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Visual culture in the Global South, Practice-Based Research, Digital Methodologies, Postcolonial Theory, Artificial Intelligence, Decolonisation and Pedagogical Methods, Knowledge Production, Surveillance Technologies
United Kingdom

Biography

Dr. Anthony Downey is Professor of Visual Culture, with a specific focus on the Middle East and Global South (Birmingham City University). Anthony's research and teaching is focused on emerging forms of cultural production, digital methodologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Computer Vision.

He sits on the editorial boards of Third Text (Routledge), Digital War (Palgrave Macmillan), and Memory, Mind & Media (Cambridge University Press), and is the series editor for Research/Practice (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2019–ongoing). Upcoming and recent publications include Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations (Sternberg Press/MIT Press, 2024); Neocolonial Visions: Algorithmic Violence and Unmanned Aerial Systems (PostScriptUM no. 47, 2023); Khalil Rabah: Falling Forward—Works 1995- 2025 (Sharjah Art Foundation and Hatje Cantz, 2023), and Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air (Sternberg Press and The Power Plant, 2021). In 2025, he will publish Decolonizing Vision: Artificial Intelligence, Algorithmic Anxieties & the Future of Aerial Warfare (MIT Press, 2025).

In his capacity as BCU-lead, Downey is the Cultural and Commissioning Lead on a 2.2 million (GBP) AHRC Network Plus award (2021-2025), where he focuses on supporting interdisciplinary cultural practices and the expansion of educational provision for people with disabilities in Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories, and Jordan. The latter award was preceded by an AHRC Development Award (2019-2021).

For a fuller list of research outputs, see here:
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/art/about-us/our-expertise/our-staff/anthony-downey

For a fuller list of activities and upcoming events, see here:
www.anthonydowney.com

Activities

Employment (1)

Birmingham City University: N/A, GB

Employment
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Education and qualifications (3)

Goldsmiths University of London: London, GB

2001-03-31 to 2006-09-18 | Ph.D (Postcolonial Theory and the Politics of Mimesis)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Goldsmiths University of London: London, GB

1996-09-01 to 1997-09-29 | Masters (distinction) (Postcolonial Literature and Theory)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Birkbeck University of London: London, GB

1992-09-30 to 1995-09-30 | B.A. (First Class Honours) (Arts and Humanities)
Education
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Professional activities (9)

Disruption Network Institute: Berlin, DE

2024-01-01 to present | Advisory Board
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Journal of Memory, Mind & Media (Cambridge University Press): Cambridge, Cambridge, GB

2021-03-01 to present | Associate Editor (Editorial)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Journal of Digital War (Palgrave MacMillan): Glasgow, GB

2019-11-01 to present | Editor (Editorial)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Research/Practice: (Sternberg Press): Berlin, DE

2019-09-24 to present | Series Editor (Editorial)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

New Directions in Contemporary Art: London, GB

2018-01-02 to present | Editorial (International Series Advisory Board)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Strange Cargo: Folkestone, Kent, GB

2014-07-14 to present | Trustee (Board)
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Third Text (Routledge): London, GB

2012-02-01 to present | Editor (Editorial)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

University of Manchester: Manchester, GB

2021-03-01 to 2024-03-01 | Advisory Board (Understanding Displacement Aesthetics and Making Change in the Art Gallery with Refugees, Migrants and Host Communities)
Invited position
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Ibraaz: (Kamel Lazaar Foundation): Tunisia, Tunisia, TN

2010-02-01 to 2018-10-01 | Editor (Editorial)
Membership
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Funding (2)

AHRC Network Plus Award (2020-2025)

2020-03 to 2025-03 | Award
GCRF (London, GB)
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

AHRC Development Award (2019-2020)

2019-06 to 2021-03 | Award
AHRC (London, GB)
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Works (50 of 80)

Items per page:
Page 1 of 2

Nida Sinnokrot: Palestine is not a Garden

Sternberg Press & MIT Press
2025-11-30 | Book | Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Rawan Sharaf Khatib; Shela Sheikh; Ros Gray; Omar Tesdell; Natasha Aruri; Yazid Anani; Sahar Qawasmi; Mai al-Battat; Ahlam Bsharat et al.
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Nida Sinnokrot

2025-02-01 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

901041bf-50bd-420a-b6a4-ef128b7e7625

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Nida Sinnokrot; Shela Sheikh
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Influencing machines

Digital War
2024-11-20 | Journal article
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

b1a31ab6-7d06-4439-8a9b-a44e71f6b848

Contributors: Trevor Paglen; Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

