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Artistic Research
Artistic Research
ARTISTIC RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR EMBODIMENT
Towards creating a publication for the field of artistic research.
Practice Based Research (PBR) is a way to proceed in artistic endeavours. It is the
name of an academic discipline in the AngloSaxon world that is still fairly new in a
Nordic context. The term and its implications for the performing arts and its research
has been the core issues discussed in study circle 7 the last three years. Of the Nordic
countries Finland has been a pioneer in this respect, and established PBR as a field of
research already in the late 1980s. In 2008 the Finnish Theatre Academy changed its
policy arguing that the name Artistic Research is more suitable for the discipline. At
the Study Circle 7 Winter Session at Tampere, February 2009, which attracted a
crowd of 50 participants, Dr. Esa Kirkkopelto (professor at the Theatre Academy of
Helsinki) presented this argument. His claim is:
The theoretician of art, the art philosopher or art researcher, does not study art from
the point of view of the art, but from the point of view of the society, (
) Artistic
research, by contrast, looks from art towards society and our idea of reality,
questioning their existence, and sets the demands according to its own mode of
existence. Consequently, artistic research is, (
), ultimately more interested in reality
than in art. To put it bluntly, where research of art explains that art exists, because
or art is as it is, because
, artistic research explains that because art is (or because
it is of a certain kind), it follows that
(Kirkkopelto, p. 18, 2008)
The last winter session made it clear that the discourse has moved and changed. This
presents the need for making a new platform for investigating the implications of this
redirection. Henk Borgdorff, a European authority within this context, has claimed
that the most interesting turns in the field is presently happening in the Nordic
countries (Borgdorff, 2009). In addition to Finland, Sweden has implemented Artistic
Research and Development in higher education since 2001, Norway has the
Programme for Artistic Research Fellowship, which offers a PhDequivalent and has
done so since 2003, while Denmark is still in the process of developing such
programmes. The Bologna reform has enhanced this process, but little attention has
been given to the actual purposes and premises of this research. We propose therefore
a new study circle looking into the implications of Artistic Research (AR) and
Kirkkopeltos claim.
We need to investigate consequences and possibilities of Artistic Research. We have
passed the stage of justifying the existence of the field itself. It actually exists. We are
entering a new discourse, and we need to explore the outcomes of the ongoing
research. According to Borgdorff the approach Artistic Research allows for the
intertwinement of researcher and researched, object and objective, and practice and
theory. This approach emerges out of a methodological pluralism, and in this way
opens up for an interdisciplinary dialogue between researchers and practitioners from
performance studies with colleagues from sociology, cultural studies, theatre and
dance studies, history of ideas, anthropology, rhetoric, literature, and musicology. We
will invite researchers and the PhD students from the various Nordic Art Academies
and Universities as well as artists working and researching outside of institutional
frameworks. NSU has a position for providing a framework for research into this field,
which the institutions having to implement practice based research according to the
Bologna Treaty can gain and flourish from. NSU can continue to be the place where
researchers and artists affiliated with institutions meet and exchange with colleagues
who are so to speak homeless in an institutional sense, but nevertheless provide
important contributions to the ongoing research. We see an urgent need for
investigating artistic research in a wider perspective than it is presently done at the Art
Academies and Universities. NSU has a unique position and potential for facilitating
and creating circumstances for bridging such different perspectives.
PLAN FOR THE WORK
ARTISTIC RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR EMBODIMENT
Language & discourse, documentation & dissemination
These are the headlines of the topics were going to address in the six sessions from
2010 to 2012.
The study circle will invite distinguished researchers and artists in the field, who have
contributed to this emerging discipline, and suggest Baz Kershaw from Warwick
University as a keynote speaker. Building on the experiences from the upcoming
anthology of the now finishing study circle 7, the new study circle will end with a new
publication. This publication will focus on sharing methodologies and specific
examples of artistic research and dissemination through applying multimedia. The aim
is to reach out to our peers and art students interested in the field of work.
