The majority of my research publications to date relate to the practice of 20th Century German artist Joseph Beuys and I am interested in the long-term relevance of Beuys’ methodology of social sculpture, particularly as it speaks to our contemporary context of climate emergency. In addition to Beuys’ work and legacies, I have also published on issues around heritage and identity and my broader research interests include theories of language, the relationship between art and anthropology, and art and notions of home and ecology.
Books (sole-authored and edited)
Walters, V., 2012. Joseph Beuys and the Celtic Wor(l)d: a language of healing. Berlin: LIT Verlag
Lerm Hayes, C. and Walters, V., eds., 2011. Beuysian Legacies in Ireland and Beyond: Art, Culture and Politics. Berlin: LIT Verlag
Book chapters and journal articles
Walters, V., 2024 (forthcoming). Teaching on a Damaged Planet: Learning Lessons from Lockdown. In Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, Special Issue 2: ‘Ways of Writing (WOW)’ 16:2 (pp. tbc)
Walters, V., 2024 (forthcoming). Ask the Ancestors: Reflections on The Avebury Project. In Nic Craith, M., Strani, A. and Mackie, A., eds., Liberating the Ethnological Imagination: A Feast Script for Ullrich Kockel, Zurich: Lit Verlag (pp.tbc)
Walters, V., 2020. On Learning to Say Longing: Drawing on the Power of Fado. In Kockel, U., McDermott, P. and Campbell, L., eds., Per Scribendum Sumus: Ethnopoesis, or: Writing Heritage. Zurich: LIT Verlag, pp.128-143
Walters, V., 2019. Joseph Beuys and EURASIA. In Tate Papers, no.31, Spring 2019
Walters, V., 2014. We-Minotaur-Labyrinth-Root: talking transgression with Beuys and Bataille. In Rice, L. and Little, D., eds., Transgression: towards an expanded field of architecture. Series: Critical Studies in Architectural Humanities. Oxford: Routledge, pp.230-252
Walters, V., 2013. Opening Up the Field: Joseph Beuys’ Anthropological Art. In Johler, R., Marchetti, C, Tschofen, B and Weith, C., eds., Kultur_Kultur: Denken. Forschen. Darstellen. Münster, New York, Munich, Berlin: Waxmann Verlag, pp. 311-317
Walters, V., 2010. The Artist as Shaman: the work of Joseph Beuys and Marcus Coates. In Schneider, A. and Wright, C., eds., Between Art and Anthropology: Contemporary Ethnographic Practice. Oxford: Routledge, pp. 35-47
Walters, V., 2010. Working “in the Opposite Direction”: Joseph Beuys in the Field. In Anthropological Journal of European Cultures Vol. 19 (2), pp. 22-43
Book Reviews
Walters, V., 2007. Book Review: Tok Freeland Thompson, Ireland’s Pre-Celtic Archaeological and Anthropological Heritage. In Irish Journal of Anthropology Vol.10 (1), pp. 58-59 • Walters, V., 2007. Book Review: Gisela Holfter (ed), German-speaking Exiles in Ireland 1933-1944. In Irish Economic and Social History Vol.34, pp. 122-124
Exhibition Reviews
Walters V., Exhibition Review: Dan Shipsides, Echo Valley/A Guiding Dilemma. In CIRCA online, 28th November, 2008 • Walters, V., Exhibition Review: Lucy Gunning, Quarry (Spike Island, Bristol). In CIRCA (Contemporary Visual Culture in Ireland), 106, Winter 2003, p. 71
Reviews of Victoria’s Writing
Hurley, P., Book Review: Victoria Walters, Joseph Beuys and the Celtic Wor(l)d: a Language of Healing. In Journal of Visual Culture 2014 13: 244