and resulting book start with the provocation ‘how can an everyday landscape become a weapon?’&nbsp; ︎Download here https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Free-Range-Born-Slippy Wed, 28 Apr 2021 20:22:15 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Free-Range-Born-Slippy <img width="2000" height="2647" width_o="2000" height_o="2647" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e0021e2b3136604a28651144e66d6b5fc20e624e0e9e16c4264eccba4ecb6a5b/Free-Range--Born-Slippy---2021---page-1---saved-for-web.jpg" data-mid="106769804" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e0021e2b3136604a28651144e66d6b5fc20e624e0e9e16c4264eccba4ecb6a5b/Free-Range--Born-Slippy---2021---page-1---saved-for-web.jpg" /> Essay: Free Range / Born Slippy, in Joey Holder: Abyssal Seeker (London: Seventeen Gallery, 2021) Commissioned catalogue essay on the occasion of Joey Holder’s solo exhibition Abyssal Seeker at Seventeen Gallery, London; Futura, Prague, and touring as part of the British Art Show 9. See&nbsp;http://www.theabyssalseeker.life/ for more details of the project.&nbsp; ︎Download here https://reeves-evison.co.uk/On-Capital-s-Watch Thu, 14 May 2020 17:47:38 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/On-Capital-s-Watch <img width="2000" height="2882" width_o="2000" height_o="2882" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/06f1d5ec6c56fb8d5c11b7e4ec31bbe5400333672635f5e4e32984bc01d9d1df/New-Formations---saved-for-web---big.jpg" data-mid="71032473" border="0" alt="on capital's watch" data-caption="on capital's watch" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/06f1d5ec6c56fb8d5c11b7e4ec31bbe5400333672635f5e4e32984bc01d9d1df/New-Formations---saved-for-web---big.jpg" /> Journal Article (with Josh Bowsher): ‘On Capital’s Watch: Derivative Ecology and the Temporal Logic of Biodiversity Credits.’ New Formations 99, 2020.&nbsp;How is it possible to profit from protecting the environment, rather than through deepening its terminal crisis? In recent years, a growing group of investors, economists and governments have answered this question with a range of market-based instruments designed to facilitate the commodification and trade of everything from carbon to wetlands. A popular approach has been to establish ecological credit schemes that allow businesses to destroy a discrete ecosystem in return for the restoration of an ecological site elsewhere. Numerous scholars have already emphasised the questionable spatial politics inherent to such initiatives. Focusing on the UK’s emergent biodiversity credit policy regime, this article, by contrast, considers what effect credit schemes have on the temporal dynamics of the ecosystems they capture. Drawing on discussions of financialisation in the social sciences, we show how biodiversity credits rearticulate ecosystems as units of ‘derivative ecology’, which makes the future of these ecosystems actionable in the present, at the same time as it restricts their capacity to adapt to anthropogenic climate change. When discussed alongside recent currents in ecological theory that emphasise novelty, futurity and resilience through change, the gap widens between ecological and financial approaches to restoration. Consequently, we argue that market-based instruments such as biodiversity credits are constitutively unable to embrace the futurity of ecology on its own terms, because they have their own temporal logic that cannot help but petrify their bearers of value. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;︎Download&nbsp;here&nbsp; https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art Fri, 15 May 2020 10:34:38 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art <img width="2000" height="2998" width_o="2000" height_o="2998" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/edf3bf3960183c3dd3188110c5afd4bfa78db5463f4211b289d0ca37e4a8e9e7/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art---saved-for-web---big.jpg" data-mid="71118000" border="0" alt="ethics of contemporary art: in the shadow of transgression" data-caption="ethics of contemporary art: in the shadow of transgression" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/edf3bf3960183c3dd3188110c5afd4bfa78db5463f4211b289d0ca37e4a8e9e7/Ethics-of-Contemporary-Art---saved-for-web---big.jpg" />&nbsp;&nbsp;Reviews&nbsp; “A philosophical toolkit for finding our way out of transgression's shadows. Ethics of Contemporary Art dares us to imagine a productive engagement with contemporary art's cultural misdeeds while avoiding either falling back into a Victorian idealization of high culture, or celebrating transgression for transgression's sake.” –&nbsp; Gregory Sholette, author of Delirium and Resistance: Activist Art and the Crisis of Capitalism (2017) “This reconfiguration of the relationship between ethics and art has been long overdue. In a psychoanalytically inflected investigation guided by Lacan and Guattari, Reeves-Evison impressively moves the parameters of the role of ethics in the process of how art shapes subjectivity.” –&nbsp; Silke Panse, Reader in Film, Art and Philosophy, University for the Creative Arts, UK “Ethics of