ARTISTIC

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Artistic Research globally

In Europe, AEC, ELIA and SAR are the largest organisations with special activities connected to artistic research. In South Africa, the Wits School of Arts at the University of Witwatersrand has been an important driving force for artistic research. In the Asia Pacific an artistic research network was established in 2019 by the Centre of Visual Art at the University of Melbourne and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta. Below you can read more about iniatives and organisations seeking to support and contribute to the development of artistic research globally.  

The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme is a member of AEC, ELIA and SAR, as well as EUA Council for Doctoral Education, which is a network for doctoral education and research training within the European University Association.

Arts Research Africa (ARA)

In South Africa, the Arts Research Africa (ARA) project at Wits School of Arts, University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg) has led to several activities designed to create dialogue, stimulate practice, enable research, and inspire collective engagement around the question of artistic research. The project has been funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. ARA has also supported the development of Ellipses, which is an online publication and peer-reviewed digital platform for the dissemination of artistic research. ARA has produced a number of podcasts that explore questions related to artistic research through dialogues with practitioners both in Africa and internationally. 

In 2020, Witts University organized the ARA conference Artistic Research in Africa in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this reflection, the organization looks back and reflects on Artistic Research as a decolonising strategy in Africa.

The Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network (APARN)

The Asia Pacific Artistic Research Network (APARN) is an initiative from the Centre of Visual Art, University of Melbourne and the Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta. The network aims to "connect researchers working in the broad domains of practice research or artistic research to others in the region, providing existing networks opportunities for visibility and regional connection". The inaugural meeting was held in October 2019 in association with the International Conference on Asia Pacific Arts Studies in Yogyakarta. The purposes of the network are to (as described on the webpage): 

• Map artistic research initiatives and activities in the Asia Pacific region
• Provide a regional framework for practical collaboration between individuals and institutions
• Develop an understanding of local cultural dynamics influencing artistic research activities in the Asia Pacific region

Society for Artistic Research (SAR)

The European Society for Artistic Research (SAR) was established in 2010. SAR describes itself as an organization that `promotes practices of artistic research as undertaken both in and outside academic institutions´ and ´encourage risk-taking, quality research´. SAR has influenced the development of artistic research in Europe, through several initiatives:

• SAR publishes the JAR - Journal for Artistic Research (JAR), which is an international, online, Open Access and peer-reviewed journal that disseminates artistic research from all disciplines. The journal was launched in 2011, and you can take a look at Issue 1 here. 
• SAR runs the Research Catalogue (RC), a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform 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
• SAR hosts the annual International Conference on Artistic Research.
• SAR Special Interest Groups – SIGs with the aim of conducting a particular activity, theme or focus area

The Artistic Research Alliance

The Artistic Research Alliance has officially launched its statement (Leveraging the Full Potential of Artistic Research) in 2024. The alliance members represent all art practice disciplines:

• AEC - Association Europeenne des Conservatoires, Academies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (see also AECs European Platform for Artistic Research in Music, EPARM)
• CILECT - International Association of Cinema, Audiovisual and Media Schools
• CAE - Culture Action Europe
• EAAE - European Association for Architectural Education
• ELIA - Globally connected European network for higher arts education (see also ELIAs Artistic Research Platform)
• EQ-Arts - Independent, international Quality Assurance Agency for the Arts
• GEECT - European Grouping of Film and Television Schools
• MusiQuE - Music Quality Enhancement
• SAR - Society for Artistic Research

The European Artistic Research Network (EARN)

The European Artistic Research Network (EARN) was formally established in 2006. The network was originally established through a series of meetings between 2004 and 2006, and for many years primarily based on the cooperation between a group of colleagues working across ten European art academies: EARN (as described on the webpage) was established "to share and exchange knowledge and experience in artistic research; foster mobility, exchange and dialogue among artist researchers; promote wider dissemination of artistic research; and enable global connectivity and exchange for artistic research. (...) Throughout the 2010s the (...) key task of the group during this period was to advocate for forms of research and enquiry realised within and through artistic practices, and to provide various platforms to profile these. (...). However, since 2020 the agenda for EARN has evolved. There is now a new approach to cooperation and co-development of research through thematic working groups; a new emphasis on active research generation; and a process of expanding membership (beyond any provincial boundaries imagined as ‘Europe’)". (...).

