Practice Based Research Focus Group 2019/2020

INTERROGATING 'PRACTICE BASED RESEARCH' IN THE ARTS

This focus group will engage in an ongoing interrogation of the various uses of research within artistic practice.

Through a series of group reading of texts - and discussion with guest tutors - we will examine the development of 'Practice Based Research' as a key term in contemporary arts practice, and take stock of the varied and often conflicting definitions of 'Practice Based Research' within contemporary arts and art education.

In our reading we will collect terms and processes that might contribute to a critical understanding 'Practice Based Research' - creating our own collective reader that might clarify this contested and often misunderstood term.

SESSION ONE: 2019-09-30 We will read and discuss the chapter:

File:Thinking J.Dunningan RISD The Art of Critical Making 2013.pdf

Thingking (at RISD) John Dunnigan Essay in The Art of Critical Making Rhode Island School of Design on Creative Practice. Wiley 2013

SESSION 02 DECEMBER 2019 The first of two sessions devoted to developing a path across 2020 trimesters for mapping out the key elements of 'practice based research'. After several sessions we have covered a number of topics including the relation between studio work and creating texts, and the relation between intellectual discourse and the emotional stakes of creative work. I wold now like to make a map of reading and topics that we can collectively use to create a map for our discussions that will create a 'safe space' to delve into our creative processes and explore what part of that process is usefully covered by practice-based research.

As an armature for our discussion i post a document by BRUCE MAU - A MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH - that attempts to give 40 short points - 'rules' as it were - for creative practice that leads to growth. Please read it and we'll discuss point by point on Monday.

File:Mau.pdf