Dr Wood Roberdeau

Staff details

Position

Senior Lecturer in Visual Cultures, Programme Leader BA in History of Art

Department

Visual Cultures

Email

w.roberdeau (@gold.ac.uk)

Links

Website
conceptualecologies.org

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

My ongoing work concentrates on art practices that address ecology, environment, and social consciousness.

My background in the art world has directed me to develop a more theoretical or philosophical approach to contemporary creative practices within the wider environmental humanities. I explore modes of everyday experience through phenomenology and philosophical post-humanism to ask how a poetics of space and place or the 'lived environment' might resonate with climate change and futurity. My writing and pedagogy have been grounded by the spatial theme of dwelling or 'inhabitation' and new concepts of political ecology or 'cohabitations' following twentieth- and twenty-first century eco-criticism. I am particularly interested in questions concerning cultural production and reception in times of climate crisis and activism that explore a poetics of encounter, observation and participation (an 'eco-poetics'). I have published on visual practices, the alimentary, vital materiality, pollution, phenomenology, the rural, and the planetary as complex spatio-temporal paradigms for criticality.

Academic qualifications

PhD in Visual Cultures, Goldsmiths, University of London 2008
MA in Contemporary Art, Sotheby's Institute of Art, London 2002
BA in French Literature and Philosophy, Colorado College, Colorado Springs 1999

Teaching and supervision

From 2019-22 I was Head of Department in Visual Cultures. During that time, I convened the MA Contemporary Art Theory Core Course entitled Conceptual Ecologies. I currently teach across our programmes and on the following undergraduate and postgraduate modules:

Space & Time (BA year 1, 30 credits)
Inhabitations (BA year 2, 15 credits)
MA CAT Core Course (MA, 60 credits)
Visual Cultures PhD Seminars (2025-26)

Previous modules I have convened include: Introduction to Art History, Contemporary Art Worlds, London Art Worlds, Postmodernities, Contemporaneities, and Ecopoetics.

Additionally, I am an examiner/contributor for the MA Research Architecture Symposium. I have supervised MA dissertations at the Royal College of Art and I currently supervise dissertations on both MA CAT and MARA at Goldsmiths.

Being part of the Department's research clusters on 'Planetary Aesthetics and Ecologies' and 'Situated Knowledges', I have supervised and am currently supervising doctoral theses on networked retreat, shadow aesthetics, the computational museum, the politics of food, territorial film fables, theatres of farming, colonial dispossession, contemporary animism, and wildfire aesthetics/politics. I have examined doctoral theses at Goldsmiths, the University of Westminster, the University for the Creative Arts, and the University of St. Andrews.

Research interests

My research within Visual Cultures and Contemporary Art Theory turns to environmental studies, everyday aesthetics, eco-feminism, eco-phenomenology, and emerging discourses within the fields of New Materialism and Speculative Realism. Using these coordinates, I consider the activation of visual art within philosophical post-humanism, particularly in terms of subjectivity and agency, the ontology of objects and materiality, the politics of food, cultivation and agriculture, temporal scale effects, and geopower. I am the Chair of the Critical Ecologies Research Stream, a member of the Centre for Art and Ecology, the Centre for Critical Global Change, and the Kitchen Research Unit. I served as the Goldsmiths Pathway Lead for Sustainability and Climate Emergency on the South and East Network for Social Sciences Doctoral Training Programme (SENSS) from 2023-25.

Featured publications

2023: ' Experiments in Eco-poiesis: herman de vries and an Art of Immediacy'
In: Fröydi Laszlo and Anna Risell, eds. The Anthropocene Laboratory. Gothenburg: Förlaget 284.

2021: 'Fog (a Delegation for Atmosphere)'
In: Benek Cincik and Tiago Torres-Campos, eds. Postcards from the Anthropocene: Unsettling the Geopolitics of Representation. Barcelona: dpr barcelona.

2018: 'After Baruchello: Agricultural Encounters in Contemporary Art'
In: Ben Stringer, ed. Rurality Re-imagined: Villagers, Farmers, Wanderers and Wild Things. Novato, California: ORO Editions/Applied Research & Design.

