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
  • "Gastric Tones: A Study in Sound" at Cumulus 2017, Shrishti Academy, Bangalore, India
  • "Temporal Sculptures: Beyond Narrative in the Moving Image" at Troubling Time: An Expoloration of Temporality in the Arts, The University of Manchester, UK
  • "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 Bangalore
  • "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 Delhi

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Institute of Physics (MINSTP)

 

Visiting Positions

  • Visiting lecturer La Universidad de la Comunicacion
  • Visiting lecturer, Shanghai University of Engineering Science
  • Visiting lecturer Shanghai Film Art Academy
  • Visiting lecturer, Zhongkai University
  • Visiting lecturer, Amity University, Kolkata
  • Visiting lecturer, North University of China
  • 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


49 results

An interactive discussion with the artist.

Presentation / Conference
Holmes, P. (2015, July)
An interactive discussion with the artist

Outside the Box [HD video]

Digital Artefact
Holmes, P. (2015)
Outside the Box [HD video]. [Gallery exhibition]
HD Video, Silent, Black and White. Duration: 22 minutes. To make this video artwork, the faces of jazz guitarist and composer Haftor Medbøe's quartet were filmed in extrem...

The Persistence of Vision [HD video]

Digital Artefact
Holmes, P. (2015)
The Persistence of Vision [HD video]. [Gallery exhibition]
HD Video projection. Black and White, silent. "Instruction painting separates painting into two different functions: the instructions and the realization. The work becomes a...

Outside the Box, an exhibition of new video works by Paul Holmes (solo show)

Exhibition / Performance
Holmes, P. Outside the Box, an exhibition of new video works by Paul Holmes (solo show)
Exhibited at Studio 21, Kolkata, India. 19 June 2015 - 3 July 2015. (Unpublished
A solo show of video art, and the first of its kind in Kolkata, India's cultural hub. Curated by Manas Acharya.

These Measures are for your Protection [HD video]

Digital Artefact
Holmes, P. (2015)
These Measures are for your Protection [HD video]. [Gallery exhibition]
HD Video. Colour, sound. The use of stress positions as an interrogation technique bordering on torture can be traced back to the Spanish Inquisition and before. In more rece...

Introduction - Outside the Box.

Book Chapter
Holmes, P. (2015)
Introduction - Outside the Box. In P. Holmes (Ed.), Outside the Box. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mutus Liber
No abstract available.

The Artist in Conversation with Rory Maclean.

Book Chapter
Holmes, P. (2015)
The Artist in Conversation with Rory Maclean. In P. Holmes (Ed.), Outside the Box. Edinburgh, Scotland: Mutus Liber

Outside the Box

Book
Holmes, P. (Ed.)
(2015). Outside the Box. Edinburgh: Mutus Liber
A monograph devoted to Paul Holmes's video work Outside the Box, featuring jazz musician Haftor Medbøe and his band. Contains an essay on the work by Louise S. Milne, photogra...

The Loop. In Digital Play: Wendy McMurdo Collected Works 1995-2012

Exhibition / Performance
Holmes, P., & McMurdo, W. The Loop. In Digital Play: Wendy McMurdo Collected Works 1995-2012. Exhibited at Street Level Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland. 28 June 2014 - 17 August 2014. (Unpublished)

)
Holmes, P., & McMurdo, W. The Loop. In Digital Play: Wendy McMurdo Collected Works 1995-2012. Exhibited at Street Level Gallery, Glasgow, Scotland. 28 June 2014 - 17 August 2014. (Unpublished
Wendy McMurdo's retrospective included video work "The Loop" by Wendy McMurdo and Paul Holmes. Curated by Malcolm Dickson as part of "Generation", the National Galleries of S...

Memory's Journey [audio installation]

Digital Artefact
Holmes, P. (2014)
Memory's Journey [audio installation]. [Festival exhibition]
Voice recording, outdoor speakers, wind-up stands. This sound sculpture responds to resonances between the work of Robert Burns and Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. As Burn...