Anthony Downey
Dr. Anthony Downey is Professor of Visual Culture, with a focus on the Middle East and Global South (探花直播). Developing national and international partnerships with artists and cultural organisations, Downey's聽 contributes to and supports a critical understanding of postcolonial art practices, Artificial Intelligence (AI), digital methodologies in the arts, and Post-Disciplinary research methods.
In his capacity as BCU lead, he is the Cultural and Commissioning Lead on a five-year 拢2.2 million funded project titled . Funded by UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), under the聽 (GCRF), Anthony has supported the development of research and art practices relating to the role of culture in the development of collaborative partnerships for the promotion of inclusive disability-led education聽in Palestine (Gaza and the West Bank), Lebanon, and Jordan.
Working from within the聽 framework, specifically areas that include Quality Education, Gender Equality, Good Health and Well-Being, and Reduced Inequalities, the Disability Under Siege聽 will be disseminated by the聽 (UNPRPD) to governments, NGOs and other key stakeholders in the countries where the UNPRPD is currently running programmes.
Anthony鈥檚聽broader research and teaching focus on how visual strategies explore the聽 and the role of AI in neocolonialism;聽 in warfare and conflict; the role of AI in ; and the impact of聽 (GenAI) on creative practices. He recently co-edited a special issue of Digital War (2024) on : towards a new human right to live without physical or psychological threat from above. Anthony is currently co-editing the first Special Journal Collection on聽 蹿辞谤听 (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
In his capacity as a College Academic Lead for Research Innovation & Enterprise (CAL RIE) at the College of Art & Design (CoAD), Anthony oversees external funding application development for colleagues and supports REF research outputs for early career and senior career researchers. In this role, he also supports and develops CoAD鈥檚 approach to research activities and income generation; promoting high quality outputs; driving income generation to agreed levels; and achieving research impact for REF 2029.
Current Activity
Anthony currently teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the College of Art & Design and supervises PhDs that range from Art & Cultural Theory, The Politics of Spectatorship, Cultural Production in the Middle East, Practice-Based Research and Digital Methodologies, and Artificial Intelligence. He is currently gathering research for an Impact Case Study for REF 2029 on the聽 project.
He is an editor at three Peer-Reviewed, Gold Open Access journals, including聽 (搁辞耻迟濒别诲驳别),听 (Palgrave MacMillan), and聽 (Cambridge University Press). He is also the founder and series editor 蹿辞谤听 (Sternberg Press), which includes volumes produced in collaboration with Trevor Paglen, Michael Rakowitz, Heba Y. Amin, and Larissa Sansour.
In 2026, he will publish Decolonising Vision: Algorithmic Anxieties and the Post-Digital Image (forthcoming, MIT Press, 2026). He is also presently co-editing the first Special Journal Collection on聽 蹿辞谤听 (Cambridge University Press, 2025).
Recent and forthcoming publications include: Nida Sinnokrot: Palestine is Not a Garden (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2026); Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2024); Khalil Rabah: Falling Forward鈥擶orks 1995- 2025 (Sharjah Art Foundation and Hatje Cantz, 2023); Topologies of Air: Shona Illingworth (Sternberg Press/Power Plant, 2022); Heba Y. Amin: The General鈥檚 Stork (Sternberg Press, 2020); Larissa Sansour: Heirloom (Sternberg Press, 2020), Michael Rakowitz: I鈥檓 good at love, I鈥檓 good at hate, it鈥檚 in between I freeze (Sternberg Press, 2019); Critique in Practice (Sternberg Press, 2019); Future Imperfect: Contemporary Art Practices and Cultural Institutions in the Middle East (Sternberg Press, 2016); and Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2015).
For a fuller list of Anthony鈥檚 books and research,聽visit the below listings:
Areas of Expertise
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and creative practices.
- Transnational and post-colonial cultures.
- Generative AI (GenAI) and Autonomous Weapons Systems (AWS).
- Decolonizing knowledge and pedagogical systems.
- Algorithmic Bias and Fair AI.
- Digital methodologies, digital media and human rights.
- New media, art and terrorism.
- Bio-politics and Migration.
