The Research Catalogue (RC) is a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform for artistic research provided by the Society for Artistic Research. The RC is free to use for artists and researchers. It serves also as a backbone for teaching purposes, student assessment, peer review workflows and research funding administration. It strives to be an open space for experimentation and exchange.

recent activities >

PSi 29: Working Group Performance and Pedagogy (2024) Adelheid Mers
Call, updates and resources for the Working Group Performance and Pedagogy at PSi 29: Assembly, London, UK. Organized by Vanessa Damilola Macaulay, Leigh Anne Howard and Adelheid Mers (coordinator)
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SIG 8: Facilitating (2024) Adelheid Mers, Marija Griniuk
The SIG Facilitating took shape at the 2023 SAR Conference in Trondheim, after observing over an extended time how frequently artists, artistic researchers and even policy makers refer to facilitation when describing interactions with audiences, communities and research partners. Finding ways to examine such facilitating processes is crucial to the work under way. We know that facilitating practices exist widely in interactive and community based art, and in theater and the performing arts, for example using games, props and improvisation. There are intersections with pedagogy and professional facilitation and coaching, with at least the latter understood as prizing outcomes over processes. The SIG Facilitating asks: What does it mean to facilitate as part of artistic research? Why is this focus emerging now? How are we drawing on a greater web? Organized by Marija Griniuk, Postdoctoral researcher at Vilnius Academy of Arts, and director at Sami Center for Contemporary Art in Norway; Janne-Camilla Lyster, Associate Professor, Oslo National Academy of the Arts; and Adelheid Mers, Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (coordinator). Contact: sigfacilitating@gmail.com
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RADICAL SOFTNESS (2024) RAD 24 CURATOR
The exposition explores radical softness as the step-stone for our artistic practices and work produced. The program took place where the forest meets the sea in the Northern Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden.
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recent publications >

ARTISTS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE (2024) Linda Janson, Mirko Lempert
In the dynamic interplay between art and technology, the integration of artificialintelligence (AI) has opened new frontiers of exploration and expression. Our researchproject, initiated in 2021, ventured into this evolving landscape with a mission to examinethe relationship between AI and contemporary artistic practices. Focusing primarily ontext and image synthesis using AI technologies, our project embarked on an in-depthexploration of the creative potentials and limitations of Large Language Models (LLM).This journey was far more than a technical exercise; it represented a deep dive into thefusion of creativity and technology, examine traditional workflows, especially related topre-production in filmmaking. The project revealed AI's capacity to both emulate andstimulate human creativity, offering insights into the capabilities and boundaries of LLM inartistic creation. These reflections are not just a recount of past achievements but a lensthrough which one can view the potential and future intersections of art and machineintelligence.Leading the research project are Linda Janson, a production designer with over 30 yearsof experience in the art departments of films, TV series, and commercials, currentlyserving as a senior lecturer in production design at Stockholm University of the Arts, andMirko Lempert, founder of the company Monocular. Monocular specializes in integratingAI with traditional 2D/3D techniques for practical applications in visual content creation.This project is driven by their collective goal to investigate the practical applications of AIin visual arts, combining Linda’s extensive industry experience and academic backgroundwith Mirko’s expertise in applying AI technologies. Their joint effort focuses on enhancingthe methodologies of visual arts and design education to align with the ongoingadvancements in digital technology.We would also like to recognize and express our gratitude to PhD candidate Marc Johnson, whose significant contributions were instrumental in initiating this researchendeavor and who has continuously supported the process with valuable advice andexpertise.Lastly, we wish to emphasize that Chat-GPT served as an editorial assistant in thecomposition of this report. This involvement was twofold: as an integral part of ourresearch methodology and as a proficient contributor, aiding in the summarization,formalization, and articulation of arguments to deepen the discourse on the topic ofArtificial Intelligence in the visual arts.
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Puppets at the piano (11.08.2023) by Ellen Ugelvik (2024) Ellen Kristine Ugelvik, Io Sivertsen
In Performing Precarity we have been working with several composers staging projects that enhance unstable situations on stage. For Berg & Høeg’s Photostudio I composed the music myself. In this exposition I reflect upon experiences from the process of creating and performing the music in improvisational dialogue with my collaborators in Theater Corpus. What ideas and work methods are available to me in the encounter between puppets, actors, myself and my instrument? How can themes and experiences from the research project Performing Precarity inform the work? My reflections deal specifically with the music, despite the fact that the music clearly cannot to be separated from the whole setting. Many thanks for permission use our material in this exposition; Tormod, Aina, Tuva, Ragni and Daniel.
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Performing Precarity (2024) Io Sivertsen, Ellen Kristine Ugelvik, Anders Førisdal, Jennifer Torrence, Laurence Crane, Lisa Streich
To be a contemporary music performer today is to have a deeply fragmented practice. The performer's role is no longer simply a matter of mastering her instrument and executing a score. Music practices are incorporating new instruments and technologies, methods of creating works, audience interaction and situations of interdependence between performer subjects. The performer finds herself unable to keep a sense of mastery over the performance. In other words, performance is increasingly precarious.
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