[ ola ståhl ]
An artist researcher and writer with a PhD and an MA from the Department of Fine Art, Art History and Cultural Studies at The University of Leeds and a BA (Hons) in the History of Art, Design and Film with a minor degree in Creative Writing from Sheffield Hallam University, Ola Ståhl’s main field of research lies at the intersection between ethico-aesthetics and politics, and in particular between creative and critical practices, especially collaborative ones, including creative-critical and art writing practices, alternative editorial and publishing practices, and critical dialogue based practices. He has exhibited and performed internationally since the late 1990s and published several chapbooks and artists’ books, alongside articles, essays and prose texts in various journals and collections.
[ art and publishing activities ]
For three years, starting in 2001, he was part of the editorial collective of the international Cultural Studies journal Parallax and between 2001 and 2008 he served as the main instigator behind and coordinator of the (primarily) London-based artist collective C.CRED [Creative Collective Dissent] and collaborated on various projects with artist groups and collectives Basekamp, Philadelphia, PA, USA, The 16Beaver Group, NYC, NY, USA, and Red76, Portland, OR, USA focussing primarily on dialogue and events-based practive. Following the cessation of the activities of C.CRED, he initiated and coordinated the various activities of the publishing platform Publication Studio Malmö, focussing on experimental, collaborative inter- and transmedial writing and other making processes, alternative forms of publishing such as artists’ books, and events such as readings, screenings, lectures and performances.
[ academic activities ]
Between 2003 and 2008 he worked as an Associate Lecturer on the Fine Art program, Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design and the Design Cultures program at London College of Communication, both colleges within the University of the Arts London, UK. This position primarily entailed supervising Fine Art and Design students during the final thesis project and teaching courses on art, collaboration, social engagement and activism. In 2003-2004 he held a temporary position as lecturer at the Department of Visual Culture, Goldsmiths College, the University of London, UK, and since 2013 he has worked as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden, where he was also part of the department management between 2015 and 2020 serving as Deputy Head of Department for three years, 2017-2020. As part of the department leadership at Linnaeus University, he was involved in initiating and developing two new undergraduate and one new postgraduate program in Design / Visual Communication + Change focussing on design as an agent for sustainable change across cultural, social, political, economic and ecological domains. In this process, one of his main responsibilities was to work with inter- and transdisciplinary relations and the integration of creative and critical perspectives, methods and processes across research and education.
[ climate emergency studies ]
Since 2020, his primary focus has been on the climate emergency and on establishing Climate Emergency Studies as a transdisciplinary and transversal field of research and education into the intricacies, complexities and urgencies of the climate emergency and the ethical, aesthetic and political spaces for action and agency it urges forth. This includes the initiation of a Centre for Climate Emergency Studies (CentreCES) at Linnaeus University, the on-going pseudo-biographical project Breather, and a project exploring opistography, or opistographs (writing, drawing, printing on the backside of something) as an experimental form of production / dissemination.
[ contact ]
Ola Ståhl
Department of Design
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Linnaeus University
Box 451
351 95 Växjö
Sweden
Telephone: +46 (0) 470 – 70 80 66
Email: ola [ dot ] stahl [ … ] lnu [ dot ] se