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Richard Taws

@richardtaws.bsky.social
396 followers 591 following 17 posts

18th/19th-century visual culture, history, politics, technology. prof and head of dept @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social profiles.ucl.ac.uk/20767-richard-ta…

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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Thanks @alexzivkovic.bsky.social for this lovely review of Time Machines!
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MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"A century before a human being left Earths’ gravitational pull, Verne saw technology reshaping his world and penned a novel that captures the complex social, political, and *human* reality of innovation and space exploration." @reactorsff.bsky.social @anaklimchy.bsky.social
reactormag.com
Misunderstanding the Genius of Jules Verne — And Why It Matters to Science Fiction - Reactor
Our cultural obsession with Verne's predictive abilities ignores the real critical nuance and power of his writing, to everyone's detriment.
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
🖨️ PRINT HISTORIES, PRINT FUTURES 🖼️ What can prints tell us about the past - and where might print take us next? Join us for talks and discussion exploring print across art, material culture, curating, teaching & research. 📅 10 Oct | 10:30–17:00 🎟️ Free & open to all 👉 Book here: shorturl.at/O5wOG
birds in water
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Just in case you have time on your hands, and love the challenge of transcribing unreadable handwriting, and fancy contributing to completing the project of producing the collected works of Jeremy Bentham .... @transcribe-bentham.bsky.social
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Great to see the Guardian champion the SHAPE (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) subjects, but this piece gives impression that they are expensive, whereas many are 'cheap to teach' subjects subsidising more expensive subjects, mainly in STEM and medicine. The crisis demands better understanding.
theguardian.com
The Guardian view on humanities cuts in universities: academic departments are more than cost centres | Editorial
Editorial: Literature, the arts and social sciences must not be sacrificed as higher education funding is squeezed
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
‘The British Academy’s analysis also found that regional cold spots were accelerating, and some subjects were now virtually impossible to access at less selective universities... With more than 1,000 further job losses proposed at Russell Group universities… these cold spots will only increase.’
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Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Indeed we do! docs.google.com/document/d/e... I would add a line about the stupidity of cutting even further in the Strategic Priorities Grant, but may need to stop seething about that first. Do contact your MPs, many of them are too reliant on deeply stupid briefings from the DfE.
docs.google.com
UKHE MP template
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Emma Monk @monkemma.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
It was inevitable, wasn't it🙄 Of course the Telegraph would run with something like this👇 So let's remove some of the rose-tinted spectacles and also look at some of that data comparing 1976 with modern heat waves Because the 1976 nostalgia porn is wearing a bit thin at this stage 🧵1/23
Telegraph headiline:

"Heatwave hysterics wouldn't have lasted a day in 1976", overlaid with a bold “MONK DEBUNKED” stamp.
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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
For #NationalPigeonDay, photographs taken by Dr Julius Neubronner’s ingenious "pigeon camera", circa 1908. More pics, and the story, here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/d…
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Lecturer in Modern Art and Theory, UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social Please apply—or tell people who might! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQY983/l...
jobs.ac.uk
Lecturer, Modern Art and Theory at UCL
Apply for the Lecturer, Modern Art and Theory role on jobs.ac.uk, the top job board for academic positions in higher education. View details and apply now.
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Ned Richardson-Little @historyned.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Gotta love how academic books don't earn you money, but LLMs can make money off of stealing them in the aggregate and if you write enough, they can also profit from stealing your personality after you are dead.
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emily doucet @emilygdoucet.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
👀 The intro of Inventing Nadar is now up online for free!
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Tomás Harris Lecture with Lamia Balafrej (UCLA)✨ Technical Marvels and the Making of Difference in Medieval Islam explores automata, “hidden labor,” frontier talismans, and the making of medieval race, from idols to Gog and Magog. 🗓 17–19 Mar 2026 ⭐ Open to all ⭐ 🎟 Book here: shorturl.at/xin9b
shorturl.at
Tomás Harris Lecture 2026: Lamia Balafrej
We are delighted to welcome Lamia Balafrej (UCLA) for a lecture series on 'Technical Marvels and the Making of Difference in Medieval Islam'.
