Research output per year
Research output per year
Accepting PhD Students
Research activity per year
For the last 12 years, my research and visual practice has been concerned with the post-millennium situation of the contemporary photobook, how the medium has become central to a small but dedicated ecology, and how it may become better equipped to engage new readerships. My interest in this field has lead to a publication with Onomatopee (Photobooks &, 2021), a PhD on connections made and missed between the photobook and its audience (Completed 2020) and the formation of a global community of readers in more than 50 cities (The Photobook Club) as well as a number of magazine, conference and book contributions.
My teaching is split between the BA and MA photography programmes at Coventry University where I currently lead the level 6 module Independent Research and the masters class Objects, Spaces and Boundaries as well as contributing to a range of teaching across the course.
The contemporary photobook: For over a decade I have been investigating the contemporary photobook, its form, function and ecology. My PhD (completed in 2020) looked at the connections between the photobook and its readers between 2004-2018 and my new publication Photobooks & (Onomatopee, 2021) seeks to re-tether the medium to its associated fields and discourses.
Post-digital publishing: I have used a post-digital framework to contextualise the contemporary photobook as an artefact that is reliant on hybrid publishing, disenchantment and haptic desires. Alongside this I have written and taught a BA photography module on post-digital photographic publishing practices and have contributed a chapter to Code-X, Paper, Pixel, Screen and Ink (Book Lab and the bookRoom, 2015).
Communities and distributed authorship: In 2010 after a series of initiatives with open and connected learning on the undergraduate photography programme at Coventry University, I adopted a distributed authorship model to organise and facilitate a global community of photobook readers. The project (The Photobook Club) has seen countless meetings in more than 50 cities globally and is a respected platform in the photobook community.
I am also interested in research collaborations on the following topics: Artists' books and photography, the influence of the American Transcendentalists on contemporary trends, walking as pedagogical aid and narrative in the book.
Doctorate, Photo/book/club : connections made and missed, digital and other, between the contemporary photobook and its readers, 2004-2018, University for the Creative Arts
Award Date: 16 Jun 2020
Postgraduate Certificate, PGCert, Coventry University
Award Date: 1 Sept 2014
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Thesis (awarded by external institution) › Doctoral Thesis
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Matt Johnston (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
Matt Johnston (Keynote Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
Matt Johnston (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference
Matt Johnston (Speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in conference