Dr Maya Rae Oppenheimer, MA(RCA), PhD

I am a writer, researcher, artist and educator with a PhD in Humanities and Cultural Studies from the London Consortium (Birkbeck, University of London). I became Assistant Professor in Art History at Concordia University in September 2017, which expanded my teaching, performance, and publishing activities from histories of design, culture and science to focus more on histories of art and contemporary art writing. With my recent appointment across Studio Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, I am particularly interested in experimenting with active and creative teaching and learning methods across a range of art and design fields to explore curiosity, accountability and radical pedagogy in everyday life.  
 
Previous to returning to Canada in 2017, I lived in London (UK) for 11 years. I taught at the Royal College of Art, Imperial College London, and the Cass School of Art and Design. In addition to my teaching work, I was one-third of Operating Manual, a curatorial research collective that investigated cultures of risk and precarity, and the co-director of Metalab, an experimental events platform that explored formats of interactive discussion and collaborative making in community spaces, galleries and museums.

Before starting my PhD work in 2010, which pursued modern histories of social psychology via cultural and performance theory, I worked in art and design museums in both England and Canada. With past posts as Research Assistant and Researcher in Residence in the Victoria & Albert Museum (London, UK) and Curatorial Assistant at the Costume Museum of Canada (Winnipeg), I continue to work through the structures and processes of cultural institutions.

My current writing/art/teaching practice is scattered but intertwined. Recently, I am approaching academic platforms and commercial conventions as the Head of Research and Development of the Dramaco Instruments Company; Dramaco is an ongoing art performance and anarchival project that explores transmissions of laboratory procedures and products into consumer markets.

I publish across journals, edited volumes and digital forums in cultural history, art history, art writing and the history of design. Current editing projects include two forthcoming volumes on re-enactment and food culture (2019) and wandering (2020). Recent artworks include projects and performances at the Science Museum (London, UK), the Rag Factory (London, UK), GV Arts (London, UK), Cabinet (NYC), Riverside Studios (London, UK), Grand Union (Birmingham, UK).