Dr Sophie McIntyre
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Interdisciplinary
Biography
Sophie McIntyre is a Senior Lecturer in creative industries and visual arts, and an established art curator. Her research interests include art history and theory, curating, museology, public and socially-engaged art, identity politics, Indigenous representations, cultural diplomacy and soft power, especially in the Asia-Pacific (including Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand). She has published nationally and internationally in peer-reviewed journals, books, anthologies and exhibition catalogues, and curated more than 30 exhibitions, several of which have toured nationally and internationally. Sophie has been a visiting scholar, and delivered keynote and guest lectures in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Laos, China, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States. While Sophie has published and curated exhibitions of art from Australia and across the Asia-Pacific, her focus has been on Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, where she has lived, studied and worked for 25 years. She is the sole author of the book, Imagining Taiwan: the Role of Art in Taiwan's Quest for Identity (Brill, 2018), which was based on her PhD from ANU. The most recent exhibitions she has curated include: Ink Remix: contemporary art from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (2015-2017) which featured works by 14 leading artists and toured Australia (Canberra Museum and Gallery; Bendigo Art Gallery; UNSW Galleries; and Museum of Brisbane); and she was commissioned to curate Intertextuality - A solo exhibition by Hang Chunhui (2018-2019) (Asia Art Center, Taipei & Beijing). Sophie has received grants, scholarships and fellowships from Australia, Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong to conduct academic and curatorial research in this area, and she was invited by the Comité International L’Histoire de L’Art (CIHA) to be an International Chair and Convenor in the 34th World Congress of Art History (Beijing, 2016). Prior to becoming a full time academic, Sophie was a director and curator in public galleries and museums in Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan. She worked predominantly in the university art museum sector, and was the inaugural director of Griffith University's art museum at Southbank; and the second director at Victoria University of Wellington's Adam Art Gallery in New Zealand. Sophie has also worked at national and state museums, including the National Museum of Australia, Art Gallery of New South Wales, and the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Since 2007, she has been a freelance curator. In 1991, Sophie co-founded a non-for-profit arts organization, Dihedron, in Brisbane which was one of Australia's first arts organisations supporting and promoting artists and artworkers from a culturally diverse background (especially refugees and recent migrants in Australia) through exhibitions, publications, community and educational programs. Sophie was also co-founder and consultant for University Art Museums Australia (UAMA), and she is an authorised consultant for the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Interdisciplinary
Keywords
visual art and society, Asia-Pacific, museums, curatorship, identity politics, Indigenous art and culture, cultural diplomacy and soft power
Research field
Visual Arts and Crafts, Curatorial and Related Studies, Art Theory and Criticism
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Australian National University)
Professional memberships and associations
Museums Australia International Council of Museums (ICOM) Asian Studies Association of Australia
Teaching
At QUT, Dr Sophie McIntyre teaches into the Bachelor of Creative Industries (Studio Enterprise 2) and Visual Arts (art history/theory). Between 2018-2020 she was also the Course Coordinator for the Bachelor of Creative Industries.
In 2019, she was awarded a New Columbo Mobility Grant by the Federal Government. This three year grant enables QUT students to travel to Taiwan on a study tour. The first tour was taken in 2019, and 14 students from the Faculty of Creative Industries joined the tour. This is an immersive cultural and learning experience in which QUT students collaborate with local university students, and visit galleries, museums, local and Indigenous artist and designer studios, and significant historical and cultural sites across the island, as well as learning the Mandarin language.
Prior to joining QUT in 2018, Sophie taught at the University of Queensland (Masters of Museum Studies). She was also a lecturer and tutor at the Australian National University (2008-2012) and the University of Sydney where she taught and coordinated courses in:
- Modern and Contemporary Asian art;
- Museum Studies & Curatorial Practice;
- Australian Contemporary Art;
- Photography (history & theory);
- Theories of the Image;
- Points of View: Independent Creative Art & Media Practice
Overseas, she has taught short courses in Critical and Curatorial Studies in Contemporary Art (National Taipei University of Education); and delivered a lecture series on Contemporary art from the Australia and the Asia-Pacific (Lingnan University, Hong Kong); and on Taiwan art and Identity in the Taiwan Studies Program (SOAS, University of London & Nottingham University).
