I am an artist, writer and educator based in Leeds. I’ve worked with lots of different media and situations, often in collaboration. I’ve made work for strange and interesting places – swimming pools, bell towers, allotments, nature reserves, a farm, hunt cabin, derelict underground station and galleries. I often use material found in situ. I’m interested in relationships to place, in creative process and multi-layered stories. My artistic outputs include installations, drawings, photography, websites, workshops, sculptures, posters, sound, music, texts, performance and events.
I studied BA (hons) Fine Art & History of Art at University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1997) and then set up a creative practice in Camberwell. A key opening for me was working with artist Georgina Starr on Tuberama – an art gallery musical for Ikon Gallery. Soon after, an invitation (by Wimbledon School of Art) to exhibit in Aldwych tube station, introduced me to site-specific art as artistic research. Shortly after, I was awarded an AHRC scholarship to do an MA (2003) and then a PhD (2008) in Fine Art at University of Leeds exploring ‘site-specific art practice as dialogue.’ As part of this I developed Thinking Space for the North, an art project for a Lake District farmhouse with Grizedale Arts. I then founded Mud Office an ‘art agency’ with artist Charlie Jeffery and we produced exhibitions and performances in France. Further details of these are below and on my website.
I am currently writing short stories about place and The Two Ys a novel set between Yorkshire, Colorado and Japan. This won a Northern Writers’ Award in 2018. In 2019 I completed MA Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths University.
I recently co-developed a series of Arts & Environment resources for OCA with Melissa Thompson.
In 2020 I am acting Programme Leader for Photography and Moving Image as maternity cover for Gina Lundy. I’m also currently tutoring a new pilot of a short course, Investigating Place with Psychogeography.
Teaching experience
I value the accessible, flexible and open learning offered by OCA. Before teaching here, I taught on Foundation, BA and MA at various art schools (UCA, UAL, University of Leeds and Leeds College of Art). I’ve also been a visiting tutor in France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia. At Leeds College of Art (2002-15) I co-led BA (hons) Art & Design Interdisciplinary and rewrote this course for validation by Open University. This course gave me lots of experience supporting students to test the boundaries of different media, creative strategies and collaboration. I then led the Media strand of BA (hons) Fine Art where I mainly supported digital, online, film/video/photo, sound, installation, process and ideas-led approaches. Leading final year studies on both these BA courses gave me lots of experience helping students develop their unique research and practice direction. As leader of Crossing Borders research cluster, I also worked with Group for International Design Education to develop student-staff exchange projects (including online) with partners across Europe, China and the US. I was awarded Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2015.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
- The Nuisance of Landscape survey show of Grizedale Art’s work, Abbot Hall Art Gallery, 2014
- A Cabin for Dukes Wood, Ordinary Culture, Commissioned residency, 2012-13
- To the Left of the Rising Sun, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 2007
- The Return of the Seven Samurai, Galerie Lucy Mackintosh, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2007
- Virtual Grizedale. A-Foundation, Liverpool Biennial, 2006
- Near Island: Score for a Complex Scene. PM Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia, 2006
- Negotiating Us, Here and Now. Leeds City Art Gallery / Artist House, 2005
- Duet for Town Hall. Sound intervention, for Warp:Woof conference, Leeds Town Hall, 2003
- Pattern Transfer. A Bluetit national touring exhibition & publication, 2000
- Minimundus. Curated Georgina Starr, Rosamund Felsen Gallery, Los Angeles, 1999
- Tuberama. With Georgina Starr, Birmingham Ikon Gallery – composer & writer, 1998
MUD OFFICE EXHIBITIONS / EVENTS:
- If Push Comes to Shove, Mud Office screening at Hyde Park Picture House, 2012
- A Raft of Measures Video installation for Reboot, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2011
- A Raft of Measures. Exhibition at La Station, Nice. 2011
- Mud the Rural Retreat. Residency/exhibition at CAC Synagogue de Delme, 2010
- Blown Up! Sculptural installation as classroom for conference by Maglioni & Thomson. Mains D’Oeuvres, Paris 2009.
- Mud in Your Eye, Mud in Your Garden. Residency/exhibition. Galerie Labo HO, Marseille, 2008
- Les Ateliers de Rennes. Commissioned exhibition for Rennes Biennial, France 2008
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
- Robinson, D. (2020) Ramona’s Square. Northern Short Story Festival collection, Valley Press.
- Robinson, D. (2013) ‘A Walk from Dukes Wood with Lunch in Bilsthorpe’. Arts Council/Ordinary Culture.
- Bailey, S. (2012) Hosted in Athens: A Social (re)Generation in: Art Papers, Atlanta. [online] at http://www.artpapers.org/
feature_articles/feature2_ 2012_0910.htm - Robinson, D. (2012) ‘Processing…’ In: ADM HEA Networks Journal, University of Brighton. http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/
projects/networks/ - Griffin, J. & Sutherland, A. (2009) Thinking Space for the North in: Grizedale Arts – Adding Complexity To Confusion.Cumbria, Grizedale Arts.
- Robinson, D. (2003) ‘Signs in Space.’ In: Subway Special. London, Wimbledon School of Art / AHRB. ISBN 0-948327 16-2000.
- Robinson, D. (1998) ‘Story of G.’ In: Georgina Starr Catalogue. Ikon Gallery / Arts Council. ISBN 0 907594 56 5
