Prof Gregory Sporton
Gregory Sporton originally trained as a dancer at the Victorian College of the Arts in his native Australia. After a career as a dancer working for dance and opera companies around the world, he undertook postgraduate studies at the University of Warwick and completed a PhD at the University of Sheffield, supervised by Prof. Fred Inglis. After initial leadership experience of Dance Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, he became Head of Research and Graduate School at Laban Centre London (now part of TrinityLaban Conservatiore). Always interested in new technology and its impact on the arts, he moved to Birmingham City University to found the Visualisation Research Unit, a collection of tech-driven artists from many disciplines looking at how technology was changing creative practice. He was made a Professor there in 2011, and was heavily involved in the development of Eastside Projects and the Eastside Consortium in the Digbeth area of Birmingham. In 2013, he was appointed Professor of Digital Creativity at the University of Greenwich where he founded and led the Department of Creative Professions and Digital Arts. In November, 2018 he was appointed Head of School for the newly formed Westminster School of Arts at the University of Westminster in London, with responsibility for a diverse portfolio of creative practice subjects, including art, fashion, film, media practice and music.
Research publications cover a diverse range, including his 2015 book 'Digital Creativity: Something from Nothing' published by Palgrave Macmillan, and also work on dance, technology in the creative sphere and early Soviet period aesthetics. He is reviews editor for Scene, where he regularly publishes on performance from around the world. He still occasionally performs, notably with Sandra Norman in 'DoubleTake 360', a performance work combining the dancers in their present state with themselves on video from more than thirty years ago. He also publishes work on early Soviet-era aesthetics and politics.