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UCL History @uclhistory.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
🌍 Haiti’s ‘Double Debt’: from Commemoration to Reparation Join the 5th Elsa V. Goveia Speaker Series from the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, honouring Elsa V. Goveia 💬 🎤 With Charles Forsdick (University of Cambridge). ⭐ Open to all – free tickets: shorturl.at/N6zjn
shorturl.at
Haiti's 'Double Debt': from Commemoration to Reparation
The fifth instalment of the annual Elsa V. Goveia Speaker Series from the UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery.
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
We are delighted to welcome Professor Sarah Betzer (University of Virginia) for a research seminar on New “Lesson[s] of a Bas Relief.” 💬 📅 05 Mar 2026 | 🕠 17:30–19:30 📍 IAS Common Ground 🌟All welcome! www.ucl.ac.uk/social-histo...
ucl.ac.uk
New “Lesson[s] of a Bas Relief”
We welcome Professor Professor Sarah Betzer (University of Virginia) for a research seminar on New “Lesson[s] of a Bas Relief”.
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
New job at UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social 'Lecturer in History of Art, Materials, and Technology'. Deadline 1 March. Please circulate/apply! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...
ucl.ac.uk
UCL – University College London
UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
A massive thank you to everyone who came along to ‘Curating Kerry James Marshall’ last week 🎉 A packed lecture theatre, great conversations, incredible energy and an unforgettable surprise visit from Kerry James Marshall himself! 🌟
A group of six men and women stand together smiling
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UCL Institute of Advanced Studies @ucl-ias.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Gail Day & Steve Edwards discuss their much-anticipated book on Allan Sekula, 'Amphibious Realities'. 30 Jan, 5:30–7:30 pm Join this @marxisminculture.bsky.social seminar on Allan Sekula, the award-winning, anti-capitalist artist, photographer, filmmaker and theorist. www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
ucl.ac.uk
Gail Day and Steve Edwards discuss their much-anticipated book on Allan Sekula
Join this 'Marxism in Culture' seminar with Gail Day, Steve Edwards, Alex Fletcher and Stephanie Schwartz.They will be discussing Allan Sekula (1951–2013), the award-winning, anti-capitalist artist, p...
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
The Spring programme for the London Group of Historical Geographers is now live. We start again on 13 January with Thermal Horizons: Energy and Infrastructures of British Global Power, c. 1830-1900. In person at the IHR, London and on Zoom. Free and open to the public. All welcome, please register.
history.ac.uk
London Group of Historical Geographers
Since 1989, the London Group of Historical Geographers has organised fortnightly themed seminars that are interdisciplinary in focus.
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight www.cityam.com/the-british-...
cityam.com
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
Join us for the Past Imperfect seminar with Jack Hartnell (Head of Research, National Gallery, London) discussing his new book Wound Man: The Many Lives of a Surgical Image 🩹📚 In conversation with Bob Mills followed by Q&A 💬 Signed and discounted copies available! 👉https://shorturl.at/amiRW
shorturl.at
Past Imperfect Book Launch: Jack Hartnell
Please join the Past Imperfect seminar to hear Jack Hartnell reflect on his new book Wound Man: the Many Lives of a Surgical Image.
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
👇👇👇
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Dr. Penelope K Hardy @pkhardy.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
New on H-Sci-Med-Tech: Check out Edward Gillin (@ucl.ac.uk)’s review of @richardtaws.bsky.social (@uclhistoryofart.bsky.social)’s book _Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France_, pub 2025 @mitpress.bsky.social Review available @hnetreviews.bsky.social
h-net.org
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Stellar new issue of Oxford Art Journal in honour of @carscott.bsky.social feat. essays by Alex Potts, Thomas Hughes, Steve Edwards, Katie Scott, Clare Pettitt, Jeremy Melius, Susan Siegfried, Keren Rosa Hammerschlag, T.J.Clark…and of course Caroline herself! academic.oup.com/oaj/issue/48/1
academic.oup.com
Volume 48 Issue 1 | Oxford Art Journal | Oxford Academic
Publishes innovative critical work in art history from Antiquity to contemporary art practice, with a commitment to the political analysis of visual art and material representation from a variety of t...
