Mapping Artistic Research

Pitch Presentation / Round table with Giulia Bellinetti, Vincent Crapon, Sonia D’Alto, Sam Erpelding 

In collaboration with kultur | lx

VENUE: Casino Display, 1, rue de la Loge, L-1945 Luxembourg 

The question of artistic research is the focus of attention of national higher education bodies, cultural institutions, curators and, of course, artists. Yet it seems difficult to come up with a definition that encompasses all the practices that can be identified or recognised as artistic research. Indeed, when we talk about artistic research, can we really define it and how? And basically, doesn't every artistic practice have epistemological potential? 

Historically, the ‘posture’ of the artist-researcher, revived and revalorised in the mid-twentieth century, has not only spontaneous aspects, but is also the fruit of a political will in liberal democracies where the production of knowledge became an issue of influence in the context of the Second World War and then the Cold War. In Europe, it was the Bologna process (harmonisation of university curricula) that revived the political debate on the artist-researcher at the end of the 1990s.  

So, in the absence of higher education in the arts in Luxembourg, Casino Display has become involved in this discussion through its artistic research laboratory. As the place aims to be flowing in its approach, always ready to question itself and negotiate contradictions, we are proposing a forum to explore this theme. We will approach the question by bypassing the constraints of forcing a static definition of artistic research, exploring instead the subject in the form of a mapping of practices, based on different positions (teacher, artist, curator, doctoral student) and different locations (art centre, art school, university, artist residency). 

The first part will take the form of “pitch presentations” during which each of the guests will talk about one of their projects that they describe as artistic research. The subsequent forum, during which guests and the audience will discuss the issues raised above.