Contextsaspects of a work of art than does the artist herself, and can look at the work as part of a
historical development. many artists enjoy being curated, interpreted and given a semi-
mythological status or the liberties granted for children. perhaps they (we) fear losing
their (our) power as artists if given full agency as humans. This position resembles the
situation regarding women and the vote during the nineteenth century. Will women
lose their charming and enticing capacities and their soulfulness if they are given a
chance to develop their agency as citizens? it all comes down to this: developing art-
based or artistic research has a political dimension.
When artist researchers turn their attention to their colleagues or their field, either
because they want to (or are asked to) contextualize their work and look at the broader
circumstances of production, or because they try to emulate models of what they think
is (or what they are told is) proper research, they easily leave their own work aside out
of modesty, or relegate it into some small corner of the research project – a situation
which can be counterproductive to the development of artistic research in the long
run. What if using your own experiences and your own material were considered
slightly equivocal in other forms of research, like ethnography? here the support and
encouragement of supervisors is especially needed.
artists have the situated and embodied knowledge of the process of making and
performing art (though not only that, of course). Basically people who are involved in
a field should be able to undertake research in that field. however, one of the mistakes
made by early career artist researchers is to try to ‘solve the mystery of creation’ or to
assume that all artists work in the same way. nevertheless, artistic research should
be undertaken by artists, and should try to benefit the field of art in question. This
does not mean that art- based or artist- based research would be completely different
from other forms of research. however, as an artist being told how and what to do by
researchers in other fields, it is important to remember that it is not only the artists’
knowledge that is embodied, situated and partial.
the place of the artworkThe idea of what is an artwork is different in contemporary visual art and performing
arts. some performing artists – like improvising dancers and musicians – prefer to
understand their art as an ongoing practice rather than as singular artworks. Traditionally
the relationship to reproduction has been a significant issue. a painting or sculpture
is one signed work. a photograph or print can be multiplied, a film or video can be
copied (if digital, endlessly). a choreographed dance performance can be re-staged.
a musical score can be reprinted, a musical performance recorded and distributed. a
play can be interpreted ever anew. a performed poem can be performed again, even
translated. There are more variations than the difference between a musical and a
painterly sensibility (a composition to be played by somebody else and a singular and
signed painting) mentioned at the beginning.
in performance art – in contrast to performing arts – the ephemeral, intangible
and unique performance event has been fetishized, and reproduction and repetition
resisted, though the status of individual performance artworks in the canon is often
based on striking documentation (auslander 2006). Contemporary visual art can also
be site- specific and ephemeral. installations are often both unique and temporary,