Dr Paul Stewart

Artist and Curator in critical practice and social engagement with expertise in art, curatorial strategy, digital communication and critical theory for socio-political change. My research focuses on democracy and knowledge exchange, and critical pedagogy as a curatorial and artistic methodology. Co-lead research contract with Natural England on nature based colalborative creative stroytelling for nature recovery and engagement.  

Key highlights:  Brent Biennial 2025, films selected for the London Film Festival and winner of best experimental at the experimental Busam Film festival. Curated over 20 exhibitions across the UK and Europe. Author of Art, Critical Pedagogy and Capitalism (Routledge 2021) co-author a new monograph on Educational Aesthetics with Bloomsbury (due 2024). Founder of the Middlesbrough Art Weekender and The Alternative Art College. Innovation in academic study and curatorial learning.

 He is a Principal lecturer and co-leads the MA Curating Apprentice. Completed a PhD in Art and Philosophy (2018) Teesside University and a MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths College as well as a BA (Hons) Degree in Fine Art from Lincoln University (2011). He co-founded the Middlesbrough Art Weekender in 2017 and has set up collectives including the Alternative Art College (2011-2014) and currently working with Sarah Peros as Forms of Circulation. Core elements in his practice and research include the effects of neoliberalism on Higher Education, democracy and art practice and Critical Pedagogy as a methodology in art making. Alongside research into digital communities in art making and the effects of digital making on curation and collection processes. His book with Routledge: Art, Critical Pedagogy and Capitalism was published in Dec 2020.

PhD Areas

Post digital practice 

Arts and Moving Image 

Hegemonic and agonistic practices 

Curatorial strategies 

arts and public engagement 

pedagogical approaches to arts production and arts education

Current students 

Alyson Agar
First/primary/lead supervisor
Project title: The Documentation of a City In-Flux: What Position Can Topographic Photography Occupy in the Transition From Industrial to Digital City?

Atakan Akcali
lead supervisor
Project title: A Social and Gamified Digital Experience: Digital Engagement in Museums

Rosie Carr
Second supervisor
Doctor of Philosophy
Project title: Creative social action for ecology: Can community gardens provide a model for a new world(s)?

Anouk Hoogendoorn
lead supervisor
Project title: A lull nearby: textural, social, and temporal explorations of language in artistic practices

Julia Stephenson 
Lead Supervisor 
MIMA and the Middlesbrough Ceramics Collection (Northern Bridge) 

Aidan Moesby
Second supervisor
Project title: Under the Clouds : A practice based investigation at the intersection of Art, Digital and Disability within a weather based metalogue

Russell Pollard
Second supervisor
Project title: THE TASTE OF SWEAT AND SAND: AN EXPLORATION OF MILITARY TRAUMA THROUGH POETRY AND PERFORMANCE

Linda Stannard
Third supervisor
Project title: A Practice Based Research into the Effects of Modernism and Modernity on the Lives of the Inhabitants of the Jewel Streets in Middlesbrough between 1886 to 2016.

Olivia Burton 
Second Supervisor 
Art School education and experience 

Completed Students 

Jonathan Lovell 2020-2025 (PhD)
Director of Studies 
Project title: Reconsidering the act of creation, reproduction and dissemination within Image making and a Post-Digital context

Bethany Savage 2016-2025 (PhD)
Multi-species colalbiration in art making 

Wenwen Liu 2024-2025 (Mphil)
Climate change data visualisation 

• Editor for OnCurating.org
• co-organiser for Gentle Gestures Research group 

Peer Review for

• Arts and Humanites Education Journal - Sage 
• Post Digital Science and Education Journal - Springer 
• Art and the Public Sphere - Intellect
• Routledge Books - Art and Design
• Educational Philosophy and Theory - Taylor and Francis