Art and Research Colliding

Abstract

This exposition concerns the relationship between art and research. It focuses on the questions: How can we define knowledge and research in the context of artistic research? What is artistic research? What is its goal? How is it different from other traditions of combining art and research? How should the university system react to and make use of artistic research? What is artistic knowledge and how is it used? How can we justify art as a special, flexible form of research? In what sense is art a philosophical and political practice – not just a way of communicating philosophical and political ideas and reasoning, but an especially powerful and holistic form of philosophy and politics? The first half of the exposition analyses and develops a line of reasoning about these concepts and categories. It also includes an attempt to justify art as philosophy/politics. The second half of the exposition lists the five main traditions of combining art and research and the pros and cons of each of them. The latter half of the exposition, in particular, uses images, videos, and music as examples of these traditions, and in some way as proof of the philosophical/political claim of the exposition. The whole exposition is built concretely from the viewpoint of a practicing artist, looking for insights and ways that could help him and other artists in their artistic work.