Artistic Research Methodologies

The present theoretical-practical project of artistic research and creation is about the archaeological heritage as a source of inspiration for contemporary artists and, more specifically, on the stone sculpture: the Lady of Elche. Therefore, this Master's Degree Project is composed mainly of two parts. After the pertinent introduction to the subject, the first chapter-as a theoretical framework-focuses on delving into the particularities of the Lady of Elche, the influences and formal parallels observed with various Damas [ladies] from other cultures, on its funerary context-the Iberian-, and, in addition, a comparative analysis of the piece with the Lady of Baza is provided. The second chapter of research and artistic creation, focuses on show the creative process developed to obtain the contemporary digital drawing project that has been created. The art project is made up of several series of works of various types on the Lady of Elche. And finally, the work is completed with a final section of conclusions as a personal reflection.

El arte abstracto se consolidó como una vía de expresión que supera lo figurativo para alcanzar nuevas ambiciones estéticas. Este estudio parte de la valoración de las formas de pensamiento ofrecidas por la abstracción artística y cómo han influido en las creaciones y lenguajes visuales, profundizando especialmente en las aportaciones realizadas en las formas con las que pensamos e imaginamos la arquitectura. Reconociendo las potencialidades de la abstracción para la enseñanza, programamos un proyecto de educación artística en el que sus participantes conocieron, valoraron y se sensibilizaron con una serie de obras abstractas mediante su interpretación visual en la ciudad. Para ello, se empleó la fotografía arquitectónica, reflejando ciertas similitudes formales y estéticas con las obras de referencia. La estrategia docente ha sido analizada desde la perspectiva de la Investigación Educativa Basada en las Artes. Los resultados se componen visualmente, generando nuevos lienzos que co...

This text presents the coeducational work developed in recent years, from a critical and feminist perspective, the principle of equity and inclusion for effective equality in women and men. The Artistic Methodologies in Teaching (AMTs) are the chosen strategy for the teachers' inicial formation in these values.

The research on architectural dynamic responsive systems has been conducted through the construction of the experimental architectural installation, object, prototype, or architecture-instrument - Exo. The instrument has been designed as a part of the specific investigative module on comprehensive sensing, automation technologies, dynamic performance, and their architectural systemic integration within the Global Eye(s) research project. With this function, it has been aimed to work as an architectural proof of selected concepts and claims made within the project’s agenda, and as the physical platform for further investigations and tests in regard to targeted research subjects. Alongside the definition of the prototyped architecture-instrument, its spatial and operative format and technical solution, the attributes that could have qualified certain spatial designs as these types of architectural systems have also been ascertained. The claim of the attributes’ operability has been ensured through integration or embeddedness of several operative units and their components into the instrument’s system design. They have included (1) sentient unit (the network of sensors selected according to the targeted research objects, alongside the set of components that could substitute their function), (2) command-and-control and data-processing unit (hard and soft elements), (3) motor, or actuation unit, and (4) kinetic architectural unit which finally synthesises all the elements and defines the instrument’s physical and mechanical properties (the geometry of both its spatial distribution and kinetic performance). The architecture had represented the major framework and one of the most important targeted fields of inquiry and application of thereby analysed topics and proposed technical solutions, yet the cross-disciplinary exchange, which the presented systemic thinking and design have strongly depended on during the conceptualisation, research and construction processes, can direct different achievements and developments to adjacent fields of interest.
The Exo experimental object and system have been designed following and converging both scientific and artistic methodologies, having the abilities to contribute to all aspects that thereby could have been targeted. This statement refers likewise to its mode of operation, which has partly been subjected to algorithmic control. This paper will put the particular emphasis on the latter - the instrument’s plan of operation, or its soft systemic component – followed by the explanation of the artistic and scientific performative regimes and aspects they enable, their automation, and possibilities of raising some of the basic algorithms that have been used for the stage of the proof of a concept to the level of the smart and/or intelligent performance.

Keywords: architectural dynamic responsive systems, kinetics, prototyping, architectural installation, architecture-instrument, architecture-machine, scientific research methodology, artistic research methodology, soft architecture

Visual arts and dance have been in close connection since the beginning of the twentieth century, a relationship that developed and strengthened in the sixties with the work of Judson Dance Theatre in New York City, USA. Although artists and dancers have collaborated for the last 50 years, few studies address the potential of employing choreographic methods within visual arts processes of making. It is in this context that my research inquires how installation artists may use choreographic strategies in their visual arts practices.

Brad Haseman’s (2006) proposition of a new methodological paradigm for research – performative research – is my starting point for a mixed methodology. In my work, I use performative actions to investigate choreographic methods – such as improvisation, and real time composition – to produce installation work in site-specific locations. These performative actions are intended to act as a form of physical embodied knowledge production (Klein, 2010). Simultaneously, qualitative interviews with visual artists and choreographers provide data to shape and inform the construction of a conceptual framework, informed by a combination of visual arts and dance approaches to composition.

It is expected that my research will offer a methodological approach that explores this new conceptual framework in practice. In this paper, I will introduce the research methodology I am currently developing as part of my doctoral study, and explain how the notions of performative research and embodied knowledge led the development of my installation work so far.

Author
Torell, Lisa
Abstract
Potential of the Gap has been about method and place. In site-specific, contextual or relational art, the relationships between and relationships to are critical to the critical artistic licence. That is, relations between or to man, object, situation and context. I have engaged with the relationship between place, language and identity in relation to systems and logic. Convention and function. It has taken place in, about and alongside the public space and semi-public space. The work has been performative, with place and audience as a material in it self, and the gap as a tool and artistic device for challenging what is taken for granted, exposing structures, to enable a rethink and thinking afresh. In addition to developing and strengthening the method, I also wanted to review the terminology of the site-specific field, to make it more accessible and enable multidisciplinary interaction. To simplify certain concepts and to add others in order to more easily be able to share process and result.
Has part(s)
Paper I: Torell, L. (Edt.). (2016). Plats till plats – 9 konstärers reflektion kring platsrelaterat arbete. Stockholm, Konstfrämjandet. ISBN 978-91-637-8863-5. Also available at https://issuu.com/researchanddevelopment/docs/plats_till_plats.

Paper II: Torell, L. (Edt.). (2017). Place to place: 9 Artistic Reflection about Site-specificity and Place-related Processes. Stockholm, Konstfrämjandet. ISBN 978-91-982834-4-0.

Paper III: Torell, L. (2016). Figure 2224. In Cugouglu & Ewerlöf (Edt.). Between Places. Reflections on identity and place. (p. 36-45). Norrköping, Sweden, Verkstad konsthall. Also available at https://issuu.com/creativecukurcuma/docs/between_places_final_ebook.

Paper IV: Torell, L. (2017). On Highway 25, Shared Society Means a Common Debt, How We Were Thinking and With What?. In Fürst & Kaur (Edt.). Inte det molnet | Not That Cloud. Stockholm, Mount Analogue. ISBN 978-91-983195-3-8.

Paper V: Torell, L. (2015). Närmandet, ironi och metod. Paletten Art Journal, 3(301), 2–8. Also available at https://paletten.net/.

Publisher
UiT The Arctic University of Norway

The main objective of this chapter is to propose a reading of the objects and processes that are a part of an archaeological excavation from the point of view of contemporary artistic creation. What happens when we immerse ourselves in the space, when we observe the light, contemplate the fragments of stone or ceramic, and see the objects, materials and events that take place in an archaeological excavation as if we were visiting an exhibition or a museum of contemporary art? What new perspectives and new ideas could arise for both archaeology and contemporary art through these analogies and comparisons between the material culture of the past and the artistic creativity of the present?