Publications and research outputs

Book Section

Experiments in Eco-poiesis: herman de vries and an Art of Immediacy Roberdeau, Wood . 2023. Experiments in Eco-poiesis: herman de vries and an Art of Immediacy. In: Fröydi Laszlo and Anna Risell, eds. The Anthropocene Laboratory. Gothenburg: Förlaget 284. ISBN 978-9198165005
Fog (a Delegation for Atmosphere) Roberdeau, Wood . 2022. Fog (a Delegation for Atmosphere). In: Benek Cincik and Tiago Torres-Campos, eds. Postcards from the Anthropocene: Unsettling the Geopolitics of Representation. Barcelona: dpr-barcelona. ISBN 9788494938870
After Baruchello: Agricultural Encounters in Contemporary Art Roberdeau, Wood . 2018. After Baruchello: Agricultural Encounters in Contemporary Art. In: Ben Stringer, ed. Rurality Re-imagined: Villagers, Farmers, Wanderers and Wild Things. Novato, California: ORO Editions/Applied Research & Design. ISBN 978-1-940743-34-9

Article

Counter-attacking Pollution in Three Aerial Acts Roberdeau, Wood . 2022. Counter-attacking Pollution in Three Aerial Acts. Performance Research, 26(7), pp. 23-30. ISSN 1352-8165
Scalar Aesthetics of Ecocinema: The Wall and The Survivalist Roberdeau, Wood . 2018. Scalar Aesthetics of Ecocinema: The Wall and The Survivalist. Transformations Journal of Media, Culture and Technology(32),
Kurt Schwitters and 27 Senses: Resonances in Norway, England and Time Roberdeau, Wood . 2017. Kurt Schwitters and 27 Senses: Resonances in Norway, England and Time. Dada/Surrealism, 21, ISSN 0084-9537

Conference or Workshop Item

Tsunami Listening Roberdeau, Wood . 2025. 'Tsunami Listening'. In: The Stories We Tell Ourselves - Reimagining Ecologies. University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, United Kingdom 21 - 22 March 2025.
Solastalgic Aesthetics and Living Extinctions in SGAAWAAY K’UUNA (Edge of the Knife) Roberdeau, Wood . 2024. 'Solastalgic Aesthetics and Living Extinctions in SGAAWAAY K’UUNA (Edge of the Knife)'. In: The Aesthetics of Geopower: Imagining Planetary Histories and Hegemonies. University of Amsterdam, Netherlands 4 - 5 April 2024.
The Seeds of Vandana Shiva: Story, Politics, Life and the Ravages of Biotech Roberdeau, Wood . 2023. 'The Seeds of Vandana Shiva: Story, Politics, Life and the Ravages of Biotech'. In: Screening and discussion co-hosted by MCCS and Critical Ecologies. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 7 June 2023.