Qualifications
- PhD, Postcolonial Theory and the Politics of Mimesis, Goldsmiths College, London (awarded 2006)
- Masters (awarded with Distinction), Postcolonial Literature and Critical Theory, Goldsmiths College, 1996-1997
- Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), Birkbeck College, 1992-1995
Memberships
- Editor, Third Text (Routledge)
- Editor, Digital War (Palgrave MacMillan)
- Associate Editor, Memory, Mind & Media (Cambridge University Press).
- Series Editor, Research/Practice (Sternberg Press)
- International Series Advisory Board for New Directions in Contemporary Art (Lund Humphries)
- Series Editor, Visual Culture in the Middle East (Sternberg Press)
- Advisory Board, Understanding Displacement Aesthetics and Making Change in the Art Gallery with Refugees, Migrants and Host Communities, Manchester University
- Consultant Editor, The Open Journal (Open University)
Teaching
Anthony holds a PhD from Goldsmiths College, awarded in 2006, and his teaching focuses on the politics of global contemporary art practices; post- and anti-colonial theory; contemporary research practices and knowledge production in visual culture; human rights, bio-politics and migration; new media, collaborative and participative art practices; and contemporary cultural production in the Maghreb, the Middle East and Global South.
He lectures on all these topics and supervises PhD students with research interests in contemporary art and the politics of cultural production in the Maghreb, the Middle East and Global South; digital media and research methods; neoliberalism, human rights, bio-politics, and migration in contemporary art practices; and new media, performativity and civil society in the Middle East.
Research
- Artificial Intelligence, Machine Vision, and Algorithmic Bias
- Digital Methodologies and Inter-Disciplinary Research
- Contemporary Cultural Production and Postcolonial Practices in Middle East and Global South
- Decolonizing Pedagogies
- Human Rights, Bio-politics, and Migration in Contemporary Art Practices
- New media, Performativity and Civil Society
- Public Space and Collaborative Art Practices
Postgraduate Supervision
PhD Supervision:
- Yining He, Neo-Geopolitics: Decolonial Practices from Chinese Visual Arts since 2008
- Roo Dhissou, Cultural Dysphoria: Exploring British Asian Female Identities Through Arts Practices鈥擜HRC Funded
- Lisa Deml, Spectatorship and Citizen Reporting after the Arab Uprisings鈥擜HRC Funded
- Pierre D鈥橝lancaisez, A skills gap in political and social art: evaluating and shaping the agency and impact of contemporary visual arts practices through non-arts competences.
Recently Graduated PhDs:
- Jacob Koster (Critical Practices in Contemporary Art) 鈥擜HRC Funded
- Nat Muller (Futurism in Contemporary Arab Art) 鈥擜HRC Funded
- Khulod Albugami (Installation Art as a Tool for Social Change: A Case Study of Saudi Contemporary Art)
- Rawan Sharaf Khatib (The Role Played by Palestinian Cultural Institution in the Formation and Transformation of Palestinian Visual / Cultural Identity)
External Co-Supervision of PhDs:
- Heba Y. Amin, doctoral fellow in art history at Freie Universit盲t, Berlin (Co-Supervisor)
- Anastasia Shanaah, doctoral fellow, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University (Co-supervisor)
Publications
Selected Books and Edited Volumes
- Downey, A., Decolonising Vision: Algorithmic Anxieties and the Post-Digital Image (forthcoming, MIT Press: 2026)
- Downey, A., Nida Sinnokrot: Palestine is Not a Garden (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, forthcoming, 2026) ISBN: 9783956796302
- Downey, A. et al. AI & Memory, Memory Mind and Media, Special Collections Issue, forthcoming 2025
- Downey, A., Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2024), ISBN 9783956795831
- Downey, et al. 2024. The Airspace Tribunal: towards a new human right to live without physical or psychological threat from above. Digital War, Vol 5. Issue 1-2.
