[spectre] PhD Course & Open Lectures on Artistic Research, 26-27 March 2015

[Geoff Cox]

PhD Course & Open Lectures on Artistic Research

Graduate School Arts, Aarhus University & Kunsthal Aarhus, 26-27 March 2015

We hereby invite researchers across aesthetic disciplines to join in for two days at Kunsthal Aarhus where we will explore the topic of Artistic Research. Through workshops, presentations and lectures we will focus on identifying, understanding and developing artistic research practices as a specialized field of knowledge production. 

PhD Course - 26 + 27 March, Kunsthal Aarhus

The course aims to gather researchers across aesthetic disciplines whose work is based on, or incorporates, artistic practice. Through workshops, talks, presentations, performances and artistic interventions, the course will create a platform where it will be possible to present and discuss different methodological approaches that can challenge the idea of presentation and documentation of artistic research projects. Through these approaches, the course will open for a discussion of the further development of such approaches in the international field and in Denmark where discussions are rather undeveloped. Participants will be asked to present their work and two invited guests, Michael Schwab and Gertrud Sandqvist, will be invited to join in the general discussions as well as frame some of the main issues and debates. For more information on the course and application visit: https://phdcourses.dk/Course/38111

Open lectures - Gertrud Sandquist & Michael Schwab - March 26, 16.00-18.00, Kunsthal Aarhus 

Gertrud Sandqvist: Art Research – a perspective
Gertrud Sandqvist has worked with a PhD program at Malmö Art Academy in visual art for artists and curators since 2002. From having been quite lonely the field has exploded during recent years, and a canon is about to be established. In her talk Sandqvist will stress that art research is a hybrid between art practice and various research modes. A PhD in visual art is not a very elaborate artist’s statement. It is researched carried out by an artist, and with access to all the experience, which comes with that, but there must be a research question that will be answered through the PhD work. It means: there must be new knowledge being produced and presented in the dissertation, and other researchers must be able to use this knowledge. This sounds self evident, but it is not.

Michael Schwab: Making Proto-Objects
Michael Schwab is an artist and artistic researcher who interrogates post-conceptual uses of technology in a variety of media including photography, drawing, printmaking and installation art. He holds a PhD in photography from the Royal College of Art, London, and he is Editor-in-Chief for Journal for Artistic Research (JAR). Schwab’s presentation will explain the concept of ‘proto-objects’ through a few examples from his practice. With this concept in mind and with reference to Hans-Jörg Rheinberger’s notion of ‘Experimental System’, the talk will highlight a tension between making and meaning that represents both a challenge to academia and an opportunity for artistic researchers.

More information about the programme will follow.

Deadline for registration for the PhD course and hand-in of abstract is 13 February 2015.
1) Please register via https://auws.au.dk/artisticresearch 
2) Send a short abstract (text, poster, mapping, video, etc.) outlining your project to Sandra Boss: sandra.boss at dac.au.dk 

Since the number of presentations for the PhD course is limited, please state if you're interested in doing a presentation and receiving feedback. Only participants who make presentations will receive 2 ECTS. The rest are welcome to join in, listen and discuss. The course is free but participants have to cover their own travel expenses. 

The Phd Course and the open lectures are organized by: 
Sandra Boss, PhD fellow, Arts, Aarhus University & Geoff Cox, PhD, Associate Professor, Dept. of Aesthetics & Communication, Aarhus University