‘Learning from Ice’ (with Susan Schuppli) Roberdeau, Wood . 2021. '‘Learning from Ice’ (with Susan Schuppli)'. In: Visual Cultures Postgraduate Seminar. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 4 November 2021.
Biopolitics of the Plasticene Roberdeau, Wood . 2020. 'Biopolitics of the Plasticene'. In: Institute for Advanced Studies/Urban Lab Waste. University College London, United Kingdom 24 January 2020.
Experiments in Eco-poiesis: The Long-term Praxis of herman de vries Roberdeau, Wood . 2019. 'Experiments in Eco-poiesis: The Long-term Praxis of herman de vries'. In: Experimental Engagements: Society for Literature, Science and the Arts 33rd Annual Conference. University of California Irvine, United States 7 - 9 November 2019.
Feed Our Progress Roberdeau, Wood . 2019. 'Feed Our Progress'. In: Sated, Visual Cultures Society and a/political. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 21 May 2019.
Cohabiting the Microcosm and Macrocosm Roberdeau, Wood . 2019. 'Cohabiting the Microcosm and Macrocosm'. In: Calculative Environments. Nottingham Contemporary, United Kingdom 26 March 2019.
Eco-Aesthetic Opacity and the Moving Image Roberdeau, Wood . 2019. 'Eco-Aesthetic Opacity and the Moving Image'. In: Darkness 2019: Island Dynamics Conference. Longyearbyen, Svalbard and Jan Mayen 13 - 17 January 2019.
Living Extinctions: Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn Term 2019 Roberdeau, Wood ; and Turner, Lynn . 2019. 'Living Extinctions: Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn Term 2019'. In: Living Extinctions: Visual Cultures Public Programme Autumn Term 2019. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 4 October - 12 December 2019.
Monochrome Green: On Eco-Aesthetics, Reductionism and Abstraction Roberdeau, Wood . 2018. 'Monochrome Green: On Eco-Aesthetics, Reductionism and Abstraction'. In: Green, The European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts 12th Annual Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark 13 - 16 June 2018.
Time and (Un)doing Roberdeau, Wood . 2017. 'Time and (Un)doing'. In: Out of Time, Society for Literature, Science and the Arts 31st Annual Conference. Arizona State University, Tempe, United States 9 - 12 November 2017.
Nature vs. Culture: Xenotext and the Poetic Limit Roberdeau, Wood . 2015. 'Nature vs. Culture: Xenotext and the Poetic Limit'. In: After Biopolitics: 29th Annual Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (SLSA) Conference. Rice University, Houston TX, United States 12 - 15 November 2015.
Untitled Roberdeau, Wood . 2015. 'Untitled'. In: What Does Climate Change? 80 Years of Politics - Left and Right. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom 23 October 2015.
Readymade Rurality and Ecological Non-knowledge: Imagining the Art Farm Roberdeau, Wood . 2015. 'Readymade Rurality and Ecological Non-knowledge: Imagining the Art Farm'. In: Re-imagining Rurality, Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. University of Westminster, United Kingdom 27 - 28 February 2015.
Critical Environments: Visual Cultures Public Programme Spring Term 2015 Roberdeau, Wood ; and Turner, Lynn . 2015. 'Critical Environments: Visual Cultures Public Programme Spring Term 2015'. In: Critical Environments: Visual Cultures Public Programme Spring Term 2015. Goldsmiths, University of London, United Kingdom January-March 2015.
Sites of Vital Materiality: Art History’s Apiaries and Ecologies of Everyday Life Roberdeau, Wood . 2014. 'Sites of Vital Materiality: Art History’s Apiaries and Ecologies of Everyday Life'. In: Art History and Ecology: Association of Art Historians 40th Anniversary Conference. Royal College of Art, United Kingdom 10 - 12 April 2014.
Centralizing the Periphery: Social Art, Eco-aesthetics and Liminal Space Roberdeau, Wood . 2013. 'Centralizing the Periphery: Social Art, Eco-aesthetics and Liminal Space'. In: Ordinary/Everyday/Quotidian. University of York, United Kingdom 26 - 27 September 2013.

Broadcast

Guest speaker: https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/27458/ Roberdeau, Wood . 2013. Guest speaker: https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/27458/.

Printed Ephemera

Poetic|Baroque|Differential Roberdeau, Wood . 2015. Poetic|Baroque|Differential.
Quiet Totemism Roberdeau, Wood . 2014. Quiet Totemism.
'Happiness Is Closer than You Think' Roberdeau, Wood . 2010. 'Happiness Is Closer than You Think'.

Conferences and talks

2025: A Lock Picker's Guide to Environmental Futures, Visual Cultures Public Programme, autumn term
Respondent to Theo Reeves Evison

2025: And Then The World Changed Colour: Breathing Yellow, Visual Cultures Public Programme, autumn term
Respondent to Mariele Neudecker

2025: 'Landscaping' with Visual Cultures: Paradise Lost
Inaugural lecture for Goldsmiths' participation in the Association for Art History Festival on 'Art and Nature'

2025: Tsunami Listening, The Stories We Tell Ourselves – Reimagining Ecologies, University of Exeter (Penryn)
Speaker

2024: Participatory Art in the Age of Ecology, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Workshop Presenter

2019: Feed Our Progress, organised by a/political and Visual Cultures Society, Goldsmiths, London
Chair and Speaker with Petr Davydtchenko (artist) and Naomi Leake (Extinction Rebellion)

2019: Cohabiting the Microcosm and Macrocosm, Study Sessions: Calculative Environments, Nottingham Contemporary
Speaker

2016: A Bridge to Christo, discussion and film presentation, Goldsmiths, London
Chair and Speaker

2017: Rurality Re-imagined, MA Free Seminar, Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, London
Speaker

2017: Isabel Lewis’s ‘Occasion’, BMW Tate Live Exhibition: Ten Days Six Nights, Tate Modern, London
Respondent

2015: Friday Salon: On Skeuomorphism, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London
Chair and Speaker

2011: Poetic Recuperations: The Ideology and Praxis of Nouveau Réalisme, 4th Annual RIHA Lecture, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
Keynote Lecture