Jan Ijzermans & Arja Veerman
Situated research in creative practices
Socially engaged artistic practices cannot be separated from their cultural context. This means that artistic processes are situated by definition and multiple voices will have their place. Our question focuses on the role of research in such situated settings. How can research contribute to artistic processes and activities? What methods can be used? And how can we build up knowledge that is situated on the one hand, but also can be used in various work fields and for education on the other hand?
At the HKU University of Arts in Utrecht in The Netherlands, we made an inventory of 25 art and design projects in which we tried to unravel processes and activities of creation and research, in-depth. However, we ended up with an analytical blur. We found that activities of art creation, design and research can be heavily intertwined. Moreover, these activities often seem to be the same, e.g.: searching for input, exploring new concepts, testing interventions and so on. In addition, artists strongly rely on their intuition, implicit knowledge, experiences and feelings while they create. So, what kind of knowledge are we talking about and how do we deal with that?
Inspired by our findings we developed a follow-up program, together with the people of the 25 projects: artists, designers, lecturers, and researchers. This led to the following results: a) a definition of research that fits into the creative practices, b) a tool to set qualitative research criteria that takes into account aspects of rigor and practical relevance, and c) a dialogue method that triggers artists to explicate implicit knowledge, in order to build up ‘intermediate-level’ knowledge that can be situated in context and effectively shared.
We would like to present and discuss our (preliminary) results in the conference line: presentations that tend to develop arts-based and artistic research methodologies.
Jan IJzermans, Ph.D. Head of the Centre of Research & Innovation at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Centre focuses on enhancing and strengthening research in creative practices, and encourages the use of developed knowledge in creative work fields, education and for public needs. In addition, the centre aims at the development of a vibrant research environment enabling the sustainability of research and innovation at HKU. The centre also develops applications and recruits grants for (international) projects.
Arja Veerman, Ph.D. Research companion of the Centre of Research & Innovation at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, The Netherlands. Specifically involved in the HKU program: Research in Creative Practices. Research lecturer at the HKU Master of Education in Arts and at the HKU Centre of Excellence on Education and Art.