Corkscrew was a network for practice-based/led research students and staff that began in the School of Arts at Birkbeck in 2013. It was set up by Carol Watts and Sophie Hope with practice-research PhD students at the time. It was named Corkscrew because of the spiralling feedback loop between practice-based investigation and critical/reflective work.
This website is an archive of Corkscrew at Birkbeck as of 31 July 2023. The new Corkscrew website can be found here.
Sophie Hope has now left Birkbeck and is continuing aspects of Corkscrew independently. To find out about future events and workshops you can sign up to Sophie’s email list here.
The Corkscrew group would meet regularly to share experiences of being a practitioner-researcher in an academic context. Students led discussions, showed examples of their practice (in termly ‘show and tell’ sessions) and engaged in group crits which foregrounded practice. There was also a programme of guest lectures and workshops led by experienced researchers from different arts fields. Students and staff carrying out practice-research at Birkbeck came from a variety of disciplines, including fine art, curating, film, media, creative writing and performance.