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Prof. Francesca Berry (she/her) @francescaberry.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
On Thursday 2nd October (5.15pm GMT), I am giving a research paper, hosted by HannahHalliwell of University of Edinburgh. It’s online and I believe anyone can register to attend. All welcome! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/history-of...
eventbrite.co.uk
History of Art Research Seminar Series | Dr Francesca Berry
Atelier-Chambre and Chambre: The Sexual Politics of Intimiste Space
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Association for Art History @forarthistory.org.uk · 29/08/2025
As part of the Art History Festival 2025, the Association for Art History is hosting a standout series of special in-person events in London. They’re all free, but make sure you book.
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Helen Barrett @helenbarrett.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
London foxes 👌 www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Google battling ‘fox infestation’ on roof of £1bn London office
Foxes have ‘begun to dig burrows’ in soil of rooftop garden at the as yet unopened King’s Cross headquarters
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The British Academy @britishacademy.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Our map of cold spots in provision of humanities and social sciences courses and student numbers across the UK has been updated with the data for the 2023/24 academic year. Explore for yourself here: buff.ly/2x7yE5K
A map of the UK, overlaid with a heat map that displays 'cold spots' where there is a lack of provision of social sciences and humanities higher education courses. A map of the UK overlaid with colour coded circles that show the concentration of student numbers across different regions. A line chart showing changes in student numbers over time.
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Next week! www.ucl.ac.uk/history/even...
ucl.ac.uk
Displacement and the French Revolution
This interdisciplinary workshop brings together historians, historical geographers, literary scholars and art historians working on the theme of "displacement" in and around the French Revolution.
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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
say it again: 4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Thank you Kirsten Tambling for this first review of 'Time Machines'! @mitpress.bsky.social
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
👇👇👇
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John Gallagher @earlymodernjohn.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Not at all concerning to learn that Universities UK are partnering with a company to sell an AI product that offers automated feedback on student work. Who needs staff?
LinkedIn promoted post about Universities UK's partnership with a firm called Studiosity, who are offering universities a free trial of their "AI for learning (not corrections), for formative feedback at scale)". Text from the announcement which says the AI technology "means all students can benefit from personalised formative feedback in minutes, including guidance on how they can demonstrably improve their own work and critical thinking skills. Actionable insight is accessible to faculty and leaders, revealing the scale of engagement with support, cohorts requiring intervention, and measurable learning progress."
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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 12/04/2025
Sometimes it feels like my whole career has been a chain of gatherings where UK & US academics trade stories of the particular kinds of stress & grief & short-sightedness that shadow our work. I want better for all of us.
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Chris Bertram @crookedfootball.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Yes, but how close?
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
👇👇👇
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James Leo Cahill @jamesleocahill.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
A great day to recall that on March 18, 1871, the great experiment of the Paris Commune began. All remains possible.
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Richard Taws @richardtaws.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Great opportunity for a funded p/t MA with us plus curatorial assistantship in collaboration with Tate Britain. Pls share!
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James Leo Cahill @jamesleocahill.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Ghost dog. Atget, "Galerie Vivienne, 2ème arrondissement, Paris" Eugène Atget, collection of the Musée Carnavalet, Histoire de Paris.
Atget's "Galerie Vivienne, 2eme ar., Paris": a black and white photograph circa 1907 of the arcades of Galerie Vivienne in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. THe image is of a long glass covered passage with stores on either side. The image includes ghostly traces of a woman and a dog, who moved out of the image during its long exposure.
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Sam Wetherell @samwetherell.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Just heard the sad news that this weird and beautiful brutalist home at the University of York is scheduled for demolition. Part of the university's ongoing attempts to disavow its own modernist heritage. c20society.org.uk/building-of-...
