Artistic research methods and methodologies

artistic research examples of what it can do

Producing information that serves practice e.g. ecological, cultural, economic, political, technical etc. Developing methods linked with creative work, e.g. applied uses of practice, defining criteria for making evaluations, modeling designs. Increasing understanding of the link between art and its wider contexts e.g. historical and political developments.

Producing knowledge about the meaning of art in order to develop artistic activity e.g. education, the living environment, the quality of life. Critically analysing art and its current trends e.g. understanding relationships between art and technological development, and between art and economic development, power relationships, etc. Rethinking and questioning the role of the artist e.g. the consequences not only of the death of the author, but also of the significant increase of collaborative artistic efforts, and the question of the role of an artist in society at large.

artistic research principles Hannula et al (2005)

The art work is the focal point. Experience is core, as is how it is transmitted and how it transmits a meaning.

AR is self-reflective, self-critical and an outwardly-directed communication.

Context: the task is to locate the research in relation to its own actions and goals, and at the same time to the context of the field.

Artistic research methods

still-evolving research methods in fields of art and artistic expression - from music via design to theatre and from the visual arts to visual culture are in the process of evolving, both in themselves and in relation to other research traditions

pluralistic experimentation, pluralism and tolerance, while at the same time having coherent and openly stated policies and aims.

experiential The continuum of experience has to be approached through hermeneutics (interpreting linguistic and non linguistic expression) In practice-based research, experience looks at experience and thereby produces new experience.

Experience looks at itself in a circular way, thereby also re-organising itself. The ways of re-organising are the methods. There are as many methods as there are types of experiential change. Everything in experience may, in principle, be scrutinized and re-organised, but not at the same time, and not at will.

The crucial question for the criticality necessary for a PhD is how to conceptualise experience in its hermeneutical nature.

Different models
Ethnography and interventions Conversation and dialogue Collaborative Practice-led/ practice-based Analysis of art and media objects

Writing as a method
Writing, as a way of thinking, doing artistic research and reporting it, has to find a way of treating language in a pluralist manner, so that the uniqueness of artistic experience is not lost when our thinking about it is communicated.

Tacita Dean Finding a four leaf clover on a sunny day (2002) Wait for a sunny day Look for a field full of clovers Make sure there are no sheep or cows grazing in the field Walk slowly into the field Keep your eyes absolutely focussed on the clovers Try not to tread on them See the clover with the four leaves Pick it Press it in a book