Research Catalogue

Although it is virtually impossible to formalize what ‘best practice’ on the Research Catalogue might be, it harbours by now numerous examples of expositions that ‘work.’ In this session, I want to introduce a small set of diverse expositions from JAR as a way to highlight successful choices people have taken. With a short explanation of expositionality and virtual witnessing, I aim to support an understanding of the effect that those examples have as a way of describing how media-rich articulations can productively engage with both academic and artistic expectations.

short bio and cv

My position is that knowledge about an artist and their work can be uncovered through close looking at their work and that some of this knowledge can be held and transferred tacitly to viewers (that are also artists). This knowledge can be articulated through practice, in this case in the making and subsequent close looking and reflection of the Selfish Portrait paintings. Because the knowledge is tacit, as opposed to propositional, the knowledge may be sensed, felt or difficult to articulate in words. Practice is the most appropriate vehicle to test whether this knowledge can shift from what Alexis Shotwell’s has articulated as ‘nonpropositional knowledge’ to ‘potentially propositional knowledge’. In Selfish Portraits I search for self-portraits by a range of dead artists in terms of geography, gender, race, ‘status’, time of working, style, etc. This necessitates (re)searching beyond my current knowledge base using gallery visits, internet searches and books. The selected self portrait(s) are subjected to a period of ‘looking attentively’ in order to visual interrelate and learn about the painting, and by extension the artist. The main focus is allowing the self portraits to ‘talk to me’ following the theoretical stance of the ‘active’ painting or picture, that knowledge is held in the painting itself and cannot always be found in (written) documentation.

This exposition takes as its departure the systemic inertia identified within Western Higher Music Education (HME), where education is driven by skill acquisition in a master–pupil format. Such approaches may hinder the growth of adaptable and reflective musicians. We propose an alternative: student-centred learning inspired by artistic research methods. To explicate this, we draw on findings through our own artistic research practices. Our hypothesis is that the model of the artistic, embodied research laboratory, as developed within the field of artistic research, may serve as a potent tool for renewal. By analysing our work as artist-researchers and educators, this exposition offers insights that support rethinking both institutional structures and pedagogical approaches in HME. Our aim is to strengthen student agency in learning situations and set them off on a path of lifelong learning. This research demonstrates that artistic research laboratories can provide practical frameworks for transforming HME pedagogy, offering educators concrete methods for fostering playful, inclusive, and sustainable learning environments whilst empowering students as active agents in their musical development.

Queer-identiteetti ja -tunteet lavalla, sen takana ja opetustyössä Kuvataiteen tohtorin opinnäytetyössäni tutkin queer-kuuntelemisen merkitystä taiteellisena käytäntönä ja tutkimusmenetelmänä. Tässä ekspositiossa haastattelen drag alter egoani Maimu Brushwoodia, jonka kanssa keskustelen sukupuolesta, tunteista ja pedagogiikasta. Haastattelu perustuu tutkimukseni toiseen taiteelliseen osuuten, mikä oli drag-esitys, jonka esitin kahtena iltana Club Kiihko: Uuden toivon illassa Kulttuurikeskus Caisassa Helsingissä 27. ja 28.6.2024. Ekspositiossa on haastattelun lisäksi drag-esityksen videotallenne ja kirjoitustehtävä, jonka tarkoitus on syventää esitykseni teemoja.

Tässä ekspositiossamme esittelemme veden-kanssa-kirjoittamisen praktiikkaamme kirjoittamisen taiteellisena tutkimuksena, poeettisena etsintänä. Veden-kanssa-kirjoittaessamme olemme tarkastelleet suhdettamme veteen, myös vesiin sisällämme, sekä yksilöllisesti että yhdessä erilaisia tekstejä tuottaen. Ekspositiossamme esittelemme tämän taiteellisen praktiikan tuotoksia sekä reflektoimme niitä poeettisia, poliittisia ja pedagogisia suuntia, joita veden-kanssa-kirjoittaminen voi avata – sekä meille että laajemmin, maailmalle. Teoreettisia lähtöhtiamme ovat feministinen posthumanismi ja uusmaterialismi sekä niiden piirissä harjoitettu hydrofeminismi. Lisäksi suhteutamme veden-kanssa-kirjoittamista keskusteluihin feministisestä pedagogiikasta, taiteilijapedagogiikasta ja ympäristöpedagogiikasta sekä veden merkityksistä kirjallisuudessa. Uskomme, että runouden avulla voi kielentää sellaisia kokemuksia, joita on muutoin vaikea muotoilla sanoiksi. Väitämme, että hankalasti sanallistettavien kokemusten poeettinen kielentäminen tuottaa ymmärryksiä ihmisten suhteista enemmän-kuin-inhimilliseen, kuten siitä, miten tehdä taidetta muuttuvassa maailmassa, eettisessä suhteessa enemmän-kuin-inhimilliseen. In English: "On Becoming Sensitized - Practices and Orientations for Writing-with-water as Artist Pedagogy" In this exposition, we explore what we call 'writing-with-water', a practice of artistic research in writing, a "poetic search". While writing-with-water, we have explored our relationship(s) with water – including the waters within us – both individually and together, producing different texts. Here, we share our artistic explorations and reflect on the poetic, political, and pedagogical directions our artistic practice and research opens up. Our theoretical starting points are feminist posthumanism and new materialism, but we also discuss our method in the context of hydrofeminism (as part of the aforementioned theoretical frameworks), feminist pedagogy, artist pedagogy, and environmental pedagogy, as well as the literary meanings and uses of water. It is our belief that through poetic practices and explorations, it is possible to express experiences that are otherwise difficult to put into words. We claim that these experiences, and the ways they are expressed in poetic language, can lead to better understandings of human relationships with the more-than-human; including how to make art ethically with the more-than-human in our rapidly changing world.