The Future of Death: Algorithmic Design, Predictive Analysis, and Drone Warfare

War and Aesthetics: Art, Technology, and the Futures of Warfare
2024-06-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

b59e4dad-1089-44e5-ac81-c3f5466e7dce

Part of ISBN: 9780262048736
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Ander Engberg-Pedersen; Jens Bjering; Christine Strandmose Toft; Solveig Gade; Louise Amoore; James Der Derian; Ryan Bishop; Mark B. Hansen; Phil Play et al.
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Trevor Paglen: Adversarially Evolved Hallucinations

Sternberg Press & MIT Press
2024-06-01 | Book | Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Trevor Paglen
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

The Airspace Tribunal

2024-05-31 | Journal issue or edition | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

898eae4d-c706-49cc-b994-38e430d13352

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Shona Illingworth; Andrew Hoskins; Renata Salecl
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Algorithmic Predictions and Pre-Emptive Violence

Digital War
2024-05-05 | Journal article | Writing - original draft
Part of ISSN: 2662-1975
Part of ISSN: 2662-1983
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Begrenzt zukunftsfähig

Springerin
2024-04-02 | Journal article | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

The Algorithmic Apparatus of Neocolonialism (Part II)

Vision and Verticality: A Multipurpose Approach
2024-02-02 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

The Airspace Tribunal special issue

Digital War
2024-01-01 | Journal issue or edition | Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Shona Illingworth; Andrew Hoskins; Renata Salecl
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Neocolonial Visions: Algorithmic Violence and Unmanned Aerial Systems

PostScriptUM 47 (Ljubljana: Askioma)
2023-11-01 | Book | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Neokolonialne Vizije

Aksioma (PostScriptUM #47)
2023-11-01 | Book | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Mnemotechnics

The Handbook of Media and Culture in the Middle East
2023-09-01 | Book chapter | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

dc023dd4-b164-4f98-820a-5def99faa958

EID:

2-s2.0-85165415537

EID:

2-s2.0-85165415537

Part of ISBN: 9781119637134
Part of ISBN: 9781119637066
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Neocolonial Visions

A Short Incomplete History of Technologies that Scale
2023-05-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Topologies of Air and the Airspace Tribunal

Philosophy of Photography
2023-01-22 | Journal article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

516ef7df-b980-49f5-add3-0bb12285f920

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Shona Illingworth
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Programmed Visions and Techno-Fossils

Third Text
2022 | Journal article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

5e1c4334-0087-47be-93ad-832c127826ba

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y. Amin
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

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
2022 | Journal article
Contributors: Heba Y. Amin; Anthony Downey; Helene Kazan; Naeem Mohaiemen; Susan Schuppli
Source: check_circle
Crossref

Lost in Narration

Interviews: Rabih Mroue
2022-05-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
Part of ISBN: 978-3-7757-5308-1
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

The Algorithmic Apparatus of Neocolonialism

Shona Illingworth
2022-01-31 | Book chapter | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

6444b8b5-8ce3-434b-b814-84812c53e000

Part of ISBN: 978-3-95679-553-4
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Shona Illingworth
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Khalil Rabah: Falling Forward / Works (1995–2025)

Sharjah Art Foundation (UAE) and Hatje Cantz (Germany)
2022-01-01 | Edited book | Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Rasha Salti; Tom Holert; Chrisoula Lionis; Chiara De Cesari; Hoor Al Qasimi; Khalil Rabah
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Shona Illingworth: Topologies of Air

Sternberg Press
2022-01-01 | Edited book | Conceptualization, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

The Future of the Online Archive: Networked Activism, Social Media, and Digital Authoritarianism

Art and Politics
2022-01-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
URI:

https://imma.ie/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMMA-texts-Vol-1.-Text-4-Anthony-Downey.pdf

Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

The Algorithmic Apparatus of Neo-Colonialism

Nordic Journal of Aesthetics
2021 | Journal article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

e16d3c05-2ed3-43df-8050-038e7041fedf

EID:

2-s2.0-85132009113

Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

After Mosul: The Cultural Economy of Destruction and Reconstruction

Terrorism and the Arts: Practices and Critiques in Contemporary Cultural Production
2021-09-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Jonathan Harris
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Calculating Skies

The MIT Press Reader
2021-07-08 | Website | Writing - original draft
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

1f8b8deb-f309-4cc3-96c6-ad6d14b92c5d

Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

The Future of Protest (Images) in a Post-Digital Age

The Protest and the Recuperation
2021-04-05 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

b3e21808-212b-4131-9780-730bb9f9572d

Part of ISBN: 9781884919367
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

“Egypt’s 2011 Internet Shutdown: Digital Dissent and the Future of Public Memory

Camera Austria
2021-03-21 | Journal article | Conceptualization
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y Amin; Adel Iskandar; Abdelkarim Mardini
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

After Mosul

Terrorism and the Arts
2021-03-16 | Book chapter | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

d64c655b-1217-47b3-a200-7511259afb3f

EID:

