EWVA : European Women?s Video Art in the 70s and 80s

EWVA European Women's Video Art in the 70s and 80s is the main output of the eponymous research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and based at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design. The research team consisted of the Principal Investigator, Professor Elaine Shemilt, the Co-investigator Professor Stephen Partridge, Dr Laura Leuzzi, as Post-Doctoral Researcher and Adam Lockhart as Media Archivist.
The book retraces some of the stories of early women artists video experimentation in Europe, and their achievements, and features chapters on fundamental case studies of early video artworks, themes, genres and geographical areas, to interest curators, academics, artists and the general public. This publication aims to contribute to a reassessment of women artists involvement in early video art and strength their profiles and identities within the art historical canon.
Authors include: Jon Blackwood, Maeve Connolly, Cinzia Cremona, Sean Cubitt, Malcolm Dickson, Catherine Elwes, Slavko Kazunko, Marika Kumicz, Laura Leuzzi, Adam Lockhart, Stephen Partridge, Lorella Scacco, Elaine Shemilt, Emile Shemilt. The book will be opened by an Introduction by Laura Leuzzi, with a Foreword by Laura Mulvey and Preface by Siegfried Zielinski.

Laura Leuzzi is an art historian and curator. She was Post-Doc Researcher on the AHRC funded research projects REWIND-Italia Artists Video in Italy in 70s and 80s and on the AHRC funded research project EWVA - European Womens Video Art in the 70s and 80s, both at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee. Currently she is Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded research project Richard Demarco. The Italian Connection at DJCAD.
She completed her PhD at Sapienza Universit di Roma in 2011. Leuzzi is author of articles, interviews and essays which have appeared on international peer-reviewed journals including Imago, the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies, Nparadoxa, MediaN, Acoustic Space and Engramma. Her research is particularly focused on the relationship between words and image in visual arts, early video art and new media.
She has curated exhibitions, events and screenings at the Rome Media Art Festival (MAXXI, Rome), Video EX Festival (Walcheturm, Zurich), at Neon Festival (Dundee), CCA (Glasgow), Summerhall (Edinburgh), The Showroom (London), Threshold Space (Perth) and the Centrespace (DCA, Dundee). She co-edited with Stephen Partridge the book REWINDItalia Early Video Art in Italy (New Barnet: John Libbey Publishing, 2015).
Stephen Partridge is an artist, academic researcher and the principal investigator on the AHRC funded research projects Rewind Artists Video in the 70s and 80s and REWIND-Italia Artists Video in Italy in 70s and 80s (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, University of Dundee). He is Co-Investigator on the AHRC funded research projects EWVA European Womens Video Art in the 70s and 80s and Richard Demarco. The Italian Connection, both based at DJCAD.
Partridge was in the landmark video shows of the 1970s including The Video Show at the Serpentine in 1975, the Installation Show at the Tate gallery in 1976, The Paris Biennale in 1977 and the Kitchen in New York in 1979. During the 1980s and 1990s, he exhibited widely and produced innovative broadcast projects for Channel 4 and the BBC (Television Interventions and Not Necessarily). He has also curated a number of influential video shows: Video Art 78 in Coventry; UK TV, New York; National Review of Live Art, 1988-90; 19:4:90 Television Interventions; and the touring tape packages Made in Scotland I, II, Semblances, Passages. Partridge has lectured since 1975 in a number of art colleges and established the School of Television & Imaging at DJCAD. He is presently Professor of Media Art and Dean of Research Art & Design responsible for the research leadership of DJCAD, the Visual Research Centre and Exhibitions. His iconic video work, Monitor (1974) was acquired by TATE in 2015.
Professor Elaine Shemilt was a pioneer of early feminist video and multi-media installation work. Doppelgnger (1979/1981) and Women Soldiers (1984), were recovered and migrated to digital by the AHRC funded research project REWIND in 2011. She went on to work mainly through the mediumof printmaking, installation and performance, addressing new scales and contexts, incorporating printed elements into installation and public works as well as embracing photographic and digital technologies.
Shemilt established the Printmaking Department of the School of Fine Art, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (University of Dundee) in 1988 and was Course Director of Printmaking from 1988-2001.
She has been Professor of Fine Art Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee since 2005.
She is the Principal Investigator on the AHRC funded research projects EWVA European Womens Video Art in the 70s and 80s and Richard Demarco. The Italian Connection, both based at the University of Dundee.
Shemilt is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Royal Geographical Society, and she is a Shackleton Scholar. She is a Professional member of Society of Scottish Artists and was its President from March 2007-2010.
Shemilt is also the Artistic Director of the Centre for Remote Environments and she is the Vice Chair of the South Georgia Heritage Trust. She was a founder member of both organisations which are principally involved in environmental management and protection.