Professor Kiff Bamford

Kiff Bamford is Professor of Art & Philosophy in the Leeds School of Arts. He has published widely on the work of French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard and researches the inter-relationship of contemporary art and theory, performance art and continental philosophy.

Kiff studied for a BA in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art, a PGCE at Huddersfield University, and an MA in Art History and Visual Culture at Goldsmiths’ College, London. He was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council studentship to undertake a PhD at The University of Manchester, co-supervised by Prof David C Lomas (Art History and Visual Studies) and Prof Dee Reynolds (French Studies). The resulting research was published as the monograph Lyotard and the figural in Performance, Art and Writing (Continuum, 2012; Bloomsbury 2013).

Further publications include Jean-François Lyotard: Critical Lives (Reaktion, 2017), the first book to consider Lyotard’s work in the context of his life and times. Published as part of a series of short biographies it includes new research from interviews, archives and lesser known works, taking an interdisciplinary approach to Lyotard’s involvement in philosophy, art, literature, politics, teaching and writing. It was the subject of review articles published in ten international journals, and the book has been translated into Chinese and Turkish.

The hesitation which dominates the tone of the book, an uncertainty with regard to the genre of biography, was echoed in two symposia which Kiff Bamford programmed together with former Leeds Beckett colleague and performance artist, Harold Offeh. Held at the Tetley, Leeds and the ICA, London, the symposia were titled ‘Performance and Uncertainty’ and brought together international artists and writers to question the role of re-performance, to confront collective assumptions about authenticity and the changing role of the artist’s body, through presentations, discussions and performances.

Current PhD Students:

• NaoKo TakaHashi – From Text to Sound: Textuality of Spoken Word and Participatory Authorship in Contemporary Art
• Simon Ringe – Void: the space between. A practice-based research investigation
• Tom Rogers – Without Pictures: Finding Personal Significance in Communities of Practice
• Harry Meadley – How can the role of the artist be utilised in the reclamation of civic and public space?
• Darren Neave – Trompe-le-nez: Sensorial Re-purposing as Method – A Way of Making Art for a Cluttered Planet?
• Dayna Heaviside – How to write without an ending: an investigation into digital practices of écriture feminine
• Kate Langrish-Smith – Fashioning Forms: A Dialogue in Sculpting Bodies

PhD & MPhil Completions:

• Dr Helen Clarke (2022) In collaboration with The Heritage Consortium – Streetwalker: The Flâneuse and the Electronic Flâneur
• Dr Julia McKinlay (2022) In collaboration with Yorkshire Sculpture International – Acid-Soaked Molluscs: a Xenophoric Approach to Practising Sculpture and Print
• Dr Vicky Sharples (2021) – Imperceptible Performance in Lieu of the Art Object: a Practice-Led, Environmental, Research Project
• Dr Katie Crabtree (2021) Leeds Trinity University / University of Leeds; co-supervised 2017-2020 – Studenthood: A Lyotardian Rewriting of Liberal University Education
• Dr Harold Offeh (2020) – Covers: Activating Black Album Covers Through Photography, Video and Live Performance
• Aiden Winterburn (MPhil, 2019) – The Film-Essay: a multi-modal form that thinks
• Dr Ian Truelove (2018) – Collapsing Skin: Expanding Painting Through New Digital Technologies
• Dr Patricia Azevedo (2017) External advisor, Universidade Federale De Minas Gerais, Brazil – Jogos de distancia e proximidade: A construção do espaço dialógico na arte performativa

• BA Fine Art
• BA Graphic Design