Staff Profile

I am a Lecturer in Art History in the Fine Art department at Newcastle University, specialising in the politics of contemporary art production, and histories of socially engaged art practice. 

My current research is focussed around two main strands:

• Anti-fascism in contemporary art, culminating in a special issue of Third Text to be published in 2019 entitled 'Anti-Fascism, Art, Theory'
• Art in the platform economy, examining the impact of gig-work on the cultural economy.

Prior to joining Newcastle University, I was Teaching Fellow in Contemporary Visual Cultures at Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh (2016-19) and IASH Postdoctoral Fellow, also at The University of Edinburgh (2015-16)

My research explores the politics of contemporary art production, with a focus on histories of social practice; community art history; art as a field of labour; art and anti-fascism; and art and the city. I am particularly informed by Marxist-feminist approaches to labour. 

I am co-editor (with Angela Dimitrakaki) of the May 2019 special issue of Third Text on 'Anti-Fascism, Art, Theory', also contributing a co-written introduction, and an article on Georges Bataille's theorisation of fascism and community, entitled 'The Weapons of our Adversaries'. 

I am also Principal Investigator of 'Platforming Culture: Art and Inequality in the Gig Economy', a long-term research project examining the impact of the gig economy on the field of art. I am particularly interested in what the increased use of platforms (Airbnb, Deliveroo etc.) by artists as means of supplementing their incomes and supporting their practices means for the field of art and its entrenched inequalities. I am co-convening a session of the Association for Art History Annual Conference 2020 on Art, Labour and Inequality: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. 

Stage 1

Art Histories I and Art Histories II

Stages 2 and 3

Art in the Creative City

The Social Turn: Dematerialisation and Democratisation

Stage 4

Fine Art Dissertation

• Dimitrakaki A, Weeks H. Anti-fascism/Art/Theory: An Introduction to What Hurts Us. Third Text 2019, 33(3), 271-292.
• Weeks H. 'The Weapons of our Adversaries'. Third Text 2019, 33(3), 337-353.
• Weeks H. Ethics in Public: The Return of Antagonistic Performance. In: Brown, K, ed. Interactive Contemporary Art: Participation in Practice. London: IB Tauris, 2014, pp.177-196.
• Weeks H. Re-cognizing the post-Soviet condition: the documentary turn in contemporary art in the Baltic States. Studies in Eastern European Cinema 2010, 1(1), 57-70.