Dr María Mencía
Faculties, departments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Journalism, Publishing and Media
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
- Penrhyn Road
Associate Professor, PGR Coordinator Department of Journalism, Publishing and Media, Course Leader BA Media and Communication
- Email:
- [email protected]
About
I am an artist-researcher in media arts and digital poetics and the Course Leader of the BA in Media and Communication.
My doctorate was one of the first practice-based research in the field of electronic poetry and language-art (2000–2003). My research is at the intersection of language, art and digital technology. It explores the poetic /aesthetic space found in between the visual, the aural and the semantic in multimodal textualities. It is in this oscillation 'between text and image' or 'sound and image' 'code and image' – in the shifting between these ways of expression – where I argue the poetic aesthetic space appears. My practice has been exhibited worldwide, and is published in the Electronic Literature Collections ELC1 and ELC4, Anthology of Electronic Latin American Literature Lit(e)Lat and the ELMCIP Anthology of European Electronic Literature.
Prizes
- The Robert Coover Award for a Work of Electronic Literature, 2nd Place, 'The Winnipeg: The Poem that Crossed the Atlantic', (August 2018).
- The N. Katherine Hayles Award for Criticism of Electronic Literature,2nd Place for my publication '#WomenTechLit', (Computing Literature, West Virginia University Press, 2017) (July, 2017).
- 'Gateway to the World': a data visualisation poetic piece selected as example of good practice in digital literature by KVB boekwerk (the Dutch knowledge and innovation platform for the book sector) and the Dutch Foundation for Literature, 2017
Research grants
- AHRC grant 2018-2021, 'Memory, Victims, and Representation of the Colombian Conflict' focusing on women's voices to collaborate with Prof Claire Taylor from Liverpool University and project partners from Grupo de Investigación COMBA I+D, Universidad Santiago de Cali, Universidad de Vigo, España- Pedagogical and Technological University. Other grants to conduct research at international institutions include:
- Information Studies & Digital Design, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark
- Laboratory: COSTECH Technologies and Human Sciences (TSH) Department, University of Technology of Compiegne (France)
- Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne, Australia (AHRC Small Grants);
- The University of Sydney, Australia (TIES Grant) and Media Research Lab -New York University, NY, USA (Promising Researcher Fellowship by Kingston University.
- Co-investigator "Translating Electronic Literature: A Transatlantic Program in Collaborative Digital Humanities" (2017-2018), a research project funded by the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (FMSH) and the Andrew Mellon Foundation.
I am frequently involved in international events, including 17 keynote presentations and I have taken part in nearly 70 conferences, curated exhibitions and led pedagogic, programming research clusters and research projects in collaborative practice.
I am one of the executive members of the Electronic Literature Organisation Board of Directors (ELO) and book editor for the "Electronic Literature" series with ELO-Bloomsbury Press.
Qualifications
- PhD, Digital Art and Digital Poetics practice-based research, Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts, London, UK
- MA, History and Theory of Art Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, UK
- BA, Joint Honours in Fine Art and Design, Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK
- BA, English Philology, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain, UK
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
Domains
I have taught media and communication for many years. My key contribution has been my expertise in integrating practice-based research, creative digital media practice and pedagogy. I lecture and lead modules in digital media production, interactive creative media, theories of media and research practices. My input in teaching and learning has also been informed by my participation in international institutions for many years, as external examiner in similar BA programmes and as an adviser for the validation of design courses outside Kingston University, for which I have provided and input into curriculum development and syllabus revision.
I have combined my lecturing with fellowships, funded by external councils to collaborate with international universities: New York University, The University of Sydney, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) Australia, the Universidad Nacional Autonomy de Mexico (UNAM) Mexico, the Laboratory: COSTECH Department, University of Technology in Compiegne, France.
