Paul Holmes
Paul Holmes

Paul Holmes MA, BSc (Hons), MInstP, FHEA, FRSA

Associate Professor

Biography

After completing a physics degree, I spent two decades as a director in film and television before redirecting my practice towards visual art.

I work with still and moving images, sound and light to harness and examine the gestures and actions of the human body, face and voice. I am interested in investigating the essential aesthetic properties of these media, and in developing new, non-narrative audio-visual grammars. I have exhibited in galleries and other spaces in the UK, continental Europe and across Asia, and have been invited to speak about my work in universities, conferences and public events around the world.

I joined Edinburgh Napier in 2006 as lecturer in film directing and subsequently ran three post-graduate courses in the moving image. At the same time I worked on and developed international collaborations with art colleges, film schools and universities around the world.

Over the years I have successfully raised hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding: for project development and production prior to my arrival at the University and for scholarly activities since then.

Since 2015 I have headed up international partnerships, collaborations and recruitment for the School of Arts and Creative Industries.

Research Areas

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Harnessing the Obsolete in Contemporary Art at Technology and Tradition conference, Futureworks, Manchester, UK
  • Self Portrait in the Form of a Geometric Net by Paul Holmes at Progressive Connexions: Storytelling and the Body, Lisbon, Portugal
  • "Figure Study in Light by Paul Holmes" at Progressive Connexions: Storytelling and the Body, Verona, Italy
  • "Storm Piece - a sound work by Paul Holmes" online In Media Res: Sound week
  • "One and Three Discs (After Kosuth)" at DHRA: Creative Legacies: Collaborative Practices for Digital Cultural Heritage, St James's Cavalier, Valetta, Malta
  • "Temporal Sculptures: Beyond Narrative in the Moving Image" at Troubling Time: An Expoloration of Temporality in the Arts, The University of Manchester, UK
  • "Gastric Tones: A Study in Sound" at Cumulus 2017, Shrishti Academy, Bangalore, India
  • "Uncovering Music through Silence: Outside the Box" by Paul Holmes at Azimuth Sound/Image, CCA, Glasgow, UK

 

External Examining/Validations

  • BA (Hons) Digital Film Production, University of Suffolk
  • MSc Emerging Media, Dublin City University
  • BA Film Production, University of Chichester
  • BA (Hons) Film Production, The Northern Film School.
  • BA (Hons) Filmmaking and Creative Media, University of the West of England.
  • BA (Hons) Media Production, Northumbria University.

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Indian Council for Cultural Relations Senior Research Fellowship award for "Memory's Journey"
  • Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA).
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

 

Invited Speaker

  • “Video Art as a Tool of Aesthetic Investigation” Keynote at the International Forum on Cross Media Art and Design, Shanghai, China
  • Video Art as a Sculptural Form: An Aesthetic Investigation Through Practice: FICUNAM International Film Festival
  • "Performance in Motion - video works by Paul Holmes" at British Council GREAT SCOTLAND rally Delhi
  • "Performance in Motion - video works by Paul Holmes" at British Council GREAT SCOTLAND rally Mumbai
  • "Performance in Motion - video works by Paul Holmes" at British Council GREAT SCOTLAND rally Bangalore

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Institute of Physics (MINSTP)

 

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting lecturer La Universidad de la Comunicacion
  • Visiting lecturer Shanghai Film Art Academy
  • Visiting lecturer, Zhongkai University
  • Visiting lecturer, Shanghai University of Engineering Science
  • Visiting lecturer, North University of China
  • Visiting lecturer, Amity University, Kolkata
  • Visiting lecturer, University of Calcutta
  • Visiting lecturer, Kala Bhavan
  • Visiting tutor, National Film School of Ireland
  • Visiting tutor, Aalto
  • Visiting lecturer, Shanghai Normal University
  • Visiting lecturer, Amity University, Jaipur
  • Visiting tutor, Engage European film co-production lab

 

Date


55 results

A Machine Responds to the Preoccupations of an Ageing Man

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Holmes, P. (2024, December)
A Machine Responds to the Preoccupations of an Ageing Man. Paper presented at "Memory, Melancholy and Nostalgia" International Interdisciplinary Conference, Gdansk, Poland

Intermediality in Video Art Practice

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Holmes, P. (2023, October)
Intermediality in Video Art Practice. Paper presented at Affective Intermediality: International Conference, Sapienta Hungarian University of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The Index, the Selfie, and the Semiotics of AI-Generated Images – an exploration through artistic research

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Holmes, P. (2023, September)
The Index, the Selfie, and the Semiotics of AI-Generated Images – an exploration through artistic research. Paper presented at 1st International Conference Methodological and Cognitive Aspects of Visual Arts, The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design, Wrocław, Poland

Figure Study in Light

Exhibition / Performance
Holmes, P. Figure Study in Light. [Light sculpture]. 22 September 2023 - 15 October 2023

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Holmes, P. Figure Study in Light. [Light sculpture]. 22 September 2023 - 15 October 2023

81 Steps by Paul Holmes

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Holmes, P. (2022, December)
81 Steps by Paul Holmes. Paper presented at 7th "MEMORY, MELANCHOLY AND NOSTALGIA" International Interdisciplinary Conference, Gdansk, Poland

Harnessing the Obsolete in Contemporary Art Practice

Presentation / Conference
Holmes, P. (2021, June)
Harnessing the Obsolete in Contemporary Art Practice. Paper presented at Technology and Tradition: An Interdisciplinary Conference, Manchester, UK

Self Portrait in the Form of a Geometric Net by Paul Holmes

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Holmes, P. (2020, September)
Self Portrait in the Form of a Geometric Net by Paul Holmes. Presented at Progressive Connexions: Storytelling and the Body, Lisbon, Portugal

Ballygunge Phari. In Fusion: Sino-British Intermedia Art and Design

Exhibition / Performance
Holmes, P. Ballygunge Phari. In Fusion: Sino-British Intermedia Art and Design. [Video art]. Exhibited at Songjiang Art Museum, Shanghai, China. 23 October 2019 - 3 November 2019. (Unpublished)

)
Holmes, P. Ballygunge Phari. In Fusion: Sino-British Intermedia Art and Design. [Video art]. Exhibited at Songjiang Art Museum, Shanghai, China. 23 October 2019 - 3 November 2019. (Unpublished
Holmes, P. Ballygunge Phari. In Fusion: Sino-British Intermedia Art and Design. [Video art]. Exhibited at Songjiang Art Museum, Shanghai, China. 23 October 2019 - 3 November 2...

Video Art as a Tool of Aesthetic Investigation

Presentation / Conference
Holmes, P. (2019, October)
Video Art as a Tool of Aesthetic Investigation. Presented at International Forum on Cross Media Art and Design, Shanghai University of Engineering Science
Holmes, P. (2019, October). Video Art as a Tool of Aesthetic Investigation. Presented at International Forum on Cross Media Art and Design, Shanghai University of Engineering ...

Figure Study in Light by Paul Holmes

Presentation / Conference
Holmes, P. (2019, July)
Figure Study in Light by Paul Holmes. Presented at Progressive Connexions: Storytelling and the Body, Verona, Italy
To make this artwork, the artist was measured by a tailor as if for a suit of clothes. These dimensions were translated into an installation of LED tubes suspended in a darken...