Preliminary preparation
We will further prepare the program, while attending the Colloquium on Artistic
Research in Performing Arts at Theatre Academy in Finland, Helsinki, 19.21.
November 2009.
First year (2010): Strategies for embodiment
The first year will focus on Artistic Research in a wider perspective: viewing society
from the perspective of art with focus on crosscontamination and interdisciplinary
approaches. The sessions will enhance artistic and research dialogues between the
emerging traditions in the Nordic countries.
Second year (2011): Artistic knowing
The second year will focus on language and discourse, and the development of
strategies for embodying the experiences drawn from Artistic Research.
Third year (2012): Documentation & dissemination
The third year will focus on documentation and dissemination, while finalizing the
new anthology. We will in particular question how the result of Artistic Research is
implemented in educational and research contexts as well as in arts practices.
Coordinators:
1.isa Kamula, SF, MA in Theatre and Drama Research, University of Tampere
2.hristine Fentz, DK, director and dramaturge, MA in Dramaturgy, University of
Aarhus.
Possible coordinators:
3.nnika M. Sillander, SF, dancer and choreographer, Mastudent in Dance
Anthropology at Roehampton University in London England
4.r. Carsten Friberg, DK, School of Architecture, Århus
5.idsel Pape, N, dance scholar, Lecturer at University of Tromsø
6.enrik Vestergaard Friis, DK, Cand. Mag. leader of the company Zarathustras Onkel
7.r. Cecilia Lagerström, S, Researcher and senior lecturer, Academy of Music and
Drama, Gothenburg University
Affiliations and their institutions:
8.oa Hanssen, S, B.A. from Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance
9.r. Bruce Barton, CA, dramaturg and playmaker, Graduate Centre for Study of
Drama / University of Toronto
10.r. Kai Lehikoinen, SF, Head of Performing Arts, IADE Institute for Arts
Development and Education, Helsinki
11.r. Per Zetterfalk, S, Researcher, Dramatic Institute, Stockholm
12.ikko Kanninen, SF, actor, director, researcher, University of Tampere
13.r. Pil Hansen, DK, dramaturg, University of Toronto
14.rine Thorbjørnsen, N, performance artist, MA student in Philosophy, University
of Oslo
15.r. Kent Sjöström, S, Artistic Doctor and lecturer at Teaterhögskolan in Malmö
16.ia Adler Sandblad, S, actor, artistic director. MA at the University of Gothenburg
17.r. Paola Didong, S, scholar, theatre director, set designer
18.r. Åsa Unander Scharin, S, Choreoographer, Dancer and PhDstudent
19.arbro Smeds, S, playwrite, director, researcher, Dramatic Institute, Stockholm
20.r. Yael Feiler, S, theater researcher, Stockholm University
21.r. Ylva Gislén, S project manager Nordic Resort, Nordic Centre for the
Performing Arts
22.is Engel, DK, University of Copenhagen
23.odil Persson, S, cultural journalist, teacher and dramaturg, Dramatic Institute,
Stockholm
24.nna Richardsdottir. I, performance artist, dance teacher at University of Akureyri
25.uzanne Osten, S, Professor Dramatiska Institutet, Theater director
26.fva Lilja, S, Professor Danshögskolan, choreographer, Stockholm
27.r. Esa Kirkkopelto, SF, Professor Academy of Theater, Helsinki
28.r. Leena Rouhiainen, SF, dance researcher Theatre Academy in Helsinki
29.ette Lund, DK, dramaturg and puppeteer, Cand. Phil. in Dramaturgy
30.aana Parviainen, SF, PhD Student at Theatre Academy in Helsinki
31.r. Annette Arlander, Professor, Theatre Academy in Helsinki
32.r. Juha Suoranta, SF, University of Tampere
33.r. Baz Kershaw, UK, Professor, University of Warwick
34.va Nässen, S, professor Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg University
35.er Roar, N, choreographer, PhD student at Theatre Academy in Helsinki
36.r. Kristin Norderval, N/USA, Singer, music scholar in New York
37.arissa Tiusainen, N, MA in Dance Science Studies
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