Courses taught
Currently, I am the co-investigator in a project funded by an AHRC standard grant, titled: 'Memory, Victims, and Representation of the Colombian Conflict' collaborating with Prof Claire Taylor from Liverpool University. It focuses on exploring and incentivising new means of awareness with regards to the self-representation of women victims of the Colombian conflict through storytelling and different creative practices. As co-investigator, my role has been leading workshops with the aim to collect materials to create a documentary website and an online digital artwork. The aim of the workshops and overall project was to give voice to the women victims who were participating and construct a collective memory, a memory where they felt represented. https://www.voces-invisibles.com/
My practice-based research is at the intersection of language, art and digital technology. It explores inter-linguistic and multimodal digital textualities, digital media grammars, virtual poetic spaces and the reader's/viewer's engagement in an experience of shifting 'in' and 'out' of language by looking 'at' and looking 'through' transparent and abstract landscapes of text and linguistic soundscapes.
It draws from conceptual art, avant-garde poetics, remediating concepts of reading and writing (from the print, to the screen to installations spaces) and exploring digital media grammars (voice activation, use of webcam, use of mouse, acts of revealing, triggering, cut and paste, dragging) for interactivity, aesthetics, creation of virtual poetic spaces, engagement and meaning production.
It is trans-disciplinary, bringing together different cultural, artistic and literary traditions such as: fine art, linguistics, translation, visual, concrete and sound poetry, with digital poetics, electronic writing, creative programming, interaction and interface design, new media art theories and practices. My practice includes interactive digital media installations, performances, web-based works, sound-generated poems, interactive generative narratives and data visualisation poetics. The themes are varied with an interest in the relationship between experimentation, social issues (issues of power, territory, displacement, personal and historical memory, gender, and violence) art and literature and I am very interested in producing site-specific pieces. Thus, my research outputs cover a selection of theory and practice as exemplified by the publications outlined. http://www.mariamencia.com/documents/MARIA%20MENCIA_publications.pdf
Research student supervision
- Charlie Wilson, Disability and the Media.
- Myrto Farmaki, The Science of Ghosts:Breaching the Psycho-Cinematic Frame, TECHNE Grant
- Jieyi Sun, Virtual Jewellery
- Daniele Giampà, Beyond the boundaries of the e-book. Aesthetics of post-digital print
Specialisms
- electronic literature, electronic poetry, digital writing
- media arts, creative interactive media, internet art
- practice-based research
- fine art
Publications
Co-creation, digital art and agency: experiences from a co-created digital artwork project in Colombia = Co-creación, Arte Digital y Agencia : experiencias de un proyecto de co-creación de obras de arte digital en Colombia
Taylor, Claire, Mencía, María, Asorey-Cacheda, Rafael and Zúñiga-Cañón, Claudia, 2022, Quaderni Culturali (3)pp 31-42, Published
Why #WomenTechLit? Because
Mencia, Maria, 2021, Interférences litteraires/literaire interferenties (25)pp 142-157, Published
Multimodal textualities: poetic aesthetic digital space
Mencía, María, 2020, Romance Notes (60), 1pp 179-186, Published
The Winnipeg: the poem that crossed the Atlantic
Mencia, Maria, 2019, Hyperrhiz : New Media Cultures (20), Published
Electronic literature translation: translation as process, experience and mediation
Portela, Manuel, Mencia, Maria and Pold, Soren, 2018, Electronic Book Review, Published
Gateway to the world: data visualisation poetics
Mencia, Maria, 2016, Healthcare leadership report (23)pp 145-157, Published
Connected memories: contextualising creative research practice
