School of Social and Political Science

SPS academic receives ERC Consolidator Grant for work examining the role of the arts in the production of public policy



School of Social and Political Science (SPS) academic Professor Sotiria Grek has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant of two million euro for a new project examining the relationship between art and policy. 

The project - Art and Policy in the Global Contemporary: Examining the Role of the Arts in the Production of Public Policy (POLART) - will: 

  • Examine how art may produce policy knowledge 
  • Investigate how policy issues have altered the contemporary artistic canon and forms of engagement. 

The project stems from the idea that, since the 1990s, art has transformed into a social process that activates audiences in relation to collective policy challenges, such as migration, climate change, inequalities and more.  

POLART will investigate the art and policy relationship through three main foci: 

  1. An in-depth investigation of major art exhibitions and their contribution to the production of policy knowledge. 
  2. An examination of the interactions of public policy with art. In particular, this includes the top-down mobilisation of the arts and artists in advocating the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and the bottom-up work of art collectives, particularly those located in the Global South, as they interact with local community groups and campaigners. 
  3. An investigation of the art/policy relationship at the level of national and local policy-making, investigating exchanges between policy makers and artists, as well as the public.  

Professor Grek, who works within the Social Policy subject area at SPS, said: “This new project builds on my past work as art historian and gallery curator and expands on my recently completed METRO project on quantification and governance, in order to explore the changing ecologies of knowledge-making for policy. POLART will be an in-depth analysis of governing knowledge and its rapid transformations.” 

POLART (2024-2029) was awarded by the European Research Council (ERC-Consolidator-2022) and will be funded by the UKRI. 

Image:  Lorenzo Quinn's support sculpture of  two large hands emerging from the Grand Canal for the Venice Biennale 2017. The sculpture aims to make a statement on the effects of global warming. Sourced from Unsplash.