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
Partisans With a Hoe - Spontaneous Gardening in Urban Space
(2024)
Ivana Balcaříková, Barbora Lungova
This project combines artistic and anthropological research on spontaneous gardening in open public space, predominantly in Brno, CZ. The team, mostly comprising recent graduates and graduate students of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, chose gardens and plantings which were, in most cases, rather exceptional. Unlike most typical front gardens, the ones in this study are somehow peculiar, due to their location, their composition and planting schemes, their scale, or methods of those who garden there. The anthropologists on the team analyzed a Facebook group dedicated to street gardening and conducted several interviews, while the artistic team responded to particular places with which they interacted. Some results of this research have been presented to the public in the form of an application comprising an audioguide and an interactive map; this exposition in the Journal of Artistic Research documents
some of these findings.
The team
Barbora Lungová is a visual artist and has taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology since 2007. Her field of practice is painting and art projects focusing on plants, gardening, and queerness. She is the coordinator of the Partisans with a Hoe project.
Lucia Bergamaschi is a visual artist working across the media of photography, sound, and installation. She earned an MA in Fine Art at Università Iuav di Venezia and an MA in Law at Università di Bologna. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT.
Nela Maruškevičová combines painting, installations, and glass in her artistic practice. She is a 2023 graduate of the FFA BUT. Kateřina Konvalinová is a visual artist interested in the overlapping spaces of art, communal life, farming, and ritual. She earned her MA in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, and is currently a doctoral student at the FFA BUT.
Iva Balcaříková is a graphic designer and a member of the team behind the curated audio walks created by Galerie Art in Brno. She is currently finishing her MA studies at the FFA BUT. Hana Drštičková is a visual artist and a social anthropologist interested in environmental and queer topics. She graduated with an MA in Fine Arts from the FFA BUT in 2022 and with a BA in social anthropology from the Faculty of Social Sciences at Masaryk University and is currently a doctoral student at the Gender Studies Department of Charles University in Prague.
Anastasia Blokhina is a social anthropologist who graduated with an MA tfrom the Faculty of Social Sciences of Masaryk University in 2022. Polyna Davydenko is a photographer and a video artist who documents social and environmental issues in her work, most recently those connected with the war in Ukraine.
Filip Dušek is a media artist who studied at the Department of Photography at the FFA BUT.
The project was conducted under the Specific Research FaVU-S-23-8441 Program.
Inside the Narrative
(2024)
Gustav Kvaal, Torkell Bernsen
The aim of this artistic research project is to create an illustrated VR documentary experience that narrates the story of a time witness from the second world war in Bodø, Norway. The project explores questions concerning visual storytelling and ethics in the encounter between the VR-audience, interviewed subjects and the audiovisual spatial design. Artistic and qualitative research methods have been employed to explore how different visual modes and contexts alter the experience of narrator(Time witness) and narrative in a media format characterized by its ability to place the viewer in a state of immersion, intimacy, and a sense of presence. Theoretically, this study is situated in an artistic landscape connected to media theory, journalism, ethics and visual communication. Concepts such as media witness ethics, with the so-called risk of improper distance and considerations around the term distant others, are relevant for the reflection associated with the project.
recent publications
Ars Memoriae
(2024)
Maarten Vanden Eynde
Ars Memoriae, The Art to Remember analyzes the role of art within the larger history and evolution of external memory devices. It looks at material traces of remembering and the invention of an ever-changing body of language expressions, like signs and symbols, to enhance communication capabilities. I followed the process of externalizing emotions, knowledge, and information, starting in the Palaeolithic Stone Age about 3 million years ago, until, in a speculative future, it will be internalized again using artificial wetware, neuro-computers, and DNA coding. > Click on the image to download the PDF.
Why I Paint Thousands of Circles
(2024)
Leanna Moran
Why I paint Thousands of Circles explores psychological barriers and multilayered themes that stem from a single horrific event that involved Moran’s father and his brother. The artist collates information, photos and constructs an ar(t)chaeological archive where family photos, product imagery, together with newspaper clips to form units of a historical and psychological mind map. The exposition becomes an auto-ethnographical exploration of mid 90's working class North West London. The repetitive painting process, exposed and documented in the exposition, functions as transformative method, where ambiguous feelings of a violent upbringing are directed towards the creation of a visual system with an inherent logic – “creating some kind of beauty out of ugliness.”
The Ever Changing Instrument
(2024)
APJ
The project explores the artistic potential of unpredictability, specifically within the context of electronic music. By referring to an original instrument design—including programming a number of randomized systems—a series of compositions for keyboard instruments were developed. The central theme is the relationship between dialogue and loss of control during the creative process. This project was documented intermediately with new music, as well as technological and procedural reflections.