- Downey, A., Khalil Rabah: Falling Forward-Works 1995- 2025 (Sharjah Art Foundation and Hatje Cantz, 2023), ISBN 978-3-7757-5405-7
- Downey, A., Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air (Sternberg Press and The Power Plant, 2021), ISBN: 9783956795534
- Downey, A., Heba Y. Amin: The General's Stork (Sternberg, 2020), ISBN 9783956794780
- Downey, A., Larissa Sansour: Heirloom (Sternberg Press, 2019), ISBN: 9783956794759
- Downey, A., Michael Rakowitz: I'm good at love, I'm good at hate, it's in between I freeze (Sternberg Press, 2019), ISBN: 9783956794766
- Downey, A., Critique in Practice: Renzo Martens' Episode III: Enjoy Poverty (Sternberg Press, 2019). ISBN: ISBN: 9783956795053
- Downey, A., La Primavera 脕rabe y el invierno del desencanto: Pr脕cticas artisticas y medios digitales en el Norte de 脕frica y Oriente Medio (Ripio Press, 2019), ISBN: 978-987-46999-1-6
- Downey, A., Transposing the Vernacular: Moving Images in the Work of Akram Zaatari, New Art Exchange, 2018, ISBN: 978-0-9932659-8-3
- Downey, A., Don't Shrink Me to the Size of a Bullet: The Works of Hiwa K (Walter Koenig Books, 2017) ISBN 978-3-96098-160-2
- Downey, A., Future Imperfect: Cultural Institutions and Contemporary Art Practices in the Middle East (Sternberg Press, 2016) ISBN 978-3-95679-246-5
- Downey, A., Dissonant Archives: Contemporary Visual Culture and Contested Narratives in the Middle East (I.B. Tauris, 2015) ISBN 978-1-784-53-4110
- Downey, A., Uncommon Grounds: New Media and Critical Practice in North Africa and the Middle East (I.B.Tauris, 2014) ISBN 978
- Downey, A., Art and Politics Now (Thames and Hudson, 2014) ISBN 978-0-500-29147-4 1784530358
Selected Peer-Reviewed Journal Essays and Chapters in Books
- Creative Endings: Visual Cultures, Artificial Intelligence, and the Return of the Uncanny鈥�, in the Routledge Companion to Visual Studies, ed. Bratchford et al. (forthcoming, 2026)
- Algorithmic Pathologies: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Memory, AI and Memory Special Issue, Memory, Mind & Media (September 2025)
- 鈥淭he Alibi of AI: Algorithmic Models of Automated Death鈥�, Digital War 8:1 (forthcoming, 2025).
- 鈥淭he Return of the Uncanny: Artificial Intelligence and Estranged Futures鈥�. Visual Studies, 1鈥�10. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2024.2406709
- Paglen, Trevor, & Anthony Downey. 鈥淚nfluencing machines鈥�. Digital War 6, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42984-024-00098-9
- 鈥淎lgorithmic predictions and pre-emptive violence: artificial intelligence and the future of unmanned aerial systems鈥�. Digital War 5, 123鈥�133 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42984-023-00068-7
- "The Future of Death: Algorithmic Design, Phantasmagorical Subjects, and Drone Warfare", in The Aesthetics of War: Art, Technology, Time, ed. Jens Bjering et al. (MIT Press, 2024).
- "Practice as Precedent: Digital Epistemologies and the Techno-Politics of Archiving a Revolution", in Joe F. Khalil, et al., The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East (Wiley-Blackwell, 2023).
- "The Algorithmic Apparatus of Neo-Colonialism", in Vision & Verticality: A Sociology of the Sky, ed. Gary Bratchford and Dennis Zuev (Palgrave, 2023).
- "Topologies of Air and the Airspace Tribunal: Shona Illingworth and Anthony Downey". Philosophy of Photography, Vol. 12. https://doi.org/10.1386/pop_00046_7
- "Witness statements and the technologies of memory: A conversation between Heba Y. Amin, Anthony Downey, Helene Kazan, Naeem Mohaiemen, and Susan Schuppli." Memory, Mind & Media, Vol. 1. doi:10.1017/mem.2022.10
- "Programmed Visions and Techno-Fossils: Heba Y Amin and Anthony Downey in conversation". Third Text, July 2022
- "The Algorithmic Apparatus of Neocolonialism: Counter-Operational Practices and the Future Of Aerial Surveillance", in Downey, A., ed., Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air (Sternberg Press, 2022)
- "Calculating Skies". MIT Press Reader, April 2022
- "After Mosul: The Cultural Economy of Destruction and Reconstruction", in Terrorism and the Arts (edited by Jonathan Harris, Routledge Press, forthcoming 2021).
- "The Future of Protest in a Post-Digital Age", in The Protest and the Recuperation, Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, 2021
- Downey, A, Heba Y. Amin, Abdelkarim Mardini, and Adel Iskandar, "Egypt's 2011 Internet Shutdown: Digital Dissent and the Future of Public Memory" Camera Austria, March, 2021.
