Artistic Research Methodology

Artistic Research Methodology argues for artistic research as a context-aware and historical process that works inside-in, beginning and ending with acts committed within an artistic practice. An artistic researcher has three intertwined tasks. First, she needs to develop and perfect her own artistic skills, vision and conceptual thinking. This happens by developing a vocabulary for not only making but also writing and speaking about art. Second, an artistic researcher has to contribute to academia and the «invisible colleges» around the world by proposing an argument in the form of a thesis, a narrative; and in so doing helping to build a community of artistic research and the bodies of knowledge these communities rely on. Third, she must communicate with practicing artists and the larger public, performing what one could call «audience education». There is no way of being an engaged and committed partner in a community without taking sides, without getting entangled in issues of power. Consequently, the methodology of artistic research has to be responsive both to the requirements of the practice and the traditions of science. Here the embedded nature of the knowledge produced through artistic research becomes evident. Artistic Research Methodology is essential reading for university courses in art, art education, media and social sciences.

Mika Hannula (PhD, University of Turku, Finland) is a former rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki, Finland, and is Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He curates contemporary art exhibitions across Europe and consults for a contemporary art gallery in Helsinki. Juha Suoranta (EdD, University of Tampere, Finland) is Professor of Adult Education at the University of Tampere. Recently he co-edited Havoc of Capitalism (2010) and authored Hidden in Plain Sight (2011). Tere Vadén (PhD, University of Tampere, Finland) is a philosopher teaching art education at the Aalto University in Helsinki. He is an editor of the philosophical journal niin & näin, has published articles on the philosophy of mind and language and co-authored the books Artistic Research (2005) and Wikiworld (2010).