Polina Chizhova-Wright
Biography
Polina is an artist, curator and PhD researcher in Curating and Architecture supervised by Dr Gulsen Bal (Manchester School of Art) and Dr Richard Morton (Manchester School of Architecture) funded by the Leverhulme Unit for the Design of the Cities of the Future (LUDeC). Her practice-based research focuses on the curatorial role in making the use of technologies in cities more inclusive through collaborations between socially engaged creative practitioners and the public sector. Polina’s research focuses on Manchester as the case study, working with the Manchester Digital Strategy Team part of Manchester City Council.
Alongside her research, Polina is the Co-Director of the creative studio Strange Quark, which specialises in digital art, emerging technologies and participatory projects. Strange Quark also operates Videocity UK, which is a sister organisation to Videocity Switzerland promoting video art on socially relevant themes in public spaces and unusual locations. Polina has also taught undergraduate and postgraduate students as guest lecturer in the faculties of curating, architecture, digital arts and urban planning.
Academic and Professional Qualifications
MSc in Real Estate (Valuation Pathway), University College of Estate Management
MSc in History of Art, Theory and Display, University of Edinburgh
BA in History of Art and Architecture and History of East Asian Art, University of Zurich
Research Output
‘Playful, collaborative, rigorous’ paper and workshop at ‘Co-producing Alternative Urban Futures through Experimental Urbanism’, Newcastle University, 16th September 2025.
‘Creative Workshop Hotline’ workshop with Erika Conchis at the LUDeC Showcase event, 10thSeptember 2025.
‘Transdisciplinary and Creative Urban Methods’ panel speaker at the LUDeC Showcase event, 10thSeptember 2025.
‘Get Online’ workshop with two artists and Manchester Digital Strategy team, 7th August 2025.
‘Starting in the Middle: Participatory Curating, Gen AI and Placemaking’ paper at ECRN & DRN Summer Symposium: British Art and Architecture in the Digital Age by the Paul Mellon Centre at the University of Bristol, 11th July 2025.
‘Decoding AI: Investigating Gen AI in Placemaking’ paper AI Literacies public launch, 13th June 2025.
‘Urban Observatory Data Jam’ with Shelly Knotts and Rob Smith, The NewBridge Project, 1st March 2025
‘Reflecting on the curatorial role in shaping the use of Gen AI in Placemaking’ paper at AsSIST-UKBiennial Conference, 2nd June 2025.
‘Decoding AI’ research project and exhibition with the INFRA Atelier at Manchester School of Architecture, January 2025.
‘Playing the City’ workshop with World Writes, New Writing North, May 2024.
‘Make your own City’ workshop at The NewBridge Project, April 2024.
Guest curator panel discussion at Think/Do CrAFt event by ELIA, MMU, October 2023.
Academic memberships:
Part of the EC Committee at the UK Association for Studies in Innovation, Science and Technology(AsSIST)
LUDeC Connections
Curating Socially Engaged Creative & Tech Practices as Alternatives to ‘Smart’ Cities
This practice-based curatorial research project aims to unfold a critical knowledge gap combining both a theoretical and practice-based research by theorising and testing a curatorial platform that facilitates collaborations between socially engaged creative practices and local governments with the aim of fostering alternative and socially inclusive use of emergent technologies in cities. In my research, I ask how can a curatorial methodology create an infrastructure of inclusion for diverse communities as cities gradually become more digital? What curatorial methods can be used to foster collaboration and knowledge exchange between artists and digital strategy teams at local governments? And how do the social and societal roles of creative practices evolve as cities shift to an increased use of digital technology and AI?
My research design consists of four case studies with a durational and collaborative and participatory design, allowing for situated research. Collaborating with artists, placemakers and the Manchester Digital Strategy team at Manchester City Council, I am often a co-participant in my research, and I aim to avoid perpetuating extractive knowledge practices. Drawing from LUDeC’s principles of inter-disciplinarity, my research seeks to create multi-facetted knowledge through sustained collaboration supported by playful methods. Focussing on the methodologies of collaborative knowledge creation, I use the curatorial approach to create spaces that allow for alternative models of technological practice to emerge in urban contexts, valuing and promoting social and environmental justice.
Contact Information
polina.chizhova-wright@stu.mmu.ac.uk