- Amin, H, and Downey, A., "A Brief History of Drone Warfare" Frieze, October, 2020.
- Amin, H.Y., Downey, A. "Contesting Post-digital Futures: Drone Warfare and the Geo-politics of Aerial Surveillance in the Middle East", Journal of Digital War (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s42984-020-00021-y
- Amin, H.Y., Downey, A. "Avian Prophecies and the Techno-Aesthetics of Drone Warfare", in (W)ARCHIVES: Archival Imaginaries, War, and Contemporary Art, ed. Daniela Agostinho, Solveig Gade, Nanna Bonde Thylstrup and Kristin Veel (Sternberg Press, 2020), ISBN: 9783956794568
- Downey, A. and Sansour, L. "Epigenetics and Speculative Research" MIT Press Reader, April 2020
- - "Where Is The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information": Speculative Research and Digital Methodologies', in Balaskas and Rito, eds., Institution as Praxis: New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research (Sternberg Press, 2020) ISBN 978-3-95679-506-0
- Downey, A, and Rakowitz, M. "Leonard Cohen and the Concert That Never Was", MIT Press Reader, February, 2020
- Downey, A, and Paglen, T. "Algorithmic Anxieties" Trevor, Journal of Digital War, Vol. 1, No. 1. (2020), ISSN: 2662-1975 (print); ISSN: 2662-1983 (electronic)
- "Is There a Right Way to Do Wrong? Enjoy Poverty and the Case Against Ethics" in Critique in Practice: Renzo Martens' Episode III: Enjoy Poverty (Sternberg Press, 2019).
- "Hiwa K: Interview with Anthony Downey and Amal Khalaf" in Brayshaw, T., Fenemore, A. and Witts, N. The Twenty-First Century Performance Reader (forthcoming, Routledge, 2019)
- "The Politics of Shame: Ai Weiwei in conversation with Anthony Downey", The Large Glass: Journal of Contemporary Art, Culture and Theory, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje (Macedonia), No. 25 / 26, 2018, pp. 28-42. ISSN: 1409 -; 5823
- "Where to Now?: Imminent Impermanence in the Work of Sheela Gowda", in Sheela Gowda, Ikon Gallery, November 2017. ISBN 978-1-911155-10-2
- "Scopic Reflections: Incoming and the Technology of Exceptionalism", in Richard Mosse, Barbican Art Gallery, March 2017, ISBN 9780995708204
- "Exemplary Subjects: Camps and the Politics of Representation", in Giorgio Agamben: Legal, Political and Philosophical Perspectives. Ed. Tom Frost. Oxon, UK: Routledge, 2013. 119-42.
- "Zones of Indistinction: Giorgio Agamben's 'Bare Life' and the Politics of Aesthetics", in Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985. Eds. Zoya Kocur and Simon Leung. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. 416-35.
- "Zu Giorgio Agamben: Das Nackte Leben' Und Die Politik Der Asthetik", in Open Space: Schnittpunkte Aktueller Kunstpraxis. Ed. Gulsen Bal. Vienna: Divus, 2010. 64-79.
- "The Production of Cultural Knowledge in the Middle East Today", in Art & Patronage in the Middle East. Eds. Hossein Amirsadeghi and Maryam Homayoun. Eisler. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. 10-15.
- "127 Cuerpos: Teresa Margolles and the Aesthetics of Commemoration", in Understanding Art Objects: Thinking through the Eye. Farnham: Lund Humphries, 2009. 104-13.
- "An Ethics of Engagement: Collaborative Art Practices and the Return of the Ethnographer", in Third Text 23.5, 2009. 593-603.
- "Towards a Politics of (Relational) Aesthetics", in Third Text 3rd. 21.3, 2007: 267-75.
- "Critical Imperatives: Notes on Contemporary Art Criticism and African Cultural Production"", in Wasafiri 21.1, 2006. 39-48.
- "Yinka Shonibare in conversation with Anthony Downey", in BOMB 93, Fall 2005.
- "Curating Africa: - Africa Remix' and the Categorical Dilemma", in Wasafiri 45.2, 2005. 47-55.
- "The Spectacular Difference of Documenta 11", in Third Text 17.1, 2003. 85-92.
