Art has a vital role to play in understanding exclusion, stigmatisation and violence.

This exhibition presents the work of four artist/researchers 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 at the School of Social Science and Public Policy (SSPP).

Through video, film, performance, poetry, photography, public events and participation the exhibition invites you to discover the work of social scientists and artists within and outside of King's who use visual, embodied and art-based methodologies in the study of sensitive issues.

The events are held in The Exchange, are free and open to all (unless stated)

• 2 October, 6.30pm: VEM+ Artist Collaborations Showcase with Q&A 
• POSTPONED 3 October, 6.30pm: Artist in Residence Sharing: Dr Pablo De Orellana, Dr Henry Redwood, poet Mariah Whelan and artist Vladimir Miladinović 
• 9 October, 6.30pm: Assembling Samira and travel: Sexual humanitarian bordering of migration talk and screening by Professor Nick Mai (Kingston University) 
• 10 October, 6.30pm, Artist in Residence Sharing: Dr Negar Elodie Behzadi, Prof Cathy McIlwaine, animation artist Kate Jessop and playwright Gaël Le Cornec 
• 16 October, 6.30pm: Book launch: Playing the Villain with Christiana Spens
• 17 October, 6.30pm: Amelia Morris book presentation: The Politics of Weight: Feminist Dichotomies of Power in Dieting
• 23 October, 6.30pm: Screening of 'Això Era Casa Meva / This Was My Home' a documentary on the Syrian Civil War directed by Xavi Segura, featuring Gabriel Garroum. 
• 24 October, 6.30pm, Making sense visually and collaboratively: Longing and belonging in Lucknow, interactive workshop with Dr Raphael Susewind 
• 31 October, 6.30pm: Workshop: Translating Research into Arts, run by and for PhDs and ECRs to share methods and practice.
• 6 November, 6.15pm: Theatre & Animation Workshop (14-18yrs) with Tolu Agbelusi. Part of ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 
• 7 November, 6.15pm: Poetry Workshop with (14-18yrs) with Tolu Agbelusi. Part of ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 

Drs Negar Elodie Behzadi, Jelke Boesten, Pablo de Orellana, Henry Redwood; Professor Cathy McIlwaine and Jayne Peake.  

Poetic explorations of contemporary nationalism:  Dr Pablo de Orellana (Department of War Studies) & Mariah Whelan (poet) 

Undiscernible:  Dr Henry Redwood (Department of War Studies) & Vladimir Miladinovic  

‘Nadirah’ ethnographic portrait of a woman coal miner in Tajikistan:  Dr Negar Elodie Behzadi (Department of International Development) & Kate Jessop (animation artist) 

The Right to Be Believed:  Prof. Cathy McIlwaine (Department of Geography) & Gael le Cornec (actor and playwright) 

These collaborations, held at the Inigo Rooms in July 2019, are part of the ‘VEM+’ project within the SSPP. Drawing on the emerging VEM Network (Visual, Embodied and Art-based Methodologies in the social sciences) at KCL, 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.

The exhibition invites you to discover some of the artistic forms and artwork that have emerged from these collaborations. 

Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, ‘Methodological Innovation Grant’, The Exchange and ESRC Impact Acceleration Fund, King's Culture Inigo Rooms. 

Principle Investigators: Drs Jelke Boesten and Negar Elodie Behzadi (Department of International Development)  

Co-Investigators: Dr Rachel Kerr, Dr Pablo De Orellana, Dr Henry Redwood (Department of War Studies), Prof Cathy McIlwaine (Department of Geography).  

King's Gender Studies Network  

Social Justice Research Group, Department of International Development, King's College London