Research
Sources
By aesthetic or artistic research we do not mean applying scientific methods or social research protocols to the practice of art. We are referring to an exploration of new modes of production and new political conditions of possibility for art in our social context. Research from this perspective means not only analysis and reflection, but also action aimed at redefining and reframing artistic practice. The fact is that all the rhetoric and the hype about the “information society” and the “knowledge economy” have brought about a true paradigm shift in the attitude of corporate and government institutions towards art, which has been rapidly assimilated to other new sources of cognitive surplus value. What R&D means in the visual arts is increasingly being dictated by the culture industries, in terms of the needs of the ‘knowledge market’. In some countries the dimension of research and experimentation in art has already been incorporated in formulations of public policy dealing with innovation and the so-called ‘creative classes’. Without downplaying the contributions of art to scientific and technological knowledge and social and economic development, artistic research should be characterised, in our view, by the potential for inoculating dissent into otherwise allegedly ‘neutral’ or ‘objective’ modes of cognition. Working outside established academic protocols, but in alliance with feminist epistemology, the kind of Action-Research we advocate seeks to valorise collective and situated knowledges, participatory investigation, non-linear methodologies, and dialogic writing and narratives.Genealogies of practice
- Culturas de Archivo ("Archive Cultures") (España / Spain)
An ongoing project on archives and access to knowledge and information, directed by Jorge Blasco. Culturas de Archivo examines fragments of contemporary culture and art involved in the processes of production of reality generated by the archive.
Resources
