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Jill Carrick

Profile image of Jill Carrick

Associate Professor; Undergraduate Supervisor (Art History); Practicum Supervisor (AAH)

  • B.A. and M.A. (University of Melbourne) Ph.D. (Bryn Mawr College)
  • SP413 St. Patrick’s Building (Carleton University Art Gallery), Carleton University
  • 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
  • Jill.Carrick@carleton.ca

I teach art history and cultural theory at Carleton University in the Department of Art History and Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture. Intrigued by the vibrant artistic experimentation that took place during the 1960s, I investigate its continuing impact on the present. My current research focuses on Neo-dada art in 1960s France and Europe, with particular focus on the pioneering work of artists such as Daniel Spoerri and François Dufrêne.

I have a BA and MA from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Ph.D. from Bryn Mawr College, U.S.A. Following my doctorate, I moved to Canada to work as a Killam Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia. My present research at Carleton University is funded by the university and a 2012-2017 Canadian Government Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Insight Grant.

My publications include the first English monograph on the 1960s artists’ group ‘Nouveau Réalisme’ (see selected bibliography), and articles and book chapters on French 1960s art, turn-of-the-century posters, 1970s feminist art, and postmodernism.

I teach courses on the history of 20th Century art and seminars on international contemporary art, feminism, and interdisciplinary theory to students at the undergraduate, M.A. and Ph.D. levels.

Positions held at international research institutions include The University of Melbourne Queen’s College: Sugden Fellow (2011), and the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (France): Chercheur invité du département des études et de la recherche (June-July 2010).

And now for the personal: my passions include French cheese and Renaissance lute music!

Selected Bibliography

2022. Carrick, J. and Déborah Laks (eds): Daniel Spoerri: Topographies. Networks of Exchange, Heidelberg, Heidelberg University Library and Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Centre Allemand d’Histoire de l’Art Paris, 2022. Print and online. https://books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arthistoricum/catalog/book/826

Book cover for Daniel Spoerri: Topographies

2019. Carrick, J. and Pauline Goutain (avec ExposerPublier): “L’Optique Moderne. Une publication kaléidoscopique”, in Journal de l’Université d’été de la Bibliothèque Kandinsky N0 5. Publications d’artistes: de l’atelier à la bibliothèque (et vice-versa) / Artists’ Publications: From the Studio to the Library and Back Again, Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2019, pp. 123-142.

Book Cover: Nouveau Réalisme by Jill Carrick

2018. Carrick, J. Nouveau Réalisme: Retour sur les topographies du hazard, tr. H. Sirven, Paris, Editions de la Sorbonne, 2018. [French translation with new introduction of Nouveau Réalisme, 1960s France and the Neo-avant-garde, 2010].

2017. Carrick, J., Fabrice Flahutez, Pauline Goutain (eds): Dimensions de l’art brut: une histoire des matérialités, Paris, Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre.

2017. Carrick, J., “The Paradox of Time: Nouveau Réalisme’s Curious ‘Archeology of the Present’”, in John O’Brian and Serge Guilbaut, eds., Breathless Days, 1959-1960, Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2017, pp. 129-151. (Chapter in edited book).

2017. Carrick, J., “L’Optique Moderne: Daniel Spoerri’s ‘Optical Readymades’”, in Natalie Adamson and Steven Harris, eds, Material Imagination: Art in Europe, 1946-72, Wiley Blackwell, Chichester, pp. 112-139. *Republication of 2016 Art History article.

journal page image

2016. Carrick, J., “L’Optique Moderne: Daniel Spoerri’s ‘Optical Readymades’”, Art History, Vol. 39, no. 4, September 2016, pp. 744-771.


Jill Carrick, Nouveau Réalisme, 1960s France, and the Neo-avant-garde: Topographies of Chance and Return, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Surrey, England, and Burlington, VT, USA, 2010.

Jill Carrick, “The Assassination of Marcel Duchamp: Collectivism and Contestation in 1960s France”, The Oxford Art Journal, Issue 31/1, 2008, pp. 1-25.


Jill Carrick, “Le Nouveau Réalisme: un détournement de la profusion des choses”, catalogue essay, Le Nouveau Réalisme, (Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 28 Mars 2007 – 2 Juillet 2007), Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2007, pp. 176—209. Republished in German in Nouveau Réalisme: Revolution des Alltäglichen in 2008.

2013. Carrick, J., “Scandale”, “exhibitionnisme”, et “flagrant délit”: les écrits de Michel Ragon sur le Nouveau Réalisme, 1960-1963”, in Richard Leeman and Hélène Jannière, eds., Michel Ragon, Critique d’art et d’architecture, Presses universitaires de Rennes, France, pp. 111-124.

2011. Carrick, J., “The Past in the Present: Art in 1960s France”. Aedificamus: The Queen’s College Journal, Vol. 10, October, 2011, pp. 102-119.

2009. Carrick, J., “Vers un art de l’intégration?”, in Richard Leeman, ed., Le demi-siècle de Pierre Restany,  Les Editions des Cendres/INHA, Paris, France, pp. 77-88.

2009. Carrick, J., “Topographies of Chance:  Tracing the ‘Contemporary’ in 1960s France”, in Jaynie Anderson, ed., Crossing Cultures: Conflict. Migration. Convergence, Melbourne University Press-Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, Australia, June, pp. 957-960.

2004. Carrick, J., “Pierre Restany and Le Nouveau Réalisme”, in Tom Bishop, ed., The Florence Gould Lectures at New York University, Vol. VI 2002-2004, pp. 102-108.

2003. Carrick, J., “Phallic Victories? Niki de Saint-Phalle’s Tirs”, Art History, Vol. 26, no. 5, November, pp. 700-729.

1999. Carrick, J., “Penny Mason: Configurations”, catalogue essay, Penny Mason: Configurations, University of Tasmania, Launceston, September, unpaginated.

1998. Carrick, J., “’Imagination Rules:’ Art, Contestation, and May ‘68,” catalogue essay, Next Wave Arts Festival, Melbourne, May, unpaginated.

1997. Carrick, J., “Le Nouveau Réalisme: Art, Everyday Life and the ‘Real’”, Like, Art Magazine, no. 2, pp. 18-27.

1994. Carrick, J., “Refiguring Medusa’s Head: Hannah Höch’s From an Ethnographic Museum and Portrait series”, in Weimar Culture: Issues of Modernity and the Metropolis, Conference Proceedings, The University of Arizona, Tucson, pp. 123-130.

1990. Carrick, J., “Creation Playing Solitaire: Science Fiction, Surrealism, Postmodernity”, Arena, vol. 92, Spring, pp. 74-95.

1988/1989. Carrick, J., “Fascinating Fetishes: Contemporary Advertising and Surrealism”, Antithesis, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 20-35.

1987. Carrick, J., “Turn of the Century Posters- Representing Women”, Arena, vol. 79, June, pp. 108-118.

Past Events

Conference: Topographies de Daniel Spoerri: l’artiste en ses réseaux / Daniel Spoerri’s Topographies: Networks of Exchange, co-organized with Déborah Laks, at Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris, 22-23 October, 2018.

Exhibition: Imaginary Worlds Scottie Wilson and “Art Brut”, curated by Pauline Goutain at the Carleton University Art Gallery.

Conference: Colloque International: Art Brut et Matérialité / International Colloquium: Art Brut and Materiality, co-organized with Fabrice Flahutez and Pauline Goutain at Université Paris Ouest Nanterre.