Experience
Academic and Community Service
- Reviewer of Q1 and Peer-reviewed Journals: Third Text; International Journal of Taiwan Studies
- Invited Keynote speaker: European Association of Taiwan Studies International Conference (Belgium); University Art Museums Australia
- Invited International Expert Panel Member & Conference Chair: Comité International L’Histoire de L’Art - 34th World Congress of Art History (Beijing, 2016)
- Invited Visiting Scholar: School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London, 2018); National Taipei University of Education (2016-2018); Lingnan University, Hong Kong (2007)
Publications
- McIntyre, S., (2021). The public rise and exhibition of Taiwan Indigenous art and its role in nation-building and reconciliation. In C. Huang, D. Davies & D. Fell (Eds.), Taiwan's Contemporary Indigenous Peoples (pp. 105–127). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/206393
- McIntyre, S., (2019). Soft power and the role of art in the development of Taiwan-mainland China relations. In R. Bullen, J. Beattie & M. Galikowski (Eds.), China in Australasia: Cultural diplomacy and Chinese arts since the cold war (Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia) (pp. 151–169). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128951
- McIntyre, S., (2019). Intertextuality: HANG Chunhui Solo Exhibition, Asia Art Center (Taipei, Beijing) [Exhibition/Event]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/128952
- McIntyre, S., (2018). Imagining Taiwan: The Role of Art in Taiwan's Quest for Identity. Brill. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/215504
- McIntyre, S., (2017). Questions of identity and origins in the museological representation of contemporary Indigenous art in Taiwan. Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, 3(1-2), 110–129. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119933
- McIntyre, S., (2015). The art of diplomacy: The role of exhibitions in the development of Taiwan-China relations. Journal of Curatorial Studies, 4(1), 56–77. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/119934
- McIntyre, S., Wang, E. & Pan, A. (2015). Ink remix: Contemporary art from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong - Exhibition Catalogue [Textual]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/143156
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Sophie, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2022
- Details
- This special edition of Pacific Arts journal (guest-edited by Dr Sophie McIntyre, Dr Fang Chun-wei and Dr Zara Stanhope) foregrounds First Nations creative practitioners in the Indo-Pacific region and it critically explores, through their practices, their perspectives on the relationships between history and sovereignty, land and community, site and materials, and place and space. This special edition comprises 17 papers (203 pages in total), and includes written and visual essays by 20 established and emerging First Nations artists, filmmakers, and curators, along with non-Indigenous scholars and museum professionals, from Australia, Taiwan, Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Philippines. The journal extends and expands upon the 2021 international online symposium, Grounded in Place: Dialogues Between First Nations Artists from Australia, Taiwan and Aotearoa which Sophie McIntyre initiated and delivered in partnership with the National Prehistory Museum Taiwan, and Govett-Brewster Gallery,
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2022
- Details
- Awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Awards for Excellence (VCAE) which recognises staff "who have achieved real-world research and teaching outcomes or delivered exceptional professional services".
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2022
- Details
- Invited by the international policy think-tank, Lowy Institute in Sydney, to speak in a podcast on the future of Taiwan-Australia relations, alongside other speakers, Dr Chen Jie (The University of Western Australia), and Dr Roger Huang, (Macquarie University). This podcast preceded an all-day closed forum in which 12 invited academics, government leaders and foreign policy experts, shared their research and perspectives on the history and future of Taiwan-Australia relations. I was invited to present my research on cultural diplomacy, and the increasingly important role of the arts and Indigenous cultural programs in Taiwan-Australia relations. Between 15 July 2022 (when the podcast came to air) and 27 July 2022, the podcast had attracted close to 4,000 listeners. The link to the Lowy Institute¿s podcast is here: https://lnkd.in/gGfuihDk.
- Type
- Funding Award
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Recipient of an internationally competitive grant ($25,000) awarded by the Taiwan government's Ministry of Culture to develop and deliver an international symposium and produce a publication - collectively titled, 'Grounded in Place: Dialogues between First Nations Artists from Australia, Taiwan and New Zealand' ($AUD25,000).
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- Awarded a Q1 Major (TRO) for the monograph, 'Imagining Taiwan: The Role of Art in Taiwan's Quest for Identity' (2018, Brill) (https://brill.com/display/title/27265). Also, a Q1 Equivalent-Major (NTRO) for an international exhibition I curated, 'Ink Remix: Contemporary art from Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong' (2015-2017) (https://www.artshub.com.au/news/reviews/ink-remix-contemporary-art-from-mainland-china-taiwan-and-hong-kong-249282-2349780/; http://www.cmag.com.au/exhibitions/ink-remix-contemporary-art-from-mainland-china-taiwan-and-hong-kong)
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Contemporary paper cutting art practice as an archive of Nikkei Australian identity
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Courtney Pedersen, Dr Charles Robb - The Creative Impact of the Symbiosis between Funding Agencies and Arts Sector: A Comparative Case Study of Hong Kong and Australia
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Sandra Gattenhof, Dr Jeremy Neideck - Sociological Plant Studies: Agency and the (More-than-Human) Pluriverse
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Jane Turner, Ms Susan Loh