Dr. Sajda van der Leeuw is a lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Art in the department of History of Art at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视. She is an art historian and philosopher, with a DPhil in History of Art from the 木瓜福利影视 of Oxford (2021), a MA in Art History and Archeology from New York 木瓜福利影视 (2014), and a Research MA in Philosophy from the 木瓜福利影视 of Amsterdam (2012).
Her PhD dissertation discusses the 鈥楤ig Picture Effect鈥� through the use of photography and film (and even television) in Land Art in the 1960s and 1970s in Europe and America. By considering artworks that form a dialogue with nature and ecologies, this dissertation critically investigates the human relationship to the Earth and the increasing co-dependence of local and global (often called 鈥榞local鈥�) in a time were a variety of lens-based and 鈥榥ew鈥� media entered the expanding artistic field. Through the dialectics of on-site and off-site, the research explores a variety of themes 鈥� from the changing exhibition space, to the use of magazines as exhibition space, and how photography and film were often an integral part of the dissemination, artistic idea, and practical execution of Land Art. The abundant use of photography, film and even television in Land Art is explained as pointing towards the global experience of a shift of vision 鈥� both literally and metaphorically 鈥� during the transformational period of the late 1960s and early 1970s after which the Earth and the universe could no longer be considered to be 鈥�(hu)man-centred鈥�. (This dissertation was founded on the archival research conducted at the Archives of American Art in Washington DC and the Museum of Modern Art Archives in New York City, supported by a Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington DC during 2016-2017. In Oxford, this research was supported by an AHRC grant, the Sir Bryan Cartledge Scholarship, and the Scatcherd European Scholarship.)
My research has always been interdisciplinary, approaching art historical topics through the lenses of philosophy and critical theories. I have presented my work at numerous conferences and contributed papers that focused on the power of images, the ontology of art, and how art is not only visual, but also performative 鈥� and therefore has a direct action on our world. In addition, I have a strong interest in public engagement which I developed as a Junior Teaching Fellow for Krasis (from 2020-2021), an award-winning public engagement programme at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, supported by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. Therefore, besides my publications in peer-reviewed journals, I have written numerous articles for a non-academic audience. These include contributions to Metropolis M, De Witte Raaf, Simulacrum, and several open access blogs, in which I combine philosophical and art historical inquiries with an accessible style.
My teaching style is interactive, with a focus on actual contemporary questions that are rooted in historical research and extensive visual analysis of the artwork, and an ever present, deeper focus on the meaning and ontology of works of art 鈥� often embedded in a social historical perspective.
Research interests and expertise:
- Land Art; Eco Art; Environmental Art
- Art of the 1960s and 1970s
- Photography; the Photobook; the History of Photography
- Sculpture; painting; performance; new and mixed media, film
- Modern Art
- Contemporary Art
- Philosophy: Classical Philosophy, German Idealism, Frankfurter Schule/Critical Theory (aesthetics, metaphysics).