2-s2.0-85104552016

Part of ISBN: 9780429783128
Part of ISBN: 9781138359222
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

“Avian Prophecies and the Techno-Aesthetics of Drone Warfare

(W)archives: Archival Imaginaries, War and Contemporary Art
2021-01-01 | Book chapter | Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Part of ISBN: 9783956794568
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y Amin
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Heba Y. Amin: The General's Stork

2020-07-12 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

27843ef6-d718-484d-bcce-308f5d0d454d

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y Amin; Laura Poitras; Adam Harvey; Adel Iskander; Haitham Mossad
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Contesting Post-digital Futures:

Digital War
2020-07-10 | Journal article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

abe2e50e-e273-4d2c-9498-a25a76d15ff5

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y. Amin
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

“Avian Prophecies and the Techno-Aesthetics of Drone Warfare: Heba Y. Amin and Anthony Downey”

(W)archives
2020-06-09 | Book chapter | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

781820ae-e237-47b6-84e0-170a05a94da8

Part of ISBN: 978-3-95679-456-8
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y. Amin
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Epigenetics and Speculative Research

The MIT Press Reader
2020-05-05 | Website | Conceptualization, Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Larissa Sensor
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

"Where is the Knowledge we have Lost in Disinformation: Collaborative Research Methodologies and Speculative Practice"

Institution as Praxis: New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research
2020-05-03 | Book chapter
Part of ISBN: 978-3-95679-506-0
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Larissa Sansour: Heirloom

Sternberg Press
2020-03-17 | Book | Writing - original draft, Conceptualization
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Nat Muller; Lindsey Moore
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Drone Technologies and the Future of Surveillance

The MIT Press Reader
2020-03-05 | Website | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y Amin
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Drone Technologies and the Future of Surveillance in the Middle East

2020-03-05 | Magazine article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

cdb3aeae-ffb8-448a-b6d3-4cbc121a5e9a

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Heba Y. Amin
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Algorithmic Anxieties

Digital War
2020-02-18 | Journal article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

1454ba97-5e16-4b60-a8b1-25c70724d134

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Trevor Paglen
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

La Primavera árabe y el invierno del desencanto

Ripio Press
2019-10-30 | Edited book | Conceptualization, Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Critique in Practice

2019-09-01 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

20a6e97d-79bc-43b0-9413-c8c20752b807

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Els Roelandt
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

“Performative Resonances: Hiwa K in conversation with Anthony Downey and Amal Khalaf”

The Twenty First Century Performance Reader (Routledge)
2019-06-26 | Book chapter
Part of ISBN: 9781138785342
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Michael Rakowitz: I’m good at love, I’m good at hate, it’s in between I freeze

Sternberg Press (London and Berlin)
2019-03-21 | Edited book
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Photography as Apparatus

Critical Interventions Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture
2019-02-19 | Journal article
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

7384929f-bed0-4f28-842e-4e47d6984d35

Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

The Politics of Shame

2018 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

302df502-a027-44ec-8517-4310c4f91428

ISBN:

14095823

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Ai Weiwei
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Transposing the Vernacular: Moving Images in the Work of Akram Zaatari

New Art Exchange
2018-08-01 | Book
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey
grade
Preferred source (of 2)‎

Mediating Social Media:

2018-07-14 | Magazine article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

8d153057-fb37-4ad9-a3a7-e790db813ae4

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Akram Zaatari
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

Photography as Apparatus

Critical Interventions Journal of African Art History and Visual Culture
2018-04-01 | Journal article | Writing - original draft
Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: Self-asserted source
Anthony Downey

Vital Materialism: Filming the Anthropocene

2018-02-12 | Magazine article | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

23f94f94-d46b-454b-93b1-3ea7750166a8

Contributors: Anthony Downey; John Akomfrah
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

"Scopic Reflections: Incoming and the Technology of Exceptionalism", catalogue published on the occasion of Richard Mosse: Incoming, 15 February - 23 April 2017, published in 2017 by Barbican Curve Gallery, London EC2Y 8DS United Kingdom. ISBN 978 0 9957082 0 4

Barbican Curve Series
2017 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

3828ea33-5275-426f-b043-031c228307f1

Contributors: Anthony Downey; Alona Pardo
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration

"Where to Now: Imminent Impermanence in the Work of Sheela Gowda", catalogue published on the occasion of Sheela Gowda, Ikon Gallery, November 2017. ISBN 978-1-911155-10-2

2017 | Book | Author
SOURCE-WORK-ID:

87827c1a-4fda-41f1-9b85-619232a5597b

Contributors: Anthony Downey
Source: check_circle
Birmingham City University: Pure to ORCID Integration
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