Elena Papadaki

Dr Elena Papadaki BA Hons, PGCE, MA, PhD

Programme Leader - MA Design

Elena is the Programme Leader of MA Design and a Senior Lecturer in Curation and Digital Arts. She is a visual theorist, researcher, and curator. Her interests lie in the intersection of technology-reliant artworks, curatorial discourse, spatial politics, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Her doctoral research (Goldsmiths UoL - Centre for Cultural Studies & Department of Arts and Computational Technology), titled: “Curating Screens: Art, Performance, and Public Spaces” (2014), has examined the curation of screen media in diverse physical environments. Throughout her PhD, she was supported with a full doctoral scholarship by the Hellenic State Scholarship Foundation. Having previously held posts at the Hellenic Ministry of Culture (Department of Museum studies, Athens), the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (Athens) and the International Council of Museums (ICOM, Paris), she has over ten years of professional experience in the arts and museum sector.

In 2012, she founded Incandescent Square, a collaborative meeting point for Research and Design; with the latter, she has curated and managed projects in France, Greece, Malta, Portugal, and the UK.

She currently serves as a Pathway Councillor for the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), acting as a key advisor and expert to the delivery group “Design for Life - Students for Change”.

Elena is particularly interested in supervising doctoral research, especially when focusing on interdisciplinary forms of creative practice. Her areas of expertise are: audiovisual media, technology-reliant works, curating, spatial politics, mycorrhizal networks, design, visual communication, immersive practices, exhibition histories.

Design

Art and design - history, practice and theory

Responsibilities within the university
  • Senior Lecturer in Curation and Digital Arts
  • Programme Leader - MA Design
  • Curatorial Committee, University of Greenwich Galleries
  • Curator and Coordinator, Public Lecture Series, School of Design

Recognition

Professional Memberships/Fellowships

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK (SFHEA)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, UK (FRSA)
  • Voting member: International Council of Museums (ICOM) - UNESCO
  • Voting member: International Committee for Audiovisual, New Technologies and Social Media (AVICOM)
  • Regular member: International Committee for Education and Cultural Action (CECA)

Editorial Board/Reviewer

  • Museum Management and Curatorship, peer-reviewed journal (Routledge - Taylor & Francis group)
  • Body, Space & Technology, peer-reviewed journal (Open Libary of Humanities - OLH)

External Examiner

  • Contextual studies (level 6), BA Design for Art Direction, BA Spatial Design, BA Graphic Branding and Identity, BA Design Management and Cultures,London College of Communication (University of the Arts, London)

External Assessor

  • MA Emergent Technologies, Manchester Metropolitan University

Research / Scholarly interests

Areas of Supervision (MPhil/PhD)

Audiovisual media, curating, spatial politics, mycorrhizal networks, design, visual communication, immersive practices, exhibition histories.

Elena particularly welcomes doctoral proposals that engage in interdisciplinary forms of research.

Current Research

Current research revolves around the moving image, curation, interactivity and spatial perception. In this context, Elena’s latest projects focus on:

  • Spatial Immersions, the field of exhibition practices, and
  • ‘Mycorrhizal Curation’, a symbiotic network and provocative challenge to the hegemony of  the artworld

Recent publications

Article

Papadaki, Elena and , (2020), Re-mapping the territory: immersive exhibition practices in the expanded field. Prothiki AUTh scientific publications. In: , , , . Prothiki AUTh scientific publications, Gramma, 27 2529-1793 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.26262/gramma.v27i0.8990).

Papadaki, Elena and , (2020), Re-mapping the territory: immersive exhibition practices in the expanded field. AUTH Library - Showcase. In: , , , Urban Mapping and New Technologies [title not finalised]. AUTH Library - Showcase, Gramma: Journal of Theory and Criticism, 27 . pp. 240-261 2529-1793 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.26262/gramma.v27i0.8990).

Papadaki, Elena and , (2019), Between the art canon and the margins: historicizing technology-reliant art via curatorial practice. MDPI. In: , , , . MDPI, Arts, 8: 121 (3) ISSN: 2076-0752 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/arts8030121).

Papadaki, Elena and , (2016), "Le geste curatorial et les œuvres sur écran - L’évolution d’un néologisme vers une tendance majeure". Proteus. In: , , , . Proteus, Proteus (10) . pp. 64-70 2110-557X (Online) (doi: http://www.revue-proteus.com/Proteus10.pdf) NB Item availability restricted.

