About Beyond Text

“The Beyond Text strategic programme was developed in 2007 folowing a period of consultation with the arts and humanities research communities which identified visual communication, sensory perception, orality and material culture as key concerns for 21st Century scholarship and the wider community. It recognises that today’s digital culture means that communication is more rapid and often more transitory than ever before: performances, sounds, images and objects circulate swiftly on a global scale only to be replaced by even newer versions. Who controls and manages this material and its dissemination is now a key political, economic and legal question. Yet these are not new problems but ones with long historical roots. Beyond Text will create a collaborative, multi-disciplinary research community to work with those outside Higher education on these issues.” (quoted from the AHRC Beyond Text web page)

In response to this call, a group of researchers, writers and practitioners – from architecture, planning, geography, fine art, design, and new media – inspired by the work of Patrick Geddes have coalesced around the themes of the city and its regions, urban ecology and contemporary life to work on a collaborative proposal. The Beyond Text agenda looks at how culture and collective identity is transmitted through non-textual media and practices including object making, image making, and performance. The built environment is the mother of all non-text media, and citymaking, the mother of non-text practice.