Amy Cunningham

Amy Cunningham is a multidisciplinary artist, lecturer and researcher, who uses the singing voice, video, materials and drawing to explore the texture, patterns and glitches in technologies and environments. Addressing both the obsolete and the futuristic, her artworks have included a fictional computer game in a real 18th century garden, opera as a video installation and an Internet broadcast as a song cycle. Currently she is developing a series of work which explores the relationships between the architecture of leisure, wildlife and industry within coastal environments.

Selected works on video can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/amycunningham

A recent body of work ‘The Difference Machine’ focussed on the role and representation of women in the assimilation of technology into culture. This work has taken the form of a series of performances and installations for voice, sound, music composition and video. The first two works in the series 'Personal Wireless' and 'On Standby' were exhibited at Soundwaves Festival Brighton and St James's Piccadilly London in 2011. The third work in the series 'Oracle' was exhibited at IKON Gallery Birmingham as part of Autumn Almanac: The Voice and the Lens, curated by Third Ear and Sam Belinfante in 2012.The most recent work in this series 'Smart Appliances' for soprano voice, cello and video was first performed as part of Sounding Food and Music curated by Contemporary Connections, The Old Market Theatre, Hove, UK 2014.

The exploration of the mediated voice in her practice is underpinned by a wider investigation into the role of the voice in contemporary art. The Voice Laboratory, a research network founded by Amy in 2009 initiates cross-disciplinary debate and acts as a platform for new work by way of symposia, seminars, workshops, performances and exhibitions.

Cunningham has exhibited her sound composition, performance, installation, drawing and screen-based work in various galleries and festivals in Europe and USA including, Stevens Institute of Technology, IKON Gallery, Cafe OTO, The Forge Camden, St James's Piccadilly, Norwich Gallery, Kulturens Hus Luleå Sweden, ZINGERpresents Netherlands, Slade Research Centre London, Towner Gallery, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes, Portland Sculpture Quarry Trust, Brighton Festival, Soundwaves Festival, SC Gallery Croatia and Serpentine Gallery London. She studied Fine Art Painting at Wimbledon School of Art, London and Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. She has received a number of awards and grants for her artworks including the New Music Incubator PRS For Music Foundation, Cultural Olympiad, Arts Council of England Grants for the Arts, European Cultural Foundation and the British Council.

In parallel to her individual solo practice, Cunningham works collaboratively and collectively including with the Voice Laboratory which she founded in 2009 and with the art collective SpRoUt of whom she has been a key member since 2004. 

Amy is Senior Lecturer in MA Fine Art and BA Fine Art Sculpture and is Course Leader of MA Fine Art, University of Brighton.

Site-specific practice, drawing, vocal performance, multi-media installation, and sound are areas of research, which inform Amy's teaching. Her specialisms include; mentoring, research project supervision, seminars and the the facilitation of student led learning in practical workshops as well as supporting independent reflective learning and teaching.

Amy is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, U.K and was awarded a teaching excellence award in 2007 by the Centre for Learning and Teaching, University of Brighton. In 2012 she worked alongside colleague Jane Fox to investigate the role of documentation in Music and Visual Art, with 'Exploding the Workbook' for which a learning and teaching fellowship award was granted. In 2014 Amy began 'Walk Write Create' a collaborative research-led learning and teaching project with colleagues Shirley Chubb (University of Chichester) and Jac Cattaneo (Brighton Metropolitan College) for which a University of Brighton learning and teaching scholarship was awarded to develop the project.

Amy has taught at various academic institutions including Slade School of Fine Art, West Dean College, Chichester, University of East Anglia, Kings College London and University of Zagreb, Croatia.

My supervisory interests include fine art, video, multi-media installation, sound, voice, performance, site-specific art and cultural histories of technology.