Artists Working Realities & Futures. Practitioner Perspectives, Arts-Based Methods, and Artistic Research

This presentation will start with reporting results from practice-based discussions and symposia on working with art in socio-cultural settings. The events have been organized by the research micro-hub FOA-FLUX since 2008. The sharings brought together artists, co-practitioners, and researchers, among others, from Malawi, India, Bhutan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. The second part of the presentation will differentiate artist and artistic research procedures from arts-based methods applied across disciplines, including health, sociological, anthropological, and educational research. Arts-based methods are understood, among others, as a means of addressing, evoking and engaging empathy; of providing relief; of provoking responses; of accesssing complex dispositions and multiple meanings; of fostering dialogue across diverse groups; of providing soft communication entry points; and of raising awareness. The use of arts-based methods is increasingly well documented across disciplines. Where does artistic research stand in that respect? The final part of this presentation discusses the challenges of artistic research given the global turn and fostering local/global (glocal) setting-sensitivity and reciprocal relationships. How to account for the global turn in artistic research? How to integrate various knowledge systems? How to overcome limited notions of art? The presentation will discuss these questions both in terms of research assumptions and ethical relations in the research procedures.