Selected Keynotes, Conference Papers, and Presentations
2025
- Panel Chair: Disability Under Siege, February 22.
- Conference Talk: 鈥淧erforming Rights鈥�, Disability Under Siege, February 4-5
2024
- Invited Talk: Predictive AI and Warfare. 鈥淚nvestigating the Kill Cloud: Information Warfare, Autonomous Weapons & AI鈥� conference (Kunstquartier Bethanien , Berlin). 29th November - 1st December 2024.
- Invited Talk: Future of War, Imperial War Museum, November 7. (with Shona Illingworth & Aditi Gupta)
- Invited Talk: The Future of Death in an Algorithmic Age. The Centre for Drones and Culture (Centre for the Future of Intelligence, Cambridge University), May 3,
- Book Launch, Fellowship London
- Invited Lecture: AI and Creative Practices, University of Creative Arts, January 25.
2023
- Keynote: "Decolonising Machine Vision:, Aksioma, Ljubljana, 06/03/2023
- Presentation (with Maya Indira Ganesh): Neo-colonial Visions: Artificial Intelligence and Epistemic Violence, Paul Mellon Centre, London, 15/03/2023
- Lecture: Decolonising Artificial Intelligence: Visual Strategies and Digital Methodologies in a Post-Digital Age, Institute of Criminology, Ljubljana, 07/03/2023
- Book Launch: Topologies of Air (Ed. A. Downey, 2022), Imperial War Museum, London, 10/02/2023
- Presentation (with Alaa Mansour and Lesia Kulchynska): How an Image Matters, Transmediale, Berlin, 02/02/2023
2022
- Keynote: Algorithmic Command: Digital Archives, Data Sets, and Neo-Colonial Futures, Impulse Symposium at the University of Munster, Germany, 01/10/2022
- Round Table Discussion with Heba Y. Amin, Anthony Downey, Maya Indira Ganesh, and Ana Teixeira Pinto accompanied by the catalogue launch of When I See the Future, I Close my Eyes: Chapter II, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, 30/07/22
- Keynote: Heba Y. Amin & Anthony Downey: Aerial Prophecies: Digital Methodologies and the Practice of Research, The Photographers' Gallery, London, 02/07/22
- Talk: Programmed Visions and Techno-Fossils: Heba Y Amin and Anthony Downey in conversation, Zilberman Gallery (Berlin) 01/05/22
- New Journal Launch: Memory, Mind and Media (Cambridge University Press), 02/02/2022
2021
- Symposium Co-Convenor (with Heba Y. Amin): Archiving Future Knowledge Systems, Online Panel Discussion, 27/05/21
- Symposium Co-Convenor (with Heba Y. Amin): Witness Statements and Technologies of Memory, Online Panel Discussion, 13/05/21
- Book Launch: (W)archives. Archival Imaginaries, War, and Contemporary Art, Mosaic Rooms, London, 25/02/21
- Public Talk: Egypt's 2011 Internet Shutdown: Digital Dissent and the Future of Public Memory, Mosaic Rooms, London, 28/01/21
- Symposium Co-Convenor (with Carolina Rito), Practice Research: Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Cultural Institutions and HEIs, in collaboration with the AHRC Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Programme, 10/06/2021
- Public Talk: "The Future of Protest in a Post-Digital Age", Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, 26/03/2021
2020
- Launch of the Journal of Digital War (Palgrave/ Macmillan, 2020), Mosaic Rooms, London, 2020/04/11
- Symposium Co-Convenor (with Heba Y. Amin): Collective Infrastructures and Knowledge Production in a Post-Digital Age, Mosaic Rooms, London, 2020/12/11
- Book Publication: Heba Y. Amin: The General's Stork (Sternberg Press, 2020), Mosaic Rooms, London, 2020/07/10:
- Book Launch and Talk: The Matter of Critique, Tate Liverpool, April 30, 2020
- Book Launch: Research/Practice 02: Heba Y Amin: The General's Stork, HKW, Berlin, April 16, 2020
- Book Launch: Balaskas and Rito, eds., Institution as Praxis: New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, March 26, 2020
2019
- Book Launch: Research/Practice 03: Larissa Sansour: Heirloom, Copenhagen Contemporary, December 12, 2019.