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Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
I’m a professor at a public university, a proud union member, and a fierce believer in the value of a humanities education for my students. I felt every word of this essay by Peter Civiello in my bones. READ IT. SHARE IT. www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...
nplusonemag.com
Memos of Blood and Fire | Peter Coviello
So if you ask me about the signature strength of the department where I work, I will tell you. It is world-caliber field-defining research, wedded to a fantastically dynamic practice of instruction, a...
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Sadiah Qureshi 🦈 @sadiahqureshi.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
‘there is now a worry that REF2029 will enable a different injustice: that institutions can hold onto the outputs of staff they have sacked, while making it harder for them to gain new academic employment because they are no longer linked to the work they created.’ This must be changed.
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The Art Newspaper @theartnewspaper.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
University College London's art museum, home to works by Paula Rego and J.M.W Turner, secures temporary home after academics protest buff.ly/JiV3b0F
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UCL History of Art @uclhistoryofart.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Celebrate the launch of @richardtaws.bsky.social 'Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France' with us! 📖 We'll be joined by Prof. Sanja Perovic (KCL) to explore coded messages in art & the impact of telegraphy on public space. 📅 24 March, 6-8pm 👉 Sign up: shorturl.at/LhjpP 👈
shorturl.at
Book launch: Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France
Join us at UCL History of Art’s Past Imperfect Seminar for an evening of discussion to celebrate the publication of Prof Richard Taws’ Time Machines: Telegraphic Images in Nineteenth-Century France (M...
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UCL Institute of Advanced Studies @ucl-ias.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
IAS Conference: Audiences, Publics, Experience: Rethinking Music Reception 6-7 March, UCL Drawing together musicology, anthropology, psychology as well as sound, media, and cultural studies, the conference aims to progress foundational research on music reception today. www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of...
ucl.ac.uk
IAS Conference: Audiences, Publics, Experience: Rethinking Music Reception
Drawing together musicology, anthropology, psychology as well as sound, media, and cultural studies, the conference aims to progress foundational research on music reception today.
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Patrick De Oliveira @plso.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
The book now has a cover! (And some very kind blurbs by @ayates.bsky.social & @andydenninghist.bsky.social) Check it out if you want to learn about how the French made the balloon into one of the quintessential artifacts of fin-de-siècle modernity. More info at mitpress.mit.edu/978026254980...
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UCL History @uclhistory.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Join us for an evening with Professor Dame Sonia Boyce, award-winning artist & academic, as she presents “Crop Over: A Talk” - exploring Caribbean carnival traditions, resistance, and legacies of British slavery 💬 🌟Open to all🌟 👉Register here: shorturl.at/0p4cZ%F0%9F%...
Black and white poster featuring a Black woman sat down in the centre. The event is the Elsa Vl Goveia Memorial Speaker Series with a talk called Crop Over by Professor Dame Sonia Boyce.
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Europe & the World at the IHR @ihreurope1500.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Our next seminar is Allison Stielau (@uclearlymodxcha.bsky.social) on "Treasure Hoards in the Thirty Years' War" 10 March, 5:30 (UK), @ihr.bsky.social & Zoom All welcome! Register for link: www.history.ac.uk/events/treas... #EarlyModern #Skystorians Image from: discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...
screenshot from a journal article's image silverwear
Peter Schindler. Regensburger Silberfund photographic series, plate 17 (R21–R42), 1869. Albumen print, photograph 8 3/8 × 6 3/4 in. (21.3 × 17 cm); cardboard support 18 3/4 × 12 1/2 in. (47.6 × 31.8 cm). Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna (inv. KI 4442- 9)
from: Allison Stielau, "The 1869 Regensburger Silberfund: A Seventeenth-Century Hoard of Silver," Metropolitan Museum Journal 58 (2023), 34-58.
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Gabriela Bueno Gibbs @gbuenogibbs.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
Hello from CAA--all books are 20% off! @mitpress.bsky.social
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