Volume 7 Issue 1 (2011): On Reflecting and Making in Artistic Research Practice
Editorial

On Reflecting and Making in Artistic Research

Maarit Mäkelä
Aalto University School of Art and Design, Helsinki
Nithikul Nimkulrat
School of the Arts, Loughborough University
D. P. Dash
Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Malaysia; Xavier Institute of Management, India
Bio
Francois-X. Nsenga
Independent Researcher in Sociology and Industrial Design
Keywords
  • artistic research,
  • art practice,
  • university system

Abstract

Following the integration of artistic disciplines within the university, artists have been challenged to review their practice in academic terms. This has become a vigorous epicentre of debates concerning the nature of research in the artistic disciplines. The special issue "On Reflecting and Making in Artistic Research Practice" captures some of this debate. This editorial article presents a broad-brush outline of the debates raging in the artistic disciplines and presents three discernible trends in those debates. The trends highlight different core questions: (1) Art as research: Can artistic practice represent forms of inquiry acceptable within academic settings? (2) Academically-attuned practice-led research: Can art practice and research practice cooperate as equal partners within the university context? (3) Artistic research: Can the academic notion of research be extended to include the unique results possible through artistic research? The articles in the special issue offer a discussable overview of the current stage in the development of artistic research, demonstrating how creative practice and research practice can come together.