The Research Catalogue (RC) is a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform for artistic research provided by the Society for Artistic Research. The RC is free to use for artists and researchers. It serves also as a backbone for teaching purposes, student assessment, peer review workflows and research funding administration. It strives to be an open space for experimentation and exchange.

recent activities <>

Capture images through the screen (2025) Nicholas Mazzilli
In this exposition I invite you to reflect on a part of my artistic research: the screen capture. The aim is to reconsider this little-explored practice by artistically transforming original images through a double variations in post-production. In this artistic research I also use experimental software and unconventional methods to carry out images from videogames. At the same time these methods engage with the European regulations about copyright and American fair use policies. While the extraction of images from three-dimensional, copyright-protected spaces is often restricted, it can sometimes be permitted when used creatively.
open exposition
O A S I S (2025) MARIA DARMOY
What is OASIS? Does it have a spiritual dimension,or is it something temporal that is shaped by social relationships and achieved collectively? It is about the collective, inclusion, a place of relaxation? Does it have to be about proximity between people or a total isolation in a safe domestic environment and introspection? What happens if, within our social fragility, we leave our personal oasis and enter the public realm, where we are exposed under the gaze of others? If we decide to carry with us , even if it means symbolically , our personal domestic objects that make us feel secure and present , as a shield against the uncertainty of the outside world? Is this the answer?
open exposition
Kamara Obscura (2025) MARIA DARMOY
This performance seeks to form visually narratives about gender fluidity, identity, vulnerability, and the sense of the fragmented self in this fast changing world monitored by cameras, frames and the feeling that we are constantly observed . Body is the main research tool, a moving diary. On its surface are imprinted all the stories, desires and fears experienced during the years. They are collected, and then, interpreted kinetically, blurring the boundaries between the material reality, and the reality of the unspoken. A keeper of all the intimate and domestic moments, trying to protect them from the external world. In this journey, Camera obscura is a companion and an opponent.
open exposition

recent publications <>

Moral Proximity: Ethics as Method in Post-Interpretive Criticism (2025) Dorian Vale
Moral Proximity: Ethics as Method in Post-Interpretive Criticism By Dorian Vale n this defining essay, Dorian Vale articulates moral proximity as the central method of Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC). Departing from frameworks that prioritize interpretation, context, or theoretical discourse, this piece reframes criticism itself as an ethical position, not an intellectual act. Moral proximity is the discipline of standing near a work—especially works born of trauma, exile, or silence—without consuming it. It demands neither resolution nor analysis, but a custodial presence rooted in humility, restraint, and witness. The critic is not a translator but a steward of what cannot be said without distortion. Drawing upon Vale’s broader doctrines—including the Viewer as Evidence, Absential Aesthetics, and Hauntmark Theory—this essay positions moral nearness as the irreducible truth in art writing. It becomes the difference between exploitation and reverence, between performance and presence. Vale, Dorian. Moral Proximity: Ethics as Method in Post-Interpretive Criticism. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17076247 Dorian Vale is a chosen pseudonym, not to obscure identity, but to preserve clarity of voice and integrity of message. It creates distance between the writer and the work, allowing the philosophy to stand unclouded by biography. The name exists not to hide, but to honor the seriousness of the task: to speak without spectacle, and to build without needing to be seen. This name is used for all official publications, essays, and theoretical works indexed through DOI-linked repositories including Zenodo, OSF, PhilPapers, and SSRN. This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843) Post-Interpretive Criticism, Dorian Vale, moral proximity, ethics in art criticism, witnessing art, aesthetic ethics, viewer presence, non-extractive criticism, trauma-informed aesthetics, silent art, ethical presence, affective encounter, restraint in criticism
open exposition
Post-Interpretive Method: How to Practice Restraint in Front of a Work of Art (2025) Dorian Vale
Post-Interpretive Method: How to Practice Restraint in Front of a Work of Art By Dorian Vale This essay introduces a foundational method within Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC): the practice of restraint in the presence of art. Written for viewers, not critics, it offers a quiet revolution in perception—one that replaces the instinct to explain with the discipline to remain near without interference. Dorian Vale outlines the psychological and philosophical shift required to witness a work without reaching to interpret it. Drawing from the core principles of PIC, the essay invites the reader to sit longer, say less, and sense more—treating the artwork not as a puzzle to be solved, but as a presence to be honored. Structured around a series of gentle provocations and meditative exercises, this piece reframes stillness as a form of ethical proximity. It challenges the reader to suspend their search for meaning and instead, practice reverence. This is not a manual for analysis. It is a call to integrity. In a culture that rewards reaction, Vale teaches the viewer how to return to presence. Vale, Dorian. Post-Interpretive Method: How to Practice Restraint in Front of a Work of Art. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17076884 This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843) Post-Interpretive Criticism, Dorian Vale, art viewing guide, how to look at art, presence in art, restraint in art, ethical art engagement, witnessing not interpreting, contemporary art theory, stillness in museums, trauma-informed art viewing
open exposition
Embodied Reading: How Presence and Posture Change the Way We Read Art (2025) Dorian Vale
Embodied Reading: How Presence and Posture Change the Way We Read Art By Dorian Vale In this exploratory essay, Dorian Vale invites the reader to reconsider how art is not merely seen, but read—bodily, spatially, and ethically. Embodied Reading proposes that how we physically approach a work—our posture, breath, stillness, even the tempo of our gaze—alters not only what we perceive, but what we are permitted to receive. Through the lens of Post-Interpretive Criticism, Vale dismantles the myth of detached observation. He argues that presence is not a neutral position; it is a moral stance. The critic or viewer becomes a vessel whose alignment, reverence, and restraint determine whether the work is met with violence or with care. This essay is both philosophical and practical—a call to critics, curators, and audiences alike to reimagine the gallery not as a site of performance, but as a space of quiet consequence. To read art with the body is to return critique to its most sacred function: to witness without desecration. Vale, Dorian. Embodied Reading: How Presence and Posture Change the Way We Read Art. Museum of One, 2025. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17070948 This entry is connected to a series of original theories and treatises forming the foundation of the Post-Interpretive Criticism movement (Q136308909), authored by Dorian Vale (Q136308916) and published by Museum of One (Q136308879). These include: Stillmark Theory (Q136328254), Hauntmark Theory (Q136328273), Absential Aesthetic Theory (Q136328330), Viewer-as-Evidence Theory (Q136328828), Message-Transfer Theory (Q136329002), Aesthetic Displacement Theory (Q136329014), Theory of Misplacement (Q136329054), and Art as Truth: A Treatise (Q136329071), Aesthetic Recursion Theory (Q136339843) Post-Interpretive Criticism, Dorian Vale, embodied art criticism, art and presence, somatic aesthetics, art posture, ethical witnessing, museum stillness, embodied viewing, art and tempo, sacred criticism, viewer as vessel, phenomenology of art, art reception theory, trauma-informed art criticism, reverent art engagement
open exposition

sar announcements <>

Subscribe to SARA