- Public Talk: "Beyond the Arab Uprisings: Cultural Activism and the Rise of Digital Authoritarianism in a Post-Truth Age", Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, December 12, 2019.
- Lecture and PhD Workshop: "The Politics of Visual Culture in the Middle East and Global South", Graduate School, Arts at Aarhus University, December 10, 2019
- Public Talk: "Performing Rights", Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL, London, 14 November, 2019
- Public Talk: Trevor Paglen in conversation with Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, 26 September, 2019
- Keynote: "The Future of the Networked Image: Digital Archives in a - Post Truth' Age", Irish Museum of Modern Art Summer School, Dublin, June 11, 2019
- Public Talk: Performing Rights, TrAIN Open Lecture, UAL, London, 24 Apr 2019
- Public Talk: "Applied Futures", The (Networked) Image in Conflict: Cultural Activism and Visual Culture, Modern Art Oxford, April 4, 2019
- Conference Paper: "Conditions of Possibility", The Midlands Higher Education and Culture Forum, March 27, 2019
- Keynote: Applied Futures: Digital Archives in a "Post Truth" Age, Archive Kabinett Berlin/Silent Green Kulturquartier, Berlin, January 26, 2019
- Public Talk: Was I sleeping, while the others suffered: Contemporary Art, the Refugee Condition, and the Alibi of Engagement, ifa, Berlin, January 28, 2019
2018
- Keynote Lecture: "Art after ISIS: Digital Networks and the Future of the Post Conflict Image" Photographies and Conflict: Archiving and Consuming Images of Strife, ICPT Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus, November 22-24, 2018.
- Public Talk: Akram Zaatari in conversation with Anthony Downey, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 14 July, 2018.
- Public Lecture: "Performing Rights", Eastside Projects, 探花直播, 13 June, 2018.
- Public Talk: "Unconformities: Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige in conversation with Anthony Downey", Acropolis Museum, Athens, 30 April, 2018.
- Public Lecture: "Performing Rights: Contemporary Art, Public Institutions and the Refugee Condition", ThalieLab, Brussels, Belgium, 22 March, 2018.
- Jury Member, Beirut Art Residency (BAR), Beirut, in conjunction with Ziad Antar, Sandra Dagher, Fouad Elkhoury, and Bernard Khoury. 24 February, 2018.
- Public Lecture: "The Future of Image Production in the Middle East", Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, 13 February, 2018.
- Conference Talk: Anthony Downey in conversation with Edmund Clarke, "Edmund Clarke: In Place of Hate", IKON Gallery, 探花直播, 12 February, 2018.
- Public Lecture: "Who Benefits from the Work of Art: Political Exceptionalism and the Refugee Condition", V-A-C Foundation, Moscow, 20 January, 2018.
2017
- Conference Paper: "Neoliberal Visions: Cultural Institutions and the Political Economy of Global Culture in the Middle East", Birzeit University, Birzeit, Palestine, 11 November, 2017.
- Public Talk: Ai Weiwei and Anthony Downey, FOMU, Antwerp, 25 October, 2017.
- Public Talk: John Akomfrah and Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, 12 October, 2017.
- Chair: "On Photography and Politics Today" (Ahlam Shibli, Edmund Clark, Nikolai Larsen), Unseen, Amsterdam, 23 September, 2017.
- Conference Paper: "The Future of Image Production: Hermeneutic Suspicions and Neoliberal Conundrums", Producing Image Activism after the Arab Uprisings Conference, University of Stockholm, 6-8 September 2017
- Conference Paper: "The Archive as Alibi", (W)archives Conference, University of Copenhagen, 21-22 August, 2017
- Keynote Lecture: "Performing Rights: The Subject of Injustice and the Cultural Logic of Late Modernity", Art, Justice and Terrorism, a one-day conference, Imperial War Museum, London, June 17, 2017
- Chair: "Representing the Artist", Survival of the Artist, a one-day symposium at the British Museum, London, 2 July, 2017
- Keynote Paper: "Neoliberal Visions: Cultural Institutions and the Political Economy of Global Culture in the Middle East", Decolonizing the Cultural Institution, CCLPS Conference, SOAS, London, 16 June, 2017.
