Collaborate project spotlight

Find out more about the partnership between Quarantine and Rox Middleton, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol

The beauty project

Quarantine with Rox Middleton, School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol

This partnership was awarded a research grant in June 2022 as part of the first round of funding of the Centre for Cultural Value’s Collaborate programme.

The fund looks to support innovative new partnerships between cultural sector practitioners and academics to explore under-explored questions around cultural value.

A large board has text that reads: "369. Is the world how you imagined?" In the foreground people are moving cables and working on the stage. — Quarantine, 12 Last Songs at Transform Festival, October 2021 Photo: David Lindsay

What will the project explore?

How is an audience affected by beauty? When the event is over, what remains?

Beauty can motivate audiences, and in both arts and science, beauty motivates processes of research and creation. But beauty is subjective, difficult to measure and at risk of being overlooked as a benefit and aim.

Theatre company Quarantine, alongside physicist Rox Middleton from the University of Bristol, will work with a researcher in philosophy and with performers and audiences to investigate ways to understand and articulate the value of beauty.

The partnership will explore methodologies for better understanding and articulating the value of beauty, with a focus on live performance. They will test methods to evaluate intrinsic values rather than solely those that are good because of their effects. They will also seek a new vocabulary for articulating the value of beauty in cultural production.