Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Martha Fleming
Martha Fleming is a museum professional and academic, working primarily in the intersecting fields of history of science, museology and history of collections. She has held research, teaching and leadership positions in both museums and universities in the United Kingdom, where she has lived since 1996. She has also held posts in university museums and collections in Denmark and in Germany. She lived and worked in Montreal, Québec, from 1981 until 1996, when she moved to London, England.
Much of her research is practice-based, translating into exhibitions, strategic development instruments, and pedagogical programmes. This approach derives from her earlier career (1980-1995) as an artist and art critic, where she developed a lasting interest in interdisciplinary methodologies integrating research and practice. She also publishes her research in scholarly contexts such as History of Science and Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
Fleming was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 2 October 1958, the daughter of Canadian graphic designer Allan Fleming (1929-1977) and publishing executive Nancy Fleming (1931-2008). Her brother is the furniture designer Peter Robb Fleming. Her sister is the Chef and Culinary Arts Professor, Susannah Jane Fleming.[citation needed] The siblings’ godparents were the poet Richard Outram and the artist Barbara Howard. The family home was a hub for Canadian creative professionals in the 1960s and 1970s, and was well appointed with furnishings both traditional and modernist, antiques, art and an extensive book collection. Fleming's childhood took place in this expansive cultural context.
Fleming's father experienced stress-related health challenges while working as vice president and Executive Art Director for MacLaren Advertising (now McCann Worldgroup) from 1963 to 1968. Her parents separated in 1976, and her father died shortly thereafter in 1977.[citation needed]
Fleming worked for rare book sellers in Toronto on leaving school in 1974, including Monk Bretton Books and the Albert Britnell Book Shop. At the suggestion of her godfather, Fleming concurrently audited courses in English Literature at the University of Toronto, including lectures by Northrop Frye on the narrative structure of the Bible, lectures which were later published posthumously.
Fleming was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1997 to pursue a MA (Master of Arts) in The History of the Book at the School of Advanced Study of University of London. Fleming later received her PhD, titled From Le Musee des Sciences to the Sciences Museum: Fifteen Years of Evolving Methodologies in the Art and Science Interface from the School of Art, Architecture and Design of Leeds Metropolitan University.
In her early artistic career, Fleming was an involved in various artist-run centres, and authored art criticism and theoretical articles for publications such as ArtForum, Open Letter, and Block, among others.
In 1981, Fleming established both a romantic and collaborative relationship with French-Canadian artist Lyne Lapointe. The couple lived together in Montreal, Quebec, where from their studio base they produced internationally a substantial body of research-intensive site-specific installations that were mainly self-organised, forging a deep and intersectional feminist aesthetics. Their hybrid practice was informed by, and contributed to, emerging artforms at the time such as installation, site-specificity, conceptual art, institutional critique, representational critique, readymades (found-objects), and appropriation. The projects which occupied abandoned architectures constituted forms of urban activism, inscribing critical thinking in marginal spaces in cities, and refuting the privatization of public space. Each Fleming and Lapointe project addressed a specific nexus of epistemic and political concern, addressing complex social issues historically embedded or metaphorically present at such sites.
Hub AI
Martha Fleming AI simulator
(@Martha Fleming_simulator)
Martha Fleming
Martha Fleming is a museum professional and academic, working primarily in the intersecting fields of history of science, museology and history of collections. She has held research, teaching and leadership positions in both museums and universities in the United Kingdom, where she has lived since 1996. She has also held posts in university museums and collections in Denmark and in Germany. She lived and worked in Montreal, Québec, from 1981 until 1996, when she moved to London, England.
Much of her research is practice-based, translating into exhibitions, strategic development instruments, and pedagogical programmes. This approach derives from her earlier career (1980-1995) as an artist and art critic, where she developed a lasting interest in interdisciplinary methodologies integrating research and practice. She also publishes her research in scholarly contexts such as History of Science and Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.
Fleming was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 2 October 1958, the daughter of Canadian graphic designer Allan Fleming (1929-1977) and publishing executive Nancy Fleming (1931-2008). Her brother is the furniture designer Peter Robb Fleming. Her sister is the Chef and Culinary Arts Professor, Susannah Jane Fleming.[citation needed] The siblings’ godparents were the poet Richard Outram and the artist Barbara Howard. The family home was a hub for Canadian creative professionals in the 1960s and 1970s, and was well appointed with furnishings both traditional and modernist, antiques, art and an extensive book collection. Fleming's childhood took place in this expansive cultural context.
Fleming's father experienced stress-related health challenges while working as vice president and Executive Art Director for MacLaren Advertising (now McCann Worldgroup) from 1963 to 1968. Her parents separated in 1976, and her father died shortly thereafter in 1977.[citation needed]
Fleming worked for rare book sellers in Toronto on leaving school in 1974, including Monk Bretton Books and the Albert Britnell Book Shop. At the suggestion of her godfather, Fleming concurrently audited courses in English Literature at the University of Toronto, including lectures by Northrop Frye on the narrative structure of the Bible, lectures which were later published posthumously.
Fleming was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship in 1997 to pursue a MA (Master of Arts) in The History of the Book at the School of Advanced Study of University of London. Fleming later received her PhD, titled From Le Musee des Sciences to the Sciences Museum: Fifteen Years of Evolving Methodologies in the Art and Science Interface from the School of Art, Architecture and Design of Leeds Metropolitan University.
In her early artistic career, Fleming was an involved in various artist-run centres, and authored art criticism and theoretical articles for publications such as ArtForum, Open Letter, and Block, among others.
In 1981, Fleming established both a romantic and collaborative relationship with French-Canadian artist Lyne Lapointe. The couple lived together in Montreal, Quebec, where from their studio base they produced internationally a substantial body of research-intensive site-specific installations that were mainly self-organised, forging a deep and intersectional feminist aesthetics. Their hybrid practice was informed by, and contributed to, emerging artforms at the time such as installation, site-specificity, conceptual art, institutional critique, representational critique, readymades (found-objects), and appropriation. The projects which occupied abandoned architectures constituted forms of urban activism, inscribing critical thinking in marginal spaces in cities, and refuting the privatization of public space. Each Fleming and Lapointe project addressed a specific nexus of epistemic and political concern, addressing complex social issues historically embedded or metaphorically present at such sites.