- Artist's Talk: Anthony Downey in conversation with Judy Price and Lucy Reynolds, Mosaic Rooms, London, 26 April, 2017
- Conference Paper: Instrumental Visions: Neoliberalism, Cultural Institutions and Cultural Policy in the Middle East, Westminster University, London, 21 April, 2017
- Public Talk: Richard Mosse in conversation with Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, 20 February, 2017
2016
- Conference Paper: Hermeneutic Suspicions: Contemporary Visual Culture, Insurgency, and the Future of Archiving Conflict in the Middle East, Terrorism and Cultural Freedom, 探花直播, 7 June, 2016.
- Public Talk: "Hermeneutic Suspicion: Digital Archiving, Conflict and Cultural Production in the Middle East", University of Sussex, Brighton, 16 February, 2016.
- Public Talk: "John Akomfrah in conversation with Anthony Downey", Arnolfini, Bristol, Saturday 16 January 2016.
2015
- Conference Convenor: "Archival Fever (Again)", panel discussion for book launch of Gulf Labor's The Gulf: High Culture/Hard Labor, edited by Andrew Ross for Gulf Labor (OR books, 2015) Rivington Place, London, 19 November 2015
- Public Talk: "States and Non-States: Performance Art in the Middle East and Public Space", The Institut d'Etudes Suparieures des Arts (IESA), Leighton House, London, November 2015.
- Conference Paper: "Challenges of a Shared World: New Media and Social Networks", University of Oxford, Oxford, 25 October 2015.
- Conference Paper: "The Ethics of Ethical Criticism", AICA: London Congress Symposium: Who Cares? Value, Veneration and Criticality", Royal College of Art, London, 27 October 2015.
- Public Talk: "Edinburgh International Book Festival: Art on the Attack", Garden Theatre, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 28 August 2015.
- Public Talk: "Zarina Bhimji in conversation with Anthony Downey" NAE Nottingham, Nottingham, 15 July 2015.
- Principal Convenor: "Visual Culture in an Age of Global Conflict." National Museum of Bardo in Tunis, Tunisia. 28-30 May 2015.
- Conference Paper: "Hermeneutic Suspicion, Digital Technology, And The Crisis Of Representation In The Middle East", School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 14 April 2015.
- Conference Paper: "What does Digital Activism in the Arts Mean Today?: The Middle East as a Case Study", Harvard Centre for Government and International Studies/ Harvard & MIT Programming BBP, 17-24 January 2015.
2014
- Conference Paper: "Digital Media, New Media and the Middle East", University College London.
- Conference Paper: "Research and Knowledge Production in the Middle East: Ibraaz as Case Study", Critical Machines: Art Periodicals Today, American University of Beirut, March 7-8, 2014.
- Public Talk: Art and Politics Now", London School of Economics, 13 Oct 2014.
- Principal Convenor: "Cultural Production and Cultural Relations," National Museum of Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia. 9-11, April, 2014.
Media Work
2023
- Iain Overton, Algorithmic predictions and pre-emptive violence: a review of Professor Anthony Downey鈥檚 paper on AI and drones, Action on Armed Violence.
- Orit Gat. Exhibition Review of Downey: Transmediale, 鈥渁 model, a map, a fiction鈥�, e-flux Criticism, February, 2023.
- Iain Overton and Aya Wazaz, Review of Anthony Downey鈥檚 keynote, Decolonizing AI in Warfare. February 25.
2022
- Review of Downey, Ed. Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air, Third Text Online, by Matt Barlow.
- Review of Downey, Ed. Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air, Camera Austria International 159, by Julia Gwendolyn Schneider. Book Review: From the Colonization of Airspace Toward a New Human Right,
- Exhibition Review: The Mosaic Rooms: Heba Y. Amin 鈥淲hen I See The Future, I Close My Eyes鈥�, curated by Anthony Downey, World Art Foundations.
- Stephanie Bailey. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin Brings Storks and Drones to London, curated by Anthony Downey, Ocula.
2021/20
- Ruba Hattar. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes- Solo Exhibit at the Mosaic Rooms in London, curated by Anthony Downey, AlBawaba.
- Nat Muller. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey.
- Melissa Gronlund. Exhibition Review: Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey. The National.
- Maximiliane Leuschner. Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey. Texte Zur Kunst.
- Matt Ross. Exhibition Review: Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey. Arab News.
- Hiba Mohamed. Exhibition Review: Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey. Frieze.