Book section

Papadaki, Elena and , (2023), Far Away, So Close: spatial politics and the use of computer-generated exhibition models in curatorial discourse. ZKM - Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe. In: , , , Beyond Matter, Within Space. Curatorial and art mediation techniques on the verge of virtual reality. ZKM - Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Papadaki, Elena and , (2020), Elevate me later - an analogue sea in a digital world. University of Greenwich Galleries. In: , , In: Elena Papadaki (ed.), Exhibiting the Analogue / Exhibiting the Digital – afterthoughts on an exhibition. University of Greenwich Galleries, London (1st) . pp. 1-5 . ISBN: 9780957343047 (doi: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Exhibiting-the-Analogue%2C-Exhibiting-the-Digital%3A-on-Papadaki-Arfaras/a1c42581a05df96cf83fb7bed6b4cef85aa603a5).

Conference item

Papadaki, Elena , Milliken, Sarah, Lammin, Hannah, Athique Winterbottom, Anushka , McArthur, Angela , Rabourdin, Caroline , Isa, Susanne (2023), Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion in the curriculum. In: SHIFT 2023 conference, 11th - 12th January 2023, London, University of Greenwich , . , (doi: https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/41447/7/41447-PAPADAKI-Embedding-Equality-Diversity-and-Inclusion-in-the-curriculum.pdf.pdf).

Papadaki, Elena , Maragiannis, Anastasios, Chatzichristodoulou, Maria (2018), Digital Cultural Heritage in the 'land of the ancient': the case of Greece (panel discussion). In: DRHA 2018 - Creative Legacies: Collaborative Practices for Digital Cultural Heritage, 9-12 September 2018, Valletta, Malta , . , (doi: ).

Papadaki, Elena and , (2017), Space as Methodology: the politics of exhibiting the moving image in public spaces. In: "The Politics of Space and the Humanities", 15-17 December 2017, Thessaloniki, Greece , . , (doi: ) NB Item availability restricted.

Conference proceedings

Papadaki, Elena and , Dare, Eleanor (2020), Mycorrhizal Curation: minimal cognition for maximal cooperation. ISEA. In: , , , 26th International Symposium on Electronic Art ISEA 2020 - Proceedings. ISEA, Montreal, Canada . pp. 473-475 . ISBN: 9782981641328 (doi: https://www.isea-archives.org/proceedings-catalogues).

Edited book

Broadhurst, Susan , Papadaki, Elena, Ploeger, Dani, Goddard, Michael N. , O'Brien, Sarah , Taiwo, Olu , Schellewald, Andreas , Chan, Melanie , Lewis, Matt , Dziekan, Vince (2020), Radical Immersions: Navigating between virtual/physical environments and information bubbles - DRHA 2019 Conference Proceedings. University of London / DRHA. In: , , , . University of London / DRHA, London (1st) . ISBN: 9780900822124; 9780900822131 (doi: https://www.drha.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DRHA2019_ConferenceProceedings_compressed-1-1.pdf).

Papadaki, Elena , Arfaras, Mihalis, Schizakis, Stamatis, Garcia, Carla Ambrósio , Dare, Eleanor , Beveridge, Patrick , Hobbs, James , Knight-Hill, Andrew , Menotti, Gabriel , Ploeger, Dani (2020), Exhibiting the Analogue, Exhibiting the Digital: Afterthoughts on an exhibition. University of Greenwich Galleries / Incandescent Square. In: , , , . University of Greenwich Galleries / Incandescent Square, London . ISBN: 9780957343047 (doi: ).

Exhibition

Papadaki, Elena , Ploeger, Dani, Krajewska, Klio (2019), Radical Immersions. In: Radical Immersions, 6-20 September 2019, Watermans Arts Centre, London , . , (doi: http://www.2019.drha.uk/)

Papadaki, Elena and , (2019), "Fast Forward to the Analogue: vintage immersions". N/A (curated exhibition). In: Fast Forward to the Analogue: Vintage Immersions, 02 Jul - 03 Sep 2019, London, UK , . N/A (curated exhibition), London (doi: http://www.greenwichunigalleries.co.uk/fast-forward-to-the-analogue/).

Papadaki, Elena and , Schizakis, Stamatis (2018), Critical Convergence: Greek contemporary artists in dialogue with the (recent) past. In: Critical Convergence: Greek contemporary artists in dialogue with the (recent) past, 10 September 2018, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta , . , (doi: )

Other

Papadaki, Elena and , (2020), Spatial Immersions: the field of exhibition practices [multi-component output - ongoing research project]. In: , , , . , (doi: ).

Papadaki, Elena and , Ploeger, Dani (2019), DRHA2019 Conference: "Radical Immersions: Navigating between virtual/physical environments and information bubbles" - convened by Elena Papadaki and Dani Ploeger. DRHA. In: , , , . DRHA, London (doi: http://www.2019.drha.uk/).

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