part iii

ConTeXTs

The theme in part iii of this book is an examination of what artistic researchers are
doing when viewed in and from other contexts. artistic researchers are identifiable
partly by virtue of the non-traditional activities that they undertake. They use
artistic methods and media to produce outcomes that are non-traditional within the
university, such as musical compositions, performances, paintings, etc. more generally,
one can imagine university rectors saying that they know that artistic researchers
are doing something different, but they may not know exactly what that something
is. ‘something different’ seems to be recognizable from both the academic and the
arts practice context. indeed, from outside the arts, one of its most characteristic
qualities is its consistent focus on ‘the new’. originality is therefore a core feature of
the creative and performing arts.
notwithstanding, the artistic concept of originality seems to bear some relationship
to the academic notion of intellectual property. When an artist produces an artwork,
part of its value lies in the fact that it was produced by exactly this particular artist
whose name, as well as skill, contributes to the qualities of the artefact. These factors
are exploited when the work is bought and sold. in academic research the value of
an individual contribution relies not so much on the reputation of the individual
researcher as much as on the scholarship and appropriateness of the methods that
have been employed. of course, well-known researchers are very experienced and
are perhaps more likely to produce such contributions. however, the academic value
lies more in the anonymous properties that enable the original contribution to enter
into the web of knowledge. These two different interpretations of originality are given
significance by the conceptual and market structure in which they operate.
Within the academy the concept of novelty has a particular meaning and significance.
unlike the arts, the strangeness of a novel phenomenon is not part of its attraction.
indeed, traditional research tends to emphasize the familiar rather than the strange.
a large part of academic research – reflected in the training given to researchers –
is the thorough mastery of the existing literature in the field of study. The purpose
of mastering the literature is two-fold: first, to familiarize oneself with the key terms
and concepts and, second, to identify a gap in knowledge that can be exploited. This
exploitation is validated in terms of the key concepts from the literature. as a result,
the academic research process tends to encourage small incremental steps that are