Reception for the Art of Research: Research Narratives Symposium (Tate Britain)

Last night's reception at Tate Britain was a bit like a dream, like walking through Future Reflections' recent history. Old friends in attendance included Maarit Mäkelä and Kärt Summatavet from The Art of Research Symposium (Helsinki, October 2007), Luis Firmo and Tiago Miranda from Desvios/Detours III: Relational Spaces: The New Expanded Field for Art and Thought (Torres Vedras, October 2007) and Michael Schwab from Figurations of Knowledge (Berlin, June 2008). There was also Michael Hiltburnner from Pecha Kucha along with other members of our Chelsea community including Tim O'Riley, Stephen Scrivener, Mo Thorp, Maria Walsh and others. Hana Sakuma and Mary Anne Francis spent the better part of the evening organizing the next two days of this "emergent" event.

What questions will be asked and reasked at this symposium? Addressing the possibility of art being Research was a recurrent concern at the last Art of Research. Perhaps this conference will enable us to move beyond this specific issue and map more common ground. For me, the questions are many. Here are a few:

  1.  Given the conference's theme of narration, is it possible to identify several modes/methods used by practitioners to discuss their artwork as R/research?
  2. What receives specific attention in the narratives of art R/research? Is it process, product, context, research questions or some other concern? Are any trends evident here?
  3. Art R/research is often identified as comparatively subjective. In what ways do researchers articulate their own points of view through the telling of their R/research and to what ends?  
  4. Can artworks as art Research stand alone? Can they exist without commentary? Descriptive blurbs and didactic panels are scarce at this conference, making the reception of the work closer, perhaps, to how it might be encountered in "normative" contexts," such as at a non-Research related art exhibition or art fair. What are the implications of this framing or lack thereof?
  5. In what ways does the art/science fair structure of this conference shape the reception of the artwork as Research?
Added October 28th, 2008 by Marsha