Last edited on February 1, 2024

Katharina Swoboda

"Straying as Research"

funded by FWF Austrian Science Fund

program: Elise Richter PEEK, grant-DOI 10.55776/V1036

institution: Center Research Focus, University of Applied Arts Vienna

02/2024 — 02/2027

This project deals with straying – specifically, with those animals to whom we usually attribute straying as a method: stray cats. They exist in almost all human population centers, although they are more noticeable in some cities than in others. In Vienna, they tend to operate in secret. Any search for strays opens up unexpected encounters, not only with cats, but with people and stories too. Stray cats may be part of the city, but they move along paths unknown to people. But what are the paths that they take? This project approaches straying with the help of media techniques such as video traps and GPS sensors on the one hand, and interviews and observations on the other.

Artistic research uses artistic means to create new forms of knowledge. It differs from visual art in that its methods are openly demonstrated. The process of creating a work of visual art can be mystified as inspiration or the work of “the muse.” Artistic research communicates its creative methods to any interested parties. Artistic processes are rarely straightforward routes with finish lines; they include aberrations and detours: in a word, they themselves represent a kind of straying.

In addition to the roaming of animals, the act of wandering has many antecedents in the artistic field that deserve reconsideration and reinterpretation. Even a brief look at many  writers shows that walking, strolling, and sauntering form an important part of their work process. In contrast to flaneuring and sauntering, straying results from situations of precarity  and social insecurity. Straying can also simply mean becoming lost. In this interpretation, “strays” are understood as existences that live on the margins of society, or are even excluded from it. But the metaphor of the stray also needs to be questioned. Because, as the example of cats shows, strays demonstrate resilience and clever survival strategies. Precisely because straying – in contrast to walking and strolling – recognizes and addresses its precariousness, it can represent a specific approach that can be applied in artistic research. Using straying as a method and metaphor, this project explores the interfaces between humans, non-human animals, and artistic research. And who better to learn straying from than those we call strays: free-roaming cats.