eva Luating quaLity in artistiC researChdemonstrate proficiency in observation, investigation, enquiry,
visualisation and/or making;
develop ideas through to outcomes that confirm the student’s ability to
select and use materials, processes and environments;
make connections between intention, process, outcome, context, and
methods of dissemination.
At the threshold standard, a student’s work will have been informed by
aspects of professional practice in their discipline(s). This will be evidenced
by some knowledge and understanding of:
the broad critical and contextual dimensions of the student’s discipline(s);
the issues which arise from the artist’s or designer’s relationship with
audiences, clients, markets, users, consumers, and/or participants;
major developments in current and emerging media and technologies in
their discipline(s);
the significance of the work of other practitioners in their discipline(s).
(Qaa 2007: §§6.3, 6.4)in the Qaa statements, in addition to these subject- specific benchmarks, there are
also benchmark statements on generic skills (i.e. ones that graduates in any subject
would possess) and transferable skills (i.e. ones that might be learnt in one context and
transferred to another), in addition to the subject- specific skills (i.e. the ones specific to
studying engineering or art, etc.). The skills above are subject- specific. however, they
are remarkably similar and show that professional judgement is necessary to interpret
what is meant, for example, by problem- solving in engineering as opposed to art.
it can be tempting for a creative artist to be distracted by the apparently radical
difference in the form of output from the creative arts compared to traditional research,
including video or sound recordings, sketches, diaries and models, etc., accompanying
the written thesis or illustrated in appendices. most uK universities set a word limit
for the text whereas other institutions may be more flexible. The arts universities in
helsinki prescribe a scientific text to complement and complete the artefacts and
performances – a requirement which often leads to over- ambition and the presentation
of a text of more or less the same scope as a full text- only thesis in the humanities, in
addition to the stipulated number of concerts, performances or exhibitions. These so-
called double doctorates occur because there is no real agreement about the aims and
objectives of artistic research, and supervisors believe that the aims of both arts and
research have to be satisfied equally. This is a view that we criticized earlier: that the
extent of the overlap in the hybrid model of ‘art and research’ is unclear. insecurity can
sometimes be noticed amongst supervisors that the art is not sufficiently ‘weighty’ and
must be accompanied by a kind of ‘academicized practice’ (Biggs and Büchler 2010)
with the help of citations of authorities such as heidegger, deleuze, etc. in order to add
‘weight’ to the practical work through association.
experiments with the formats of the theses also reflect ongoing radical structural
changes of the art colleges’ curricula which will even affect the very groundwork of
the art colleges. some of the challenges are due to the increasing potential of the
new digital media and a revaluation of the discipline’s and subject’s position in the
curriculum. Focus might be shifted from the “charismatic pedagogy” mentioned earlier