Al is an interdisciplinary researcher with an interest in culture, creativity, and the city. He is particularly interested in the role that art plays in contested urban development processes such as gentrification, and the ways in which racialised and diasporic communities challenge displacement through community-led art and activism. His previous research explored Puerto Rican-led art and activist labour in New York's Lower East Side between the late 1970s and early 1990s, a period in which the neighbourhood underwent neglect, dereliction, and subsequent regeneration. Before joining CMCI, he taught art history, cultural studies, and media studies at Newcastle University.

Research interests and PhD supervision

• Art and urban development
• Cultural resistance
• Latinx art and activism
• Gentrification

Teaching

• Contemporary art and globalisation
• Cultural and creative industries
• Arts management
• Art history
• Cultural studies

Selected publications

• Hoyos-Twomey, A. (2025). On the Edge, Balancing: Marion Scemama’s Relax Be Cruel. In: Kenyon, S. (ed.) 20th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival, pp. 10-15.

• Hoyos-Twomey, A. (2025). The Art of Survival: The Visual Art Activism of Maria Dominguez. In: Dávila, A. and Ramirez, Y. (eds) Nuyorican and Diasporican Visual Art: A Critical Anthology. Duke University Press, pp. 131–48.