The network is not limited by a single model of artistic research, but states that they are "based on a pragmatic recognition that research which entails actual practice within the arts is a specific and dynamic space of cultural creativity. This allows of a range of models, interpretations and paradigms (practice-led research, practice-based research, art research, research in and through the arts, etc.) while establishing a shared core concern with research grounded in actual art practices". The network seeks to explore different conceptions and modalities of artistic research and to enable exchange and critical dialogue across these different paradigms. 

In 2021, the Postresearch Condition conference considered the need to renew the terms of engagement after a “research decade” which saw some versions of artistic research becoming mainstreamed. The conference website announced that: ..."it is important to start from the three conceptual spaces that fundamentally determine what we mean by research: creative practice (experimentality, art making, potential of the sensible); artistic thinking (open-ended, speculative, associative, non-linear, haunting, thinking differently); and curatorial strategies (topical modes of political imagination, transformational spaces for encounters, reflection and dissemination) – and to comprehend these spaces in their mutual, dynamic coherence as a series of indirect triangular relationships".

Artistic Intelligence - Responsiveness, accessibility, responsibility, equity

This COST Action explores value propositions based on the data, information and knowledge that emerge from the relationships between artistic research projects, research practices, and research cultures. The Action responds to the lack of common standards, challenging isolated, non-referenced research processes across the arts and culture. The porject is running until 2028, and you can apply to join their working groups. Read more: ARTinRARE

The conditions for financing and organisation of artistic research and doctoral educations in the field differ in Europe

• Austria is one of the countries in front with the PEEK programme, as part of the Austrien Science Fund (FWF). 
• The universitites in the Netherlands have been central in developing artistic research in Europe and the startup of the Research Catalogue was financed by a grant fron the Dutch Research Council NWO.  
• The Orpheus Institute, founded in 1996 in Ghent, Belgium, is an international centre of excellence with its primary focus on artistic research in music.
• The Berlin Artistic Research Programme supports and encourages artistic research across disciplines and dialogue between the artists and their projects. The programme was created in 2020 by the Society for Artistic Research in Germany. There is artistic research and 3rd cycle education at a growing number of institutions in Germany.
• In Italy new projects and networks are established, like EAR and IartNet. 
• All institutions in the Czeck Republic have joined the Research Catalogue. 
• In Switzerland there is the SARN network and the ZHDK in Zurich has been central in several European networks. Institutions in th UK are members of several network organisations. 
• In Portugal,  i2ADS – Research Institute in Art, Design and Society, runs the journal HUB. 

Other European initiatives and projects

• The Creator Doctus project made a Database on 3rd cycle awards in Europe. 
• Advancing Supervision for Artistic Research Doctorates is a strategic partnership prosjekt co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme. A number of tools and resources developed as a contribution to the discussion around the question of supervision in artistic doctorates.
• Artistic Research in Music – an Introduction is a free online course (MOOC) curated by the Orpheus Institute. The course offers an introduction to relevant research tools, techniques, and methodologies as well as the key concepts of artistic research in music.
• The SHARE network is an international networking project comprising 39 partners from across Europe working together on enhancing the 3rd cycle of arts research and education in Europe
• Artistic Doctorates in Europe (ADiE) is a partnership with eight organizations from across the UK and Scandinavia that seeks to support, substantiate and enhance the delivery and impact of the third cycle provision in Dance and Performance degrees. The webpage includes resources and case studies.
• In.Tune is a European Alliance of 8 academic partners within music education and research. 
• The EU4Arts is a European Alliance of 4 academic partners within fine arts.