Mencia, Maria, 2011, Journal of Writing in Creative Practice (4), 1pp 37-51, Published
From the page to the screen to augmented reality: new modes of language-driven technology-mediated research
Mencia, Maria, 2011, Journal of Writing in Creative Practice (4), 1pp 3-7, Published
#WomenTechLit
(2017). Morgantown, U.S.: (West Virginia University Press) [Published]
Creative manual for repurposing in electronic literature
(2015). Kosice, Slovakia: (Dive Buki) [Published]
Navigating the poetic-aesthetic space of e-poetry
Mencía, María (2023). In: Korecka, Magdalena Elisabeth, Vorrath, Wiebke, (eds.) De Gruyterpp 185-206 [Published]
The Winnipeg: The Poem that Crossed the Atlantic
Mencia, Maria (2021). In: Berens, Kathi Inman, Torres, Rui, Zamora, Mia, Murray, John, Skains, Lyle, (eds.)[Accepted/In press]
Creative process: interweaving methods, content and technology
Mencia, Maria (2017). In: Cortes Maduro, Daniela, (eds.), Bielefeld, Germany: transcriptpp 133-150 [Published]
Introduction to #WomenTechLit
Mencia, Maria (2017). In: Mencia, Maria, (eds.), Morgantown, U.S.: West Virginia University Presspp xiii-xx [Published]
Transient self-portrait: the data self
Mencia, Maria (2017). In: Mencia, Maria, (eds.), Morgantown, U.S.: West Virginia University Presspp 189-209 [Published]
#WomenTechLit
Mencia, Maria (2017). In: Mencia, Maria, (eds.), Morgantown, U.S.: West Virginia University Presspp Xiii-XX [Published]
Connected memories
Mencia, Maria (2015). In: Mencia, Maria, Husarova, Zuzana, (eds.), Kosice, Slovakia: Dive Bukipp 32-35 [Published]
Upsidedown chandelier
Mencia, Maria (2015). In: Mencia, Maria, Husarova, Zuzana, (eds.), Kosice, Slovakia: Dive Bukipp 78-81 [Published]
Excerpts from "From digital poetry to digital art: image-sound-text, convergent media, and the development of new media languages"
Mencia, Maria (2014). In: Elkins, James, (eds.), Washington, U.S.:pp 419-428 [Published]
New Media ArtPoetry: A reflection on practice
Mencia, Maria (2011). In: Masucci, Lello, di Rosario, Giovanna, (eds.), Naples, Italy:pp 332-347 [Published]
Birds singing other birds' songs
Mencia, Maria (2006). In: Hayles, N. Katherine, Montfort, Nick, Rettberg, Scott, Strickland, Stephanie, (eds.)[Published]
E-Lit practice and pedagogy: interweaving methods, content and technology
Mencia, Maria(2016). [Published]
LitArt: Poeticas Digitales : Creacion e Investigacion
Mencia, Maria(2016). [Published]
ReadWrite digital textualities: searching for new languages
Mencia, Maria(2012). [Published]
New Media Art/Poetry: A textu(r)al surface
Mencia, Maria(2011). [Published]
The surface materiality: performing generative writing
Mencia, Maria(2011). [Published]
Open meaning in digital writing
Mencia, Maria(2011). [Published]
Connected memories: addressing questions and issues that evolve around the use of technology as a participatory and inviting medium to perform and share stories with other participants
Mencia, Maria(2009). [Published]
Connected memories
Mencia, Maria(2009). [Published]
Generating Chirography in an electronic surface
Mencia, Maria(2002). [Published]
Voces Invisibles Mujeres Víctimas del Conflicto Colombiano: invisible voices : women victims of the Colombian conflict
Mencia, Maria (2022) [Published]
The Winnipeg: the poem that crossed the Atlantic
Mencia, Maria and Dupuis, Alex (2018) [Published]
Gateway to the world
Mencia, Maria and Auberson, Pascal (2014) [Published]
Transient Self-Portrait: The Data-Self
Mencia, Maria (2014) [Published]
Repurposing in electronic literature
Husarova, Zuzana and Mencia, Maria (2013) [Published]
UpsideDown Chandelier
Mencia, Maria, Naji, Jeneen, Wilks, Christine and Husarova, Zuzana (2013) [Published]
The Alphabetic
Mencia, Maria and Raskob, Evan (2011) [Published]
Generative poems
Szekely, Alexander and Mencia, Maria (2010) [Published]
Reading rebooted
Mencia, Maria (2009) [Published]
Connected memories
Mencia, Maria (2009) [Published]
Another Kind of Language
Mencia, Maria (2002) [Published]
Birds singing other birds' songs
Mencia, Maria (2001) [Published]