Contemporary Art breaks important new ground by moving the debate on art and ethics away from dominant paradigms of the transgressive artist. It focuses instead on artworks themselves to propose that we think ethics as repair, that is, as a speculative and productive endeavour capable of shaping and recreating the social.” –&nbsp; João Florêncio, Senior Lecturer in History of Modern and Contemporary Art and Visual Culture, University of Exeter, UK Book: Ethics of Contemporary Art In the Shadow of Transgression (London: Bloomsbury, 2020) What happens when the shock of artistic transgression wears off, when scandal dissipates, when outrage becomes a tired routine? In this original new book, Theo Reeves-Evison argues that transgressive art no longer succeeds on its own terms in societies where language, prohibition and morality have become increasingly malleable. This compels us to rethink the relationship between contemporary art and ethics, and focus our attention on the potential of artworks to propose new values rather than simply challenge pre-existing moral codes.Assembling a novel theoretical framework from the writings of Félix Guattari, Jacques Lacan and others, Ethics of Contemporary Art narrates a journey away from transgression towards a new critical paradigm for the relationship between ethics and aesthetics that places questions of subjectivity centre stage. Along the way artworks by Kader Attia, Artur Zmijewski, Dora Garcia and others serve as springboards launching discussions of the varied pathways along which a renewed ethics of contemporary art might develop.︎ Buy the book here&nbsp; https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Fiction-as-Method Wed, 13 May 2020 21:06:39 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Fiction-as-Method <img width="1000" height="1515" width_o="1000" height_o="1515" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/62dabdecd3f39902ebdc3246c7deeaa341eaeb70aa81fb9665d0e053e25ffbbe/Fiction-as-Method---saved-for-web---medium.jpg" data-mid="70909051" border="0" alt="fiction as method" data-caption="fiction as method" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/62dabdecd3f39902ebdc3246c7deeaa341eaeb70aa81fb9665d0e053e25ffbbe/Fiction-as-Method---saved-for-web---medium.jpg" /> Edited Book (with Jon K. Shaw): Fiction as Method (Berlin: Sternberg, 2017) See the world through the eyes of a search engine, if only for a millisecond; throw the workings of power into sharper relief by any media necessary; reveal access points to other worlds within our own. In the anthology Fiction as Method, a mixture of new and established names in the fields of contemporary art, media theory, philosophy, and speculative fiction explore the diverse ways fiction manifests, and provide insights into subjects ranging from the hive mind of the art collective 0rphan Drift to the protocols of online self-presentation. With an extended introduction by the editors, the book invites reflection on how fictions proliferate, take on flesh, and are carried by a wide variety of mediums—including, but not limited to, the written word. In each case, fiction is bound up with the production and modulation of desire, the enfolding of matter and meaning, and the blending of practices that cast the existing world in a new light with those that participate in the creation of new openings of the possible. Texts by Justin Barton, Tim Etchells, Matthew Fuller, David Garcia, Dora García, M. John Harrison, Simon O’Sullivan, Jon K Shaw and Theo Reeves-Evison, Delphi Carstens &amp; Mer Roberts, Erica Scourti. Design by Keith Dodds ︎Download the introduction here ︎Buy the book here https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Surface-Fictions Fri, 15 May 2020 10:37:59 +0000 Theo Reeves-Evison https://reeves-evison.co.uk/Surface-Fictions <img width="1400" height="2206" width_o="1400" height_o="2206" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/47f8b4dfd33ac38b7b67d6967b495e5e6c76c0d1ced26baa479b635ec5b81799/Futures-and-Fictions-book-cover.jpg" data-mid="71118151" border="0" alt="surface fictions" data-caption="surface fictions" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/47f8b4dfd33ac38b7b67d6967b495e5e6c76c0d1ced26baa479b635ec5b81799/Futures-and-Fictions-book-cover.jpg" /> Book Chapter: ‘Surface Fictions’, in Futures and Fictions, ed. by Henriette Gunkel, Ayesha Hameed and Simon O’Sullivan (London: Repeater, 2017) Nominated for the 2018 International Center of Photography&nbsp;Infinity Award in Critical Writing and Research In what ways could we imagine a world different from the one in which we currently live? This is the question addressed by the essays and conversations in Futures and Fictions, which explore possibilities for a different “political imaginary”. With discussions around decolonization, new Afro- and other futurisms, post-capitalism, science fiction, and new kinds of social movements – and the intersections of these with contemporary art practice and visual culture – Futures and Fictions creates a space for alternate narratives and image-worlds that might be pitched against our neoliberal present. ︎ Download the chapter here ︎ Buy the book here