Dr Richard Whitby PhD, MRes, MA, PGCert, FHEA

Dr. Richard Whitby is a Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies in Film, TV and Media and Digital Film Production Year 3 Lead.

His current research covers what it means for performers to be live in performance and how their physical work is valued. Dr. Whitby is exploring how this work is treated in commercial productions, how it's used in less mainstream performances, and whether it has special importance in an online cultural context.

A connection to his own creative work seems to be the factor of ‘visible labour’. This includes creative acts, gestures and decisions that remain perceptible to an audience, whether the work is live, gallery based or distributed digitally.

Most of Dr Whitby's artwork is video, sometimes performance a he makes music. He often use humour, which often uses handmade or rough modes of making. He usually treats works and texts as containers, designed to house heterogenous materials that might seem like they are pulling the work apart. Dr Whitby's work has been described as dark, weird and surreal. He, also likes to use physical materials blended with digital techniques.

Often the subjects of Dr Whitby's critical research work are opposite to the artwork he makes. For example, the national displays that constitute Olympic opening ceremonies seek to celebrate the state, whereas his own artwork is more likely to critique it. Mainstream blockbuster cinema usually employs a ‘sutured’ form or realism, whereas Dr Whitby's videos use a disjunctive and rough editing style.