Research Catalogue

Is there a method to die?

 In the spring of 2009, I attended a course in aesthetic-based qualitative research at Stockholm University. My mother was becoming very weak at the time. As I set out to write on method and methodology within the course, she had to go to hospital for some days during which I kept her company as much as I could. Tests didn't prove anything wrong with her though, and she was sent back home. When she was lifted from the stretcher and gently put her back in her own bed by the transport team, she looked around her and smiled. From the well-known paintings on her walls and the books in her bookshelves, she turned her attention to at me. Still smiling, she looked into my eyes, saying: "And now begins a new and exciting phase in our lives."

Less than a month later, she deceased. 

 The day after her death, I took one of her carpets on the back of my bike and went to the shore of a lake to clean it, the way she used to do it when I was a child. Out of this situation, the question emerged. Absurd though it seemed, it echoed through my further reading, listening and thinking.

This study sets out from an artistic workshop designed to investigate light, colour and spatiality. During the original event, a number of participants joined to collaborate by means of painting, dialogue and movement. From a presentation of the workshop (as determined in time and space), the text argues that the character of an artwork is essentially unfinished; an ongoing ”truth process”. Adopting lines of reasoning from philosophers Vilém Flusser and Theodor Adorno, I gain a first understanding of how the artwork could be reconstituted within the limits of a scientific essay. Once more turning to the workshop's course of events, I find experiences within the actual situation relating to abstract concepts such as ”spirit”, ”quality” and ”freedom”. Next, the text pays heed to Ludwig Wittgenstein's observation that human knowledge is gained and mediated by language-games of various kinds. The selected concepts are consequently tried out in expanded ”studio talks”, involving artists from different fields such as painter Matts Leiderstam, writer Robert Pirsig and sculptor Joseph Beuys. The operation allows me to single out some specific conditions pertaining to artistic dialogue, from which I seek transitions to philosophical discourse. The text briefly reviews three contemporary, art-based projects offering such discursive exchange: haptiska blickar, Thinking Through Painting and Freikörperkultur. Against this backdrop, I seek to articulate an understanding of knowledge-making which embraces artistically as well as philosophically grounded practises. I find support from philosophers John Dewey and Hans Larsson – Dewey characterizing the esthetic and intellectual faculties as complementary movements within the human mind, and Larsson propounding intuition as the unifying and superior form of thinking. Assenting to their views, I conclusively suggest methodical introspection as another field for discursive interchange between art and science.

Development of Curatorial Guidelines for the Transart Residency Exhibition at London's Borough Road Gallery in July 2025. The Anthologies Assembly, London 2025, extends a call for proposals for a vibrant, student-guided convergence of research inquiry and creative exploration. Building upon the inaugural assembly, participants are encouraged to embrace "research-based creative practice" as a means of knowledge generation where diverse disciplines intersect and boundaries blur. We welcome proposals that illuminate PhD research, including nascent "works-in-progress," emphasizing the value of ongoing inquiry. Guided by student feedback expressing both a desire for grounding in practice and community as well as exceptional moments that inspire, we aim to create spaces for genuine encounters and shared learning, where participants leave with lasting impressions on research and creative endeavors that continue to spark curiosity throughout the year. Our curatorial framework centers on the concept of investigation, as both a rigorous pursuit and an introspective exploration. Drawing from its etymological roots, we conceive of investigation as a tracing towards something no longer present—a turning-towards truths hidden or lost in time; and a nuanced examination of practices, be they social, political, or personal.

In this exposition, I invite you to the process of research carried out in the tapestry manufactory in Valašské Meziříčí. It aims to find out how to convey tapestries' craftsmanship, mediality and materiality through filming and post-production. The theme of transformation is essential: the transformation of the tapestry into a film image, but also the transformation of painting or graphics, which were the precursors of the tapestries woven in the manufactory. I am also looking for ways to use a primarily representational medium to achieve an effect of presence through materiality and corporeality. In my research, I interlace observational passages with stylized ones that emerge from a creative dialogue between the materiality of different media, artistic techniques, or post-production interventions. These methods can deepen not only the viewer's experience but also the documentary testimony and convey an almost tactile encounter with the filmed reality. Finally, based on practical experience, I distinguish working with materiality in film into three analytical cuts. V této expozici zvu do procesu výzkumu, jak skrze natáčení a postprodukci filmu o gobelínové manufaktuře ve Valašském Meziříčí zprostředkovat řemeslnost, medialitu a materialitu tapisérií a recipročně i filmové technologie. Podstatným je tedy téma proměny. Proměny tapisérie ve filmový obraz, ale i proměny malby či grafiky, které byly předobrazem v manufaktuře utkaných tapisérií. Paralelně hledám možnosti, jak pomocí média, které je primárně reprezentativní, docílit skrz materialitu a tělesnost účinku prezence. Ve výzkumu střídám observační pasáže se stylizovanými, které vzešly z tvůrčího dialogu materialit odlišných médií, výtvarných technik či postprodukčních zásahů. Tyto metody mohou prohloubit nejen divácký prožitek, ale i dokumentární výpověď a zprostředkovat až taktilní setkání s natáčenou skutečností. Nakonec na základě praktické zkušenosti rozlišuji práci s materialitou ve filmu do tří analytických řezů.

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Este ensaio tem como objetivo apresentar uma reflexão, em forma de registro de memórias sobre as experiências relacionadas à obra "Terceira Mão", tanto em seu aspecto simbólico quanto em sua materialidade. Esta investigação artística insere-se no contexto do doutoramento em Artes Plásticas na Universidade do Porto. A primeira mão segura a matéria, o tocável A segunda mão segura o espírito, o sensível A terceira mão segura a todos nós, é o que todos temos em comum. Segura eu, você e o outro, em uma rede de tafetá, ligados à terceira mão e a todos. Os olhos ligam a percepção do material com o sensível espiritual. Percepção simbólica visual. Olhar para o interior. Ver além do visível. Toque etéreo. Gesto de benção. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This essay aims to reflect, in the form of a memoir, on the experiences related to the work Third Hand, both in its symbolic aspect and materiality. This artistic research is part of the context of my doctorate in Plastic Arts at the University of Porto. The first hand holds matter, the tangible The second hand holds the spirit, the sensitive The third hand holds us all, it's what we have in common. It holds me, you, and the other in a taffeta net, connected to the third hand and everyone. The eyes connect the perception of the material with the sensitive spiritual. Visual symbolic perception. Looking inwards. Seeing beyond the visible. Ethereal touch. A gesture of blessing.