- Gwen Burlington. Exhibition Review: Exhibition Review: Heba Y. Amin - When I See the Future, I Close My Eyes, curated by Anthony Downey. Burlington Contemporary Journal.
- Lucy Rogers. Book Review: Books That Rocked Our World in 2020, C4 Journal. Heba Y. Amin: The General's Stork, Ed, Anthony Downey
- Public Talk: Heba Y. Amin, Anthony Downey, Maya Indira Ganesh, and Ana Teixeira Pinto, Zilberman Gallery, Berlin, 30/07/22
- Public Talk: Programmed Visions and Techno-Fossils: Heba Y Amin and Anthony Downey in conversation, Berlin, 01/05/22
2019-2011
- Public Talk: Trevor Paglen in conversation with Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, September 26, 2019.
- Public Talk: Akram Zaatari in conversation with Anthony Downey, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, 14 July, 2018.
- Public Talk: "Unconformities: Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige in conversation with Anthony Downey", Acropolis Museum, Athens, 30 April, 2018.
- Public Talk: Anthony Downey in conversation with Edmund Clarke, "Edmund Clarke: In Place of Hate", IKON Gallery, 探花直播, 12 February, 2018.
- Public Talk: Ai Weiwei and Anthony Downey, FOMU, Antwerp, 25 October, 2017.
- Public Talk: John Akomfrah and Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, 12 October, 2017.
- Public Talk: Richard Mosse in conversation with Anthony Downey, Barbican Centre, London, 20 February, 2017
- Interview: Future: Imperfect: An Interview with Anthony Downey, Di'van Journal, December 2016
- Interview: "Art and Politics Now: An Interview with Anthony Downey" in Keen on Protest. 18 July 2016
- Interview: "Interview with Anthony Downey Art Contemporain Arabe: La Subversion des Formes" in Qantara. Summer 2016.
- Review: Slavs and Tatars in Art Asia Pacific, Almanac 2016
- Review: Dissonant Archives in Art Asia Pacific, Almanac 2016.
- Review: Art and Politics Now in E-International Relations, 22 February 2016.
- Review: A Necessary Dialogue: JAOU Tunis 2015 in Kalimat Magazine, 14 June 2015.
- Review: JAOU Tunis uses art and culture as a retort to extremism, 1 June 2015.
- Review: SCTIW: Review of Uncommon Grounds, 2015
- Review: Uncommon Grounds, H-AMCA, H-Net Reviews, May 2015.
- Review: Uncommon Grounds in The Art Newspaper, 1 May 2015.
- Review: Art and Politics Now in Art Review Asia, Spring 2015
- Review: Transnational Cinema Review of Uncommon Grounds, 10 April 2015.
- Review: New Texts Out Now: Uncommon Grounds in Jadaliyya, 4 March 2015.
- Interview: The Monocle Weekly, Monocle Radio, 2 November 2014.
- Interview: 7 questions for Ibraaz's Anthony Downey, I.B.Tauris Blog, 10 October 2014.
- Review: Best of 2014: Our Top 10 Art Books, Hyperallergic, 31 December 2014
- Review: Uncommon Grounds on LSE Blog, 7 December 2014.
- Review: Uncommon Grounds in Kalimat, 5 November 2014.
- Interview: Downey, Anthony. "Geocentric Conundrums: Aesthetics and Ethics in Contemporary Art; Gemma Lloyd Interviews Anthony Downey." CAC Interviu. 16-17, 2010/2011: 53-60.
- Interview: Downey, Anthony, "Yinka Shonibare: The Anarchist Artist", CNN African Voices, 17 May 2010
Work With Industry
Creative industries and Contemporary Art in the Middle East and Global South
Publishing and Contemporary Art practices in the Middle East
Professional Affiliations:
- Editor, Third Text (Routledge)
- Editor, Journal of Digital War (Palgrave Macmillan),
- Editorial Board, Journal of Memory, Mind & Media (Cambridge University Press).
- Editor-in-Chief of Ibraaz (ibraaz.org), appointed 2011-2018. Site currently under redevelopment.
- Series Editor, Research/Practice (Sternberg Press/MIT), 2019-present.
- International Series Advisory Board for New Directions in Contemporary Art (Lund Humphries)
- Series Editor, Visual Culture in the Middle East (Sternberg Press)