What kind of preparatory steps have been taken for the initiation and development of your LAB?
ART ACADEMY OF LATVIA
Having completed the compulsory courses, which ensure an in-depth examination of the latest achievements in art theory and practice, as well as elective courses of study, doctoral candidates can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the most relevant scientific theories and concepts, master the research methodology and contemporary research methods in the respective field of art or culture, or in the professional field, as well as at the interface between different spheres.
By choosing the format of the Open LAB of Art Academy of Latvia, our aim is to highlight different aspects and topics of education. The variety of joint lectures and the exchange of ideas between interdisciplinary practices train students to find their unique methodology. Therefore, the format of open discussions— involving not only students and professors but also the public—is the format that helps students articulate their own research and train them to share scholarly practices with society in an open and mediated way.
During the open lab, students share their practices and introduce visitors to advanced painting formats and challenges; to experiments with epoxy layers to articulate aspects of shared memory; to material experiments with plastic and homemade drinks to bring forgotten places into focus; to animation sequences with participatory interruption; to design methods for transdisciplinary tax policy, and so on. The first ever event for students to share their physically created works and present them to a wider audience provided them with the necessary feedback to realize the fundamental format of artistic research that helps them enrich their further practice and quest for advancement.
HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS
After months of preparatory work on educational, we tested our Artistic Research LAB within the framework of a pilot workshop in November 2022, in cooperation with doctoral and undergraduate students of the HUFA (workshop leaders: Mátyás Fusz, Gabriella Kiss, Szabolcs KissPál). However, we did not want to launch joint student research theme clusters or joint student research projects at the event. Instead, we aimed to create a discursive space where student research at different levels or on various topics could be equally represented in a professional dialogue.
We have created four territories in which artistic research can be placed:
Art/science (the relationship between art and traditional humanities and natural sciences); Art/ pedagogy (the role of art in educational and knowledge transfer); Art/social processes (the potential and capacity of art to shape society); Art/art (the medial, technical aesthetic and formal questions of art).
These clusters were placed on a map of an imaginary world we had created, each belonging to a continent. We used travelling as a metaphor to illustrate the temporality and multi-layered nature of artistic research. Working in teams of two, we asked students to tell each other which continents they had visited in their research and when, with the option of everyone adding specific geographical elements to the map according to their research journey. Finally, the task was extended to groups of four students, who worked together to find possible common intersections or differences on maps drawn on superimposed pieces of tracing paper.
At the end of the workshop, all groups presented these points to each other. Building on the experience of the pilot workshop, we plan to launch a one-week block seminar for doctoral and undergraduate students in the spring semester of the academic year 2022/23 in the Doctoral School of the HUFA. We also welcome undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students from EU4ART_ differences partner institutions as participants. This block seminar is a kick-off event for creating research micro-communities for doctoral and undergraduate students. The established micro-communities, the technical details of the HUFA LAB pilot event and the block seminar will be presented on an English- language website.
In addition, we aim to extend and consolidate the educational format of the block seminar in the HUFA’s educational system, encouraging professional dialogue and interoperability between the student and faculty communities of the different departments.
Participants of the Pilot LAB HUFA:
Dániel Bencs, János Donnák, Dominika Drótos, Apolka Erős, István Felsmann, Emese Fodor, Rita Horváth, Klaudia Janusko, Katalin Kortmann Járay, Ádám Jeneses, Bernadett Jobbágy, Bence Kala, Judit Kis, Alíz Kovács, Viola Dóra Lenkey, Mózes Murányi, Vivi Papp, Zsolt Sőrés, Áron Szabó, Nóra Szabó, Gáspár Szőke, Anna Tóth, Vilmos Vagyoczki, Anna Zsámbéki.
DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS
Since there had been no discussions at the HfBK on artistic research as an autonomous form of practice before the EU4ART_differences project began, there was an urgent need to engage the topic on a broader basis. Therefore, the Dresden project team presented the project aims, the partners and the resulting possibilities to their institution directly after the grant agreement. This included intense one-to-one exchange with professors, teaching staff, postgraduates, externals and students in order to not only analyse existing approaches, ideas and viewpoints, but also identify needs, gaps and deficits connected to the possibilities of artistic research.
In addition to associated project partners of the HfBKDresden, international specialists experienced in comparable projects (e.g. the joint Norwegian Doctoral School programme) were also involved in the discussion. The doctoral schools within the alliance (Riga, Budapest) were also subjected to analysis in order to understand their approach.
As a next step, a working group for improving the third cycle in fine arts in Dresden was established, which included professors and staff from both faculties, and which intended to clarify the content and tasks of the lab, in accordance with the needs of the HfBK, with a focus on both artistic research and further qualification in general. After a presentation of the results in the Faculty of Fine Arts, a call for application was launched in connection with a small monthly scholarship for ten postgraduates. Beyond this, the HfBK Dresden hosted a conference on artistic research, together with TU Dresden and the artists’ board of Saxony, as a preparational project for the LAB. Furthermore, a cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture at the TU Dresden explored intersections between the sciences, fine arts, architecture and possibilities for societal outreach.
The LAB has been operating in a pilot phase since October 2022, hosting lectures, seminars, workshops and roundtable discussions during week-long block seminars three times per semester.
FINE ARTS ACADEMY OF ROME
The Fine Arts Academy of Rome laid the foundations for the development of the CARE Lab by making a joint agreement with the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), organizing a pilot phase, and investing in human resources. To this end, a new junior scientist was hired to develop a methodological model for the lab as well as relevant initiatives with Alliance partners, and to boost communication with the other research sector of the Academy, i.e. doctoral courses.
The initial activities of the Lab began on 19 January 2023, when the Fine Arts Academy of Rome hosted the launch of CARE (Creative Artistic Research Ecosystem), its laboratory of artistic research developed in partnership with the National Institute for Nuclear Physics of Roma Tre University. On that occasion, a transdisciplinary dialogue was initiated in a preliminary internal meeting to lay the foundations for the research laboratory that would bring art and science under
the same methodological umbrella. The laboratory kick-off was intended to facilitate the acquaintance of respective languages and researches. Keynote speeches on the Standard Model of physics and science-related art practices were given to introduce current research relevant for the Lab.
A subsequent meeting is scheduled for 9 February 2023 at INFN to continue the pivotal dialogue started during the first meeting, with a plan to finalize working teams and projects to focus on.