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 <>

From local food systems to ceramic practice: building cross-sector networks through material research (2026) Zizi Mitrou
This research investigates how local sourcing practices in the Netherlands can enable the reuse of secondary food-related materials for ceramic glaze production, and how the exploration of existing networks through material research can contribute to the development of new cross-sector collaborations. Through a practice-based approach that bridges ceramic production, design research, and the restaurant industry, the study explores the potential of locally available “waste” materials, such as bones, shells, charcoals, and discarded glass, as viable resources for glaze making. The research combines material experimentation with qualitative fieldwork, including interviews and informal discussions with chefs, ceramicists, suppliers, and material practitioners. By tracing the origins, processing, and transformation of these secondary resources, the study critically examines the environmental impact and opacity of conventional glaze supply chains, which often rely on imported raw materials and energy-intensive extraction and transportation processes. Central to the research is the creation of a material archive that documents locally sourced secondary materials and their behavior in glaze recipes. This archive functions not only as a technical tool for ceramic experimentation, but also as a framework for understanding relationships between material flows, human practices, and local infrastructures. Drawing on the concept of “working in the minor key,” the research emphasizes learning through direct engagement, observation, and collaboration rather than predefined systems. The findings suggest that material research can act as a catalyst for new circular practices and cross-sector networks between restaurants and ceramic industry, fostering shared responsibility, creative exchange, and reduced material consumption. By reframing waste as a site of value and knowledge, this study proposes an alternative, locally embedded approach to glaze production that integrates sustainability, and social engagement.
open exposition
Transmutations: a staged concert / Transmutações: um concerto cênico (2026) Pedro Pablo Cámara Toldos
Transmutations seeks to redefine the term transformation through a staged concert — a concert conceived as a work of art in itself. The traditional concert format and conventional performance practices are showing signs of stagnation, thus calling for the emergence of a voice adapted to this transformation. The boundaries of music, especially within the classical realm, have gradually blurred in recent times. Increasingly, artists are exploring the concert as a form of expression that not only integrates other artistic disciplines but also embraces technological advancements. This approach challenges traditional aesthetic conventions and the notion of genre and musical style. The omnipresence of technology in contemporary society underlines the need for research that explores the many possibilities of the concert format. This staged concert aims to redefine the concept of transformation by avoiding any stylistic boundaries. The works of Richard Strauss, John Cage, and Alexander Schubert are included not only for their artistic value but also for their contribution to the very notion of transformation.
open exposition
THE TREATISE (2026) Giusirames
This thesis is based on the integration of three complementary components: Giusirames's Treatise, the artistic and scientific research conducted through processes of material solidification, and the visual portfolio documenting the resulting works. These three elements form a coherent system, in which theory does not precede practice, nor does practice illustrate theory, but both emerge from a common conceptual core: the desire to interrogate matter as an active subject and not as a mere support.
open exposition

recent publications <>

Home page JSS (2026) Journal of Sonic Studies
Home page of the Journal of Sonic Studies
open exposition
JSS Book reviews (2026) Journal of Sonic Studies
JSS Book reviews
open exposition
Quantifying Critical Posture: A Diagnostic Analysis of Art Writing, 1980–2025 - Formalizing Post-Hermeneutic Phenomenology (2026) Dorian Vale
This dataset accompanies A Quantitative Analysis of Critical Posture in Art Writing, 1980–2025 and provides a structured corpus of twenty influential critical texts spanning four decades of art discourse. The dataset operationalizes Post-Interpretive Criticism (PIC) by applying a system of diagnostic indices designed to measure linguistic posture rather than interpretive content. Rather than evaluating what artworks mean, the dataset examines how critical language behaves in proximity to aesthetic encounter. Each text is coded according to a set of phenomenologically grounded indices—including Rhetorical Density (RD), Interpretive Load Index (ILI), Viewer Displacement Ratio (VDR), Ethical Proximity Score (EPS), Institutional Alignment Indicator (IAI), and newly introduced supplemental indices—capturing patterns of extraction, restraint, viewer positioning, closure, and institutional mediation. The dataset spans critical writing from 1980 to 2025, covering academic art history, museum wall texts, catalog essays, journal criticism, and experimental critical prose. All texts are analyzed using transparent, repeatable coding protocols, enabling comparative analysis across historical periods, institutional contexts, and stylistic regimes. The resulting quantitative profiles reveal structural shifts in art criticism, including the rise of interpretation-heavy language, increasing institutional alignment, and the erosion or preservation of phenomenological restraint. This dataset is intended for researchers in aesthetics, art history, museology, discourse analysis, and digital humanities. It supports replication, extension, and methodological critique of Post-Interpretive Criticism, while also serving as a proof-of-concept for formalized phenomenological analysis—demonstrating how phenomenological insights can be rendered measurable without reducing artworks or encounters to data objects. By treating criticism itself as the object of analysis, the dataset contributes a novel methodological resource for studying the ethics, structure, and historical evolution of art discourse. Post-Interpretive Criticism, Stillmark Theory, Message-Transfer Theory, MTT, Misplacement, Displacement, Aesthetic Displacement Theory, Theory of Misplacement, Absential Aesthetics, Witness Aesthetics, Hauntmark Theory, Spiritual Criticism, Presence-Based Criticism, Custodianship of Art, Art as Ontology, Aesthetic Recursion Theory, Aesthetic Recursion, Viewer as Evidence Theory, Restraint in front of art, Moral proximity, Interpretive silence, Erasure as ethics, Temporal scarcity, Silence as method, Ontology of beauty, Aesthetic mercy, Language as violence, Art encounter ethics, Epistemology of witness, Philosophy of Art, Aesthetics, Art Theory, Contemporary Aesthetics, Comparative Aesthetics, Phenomenology and Art, Ethics in Art Criticism, Interpretation and Meaning, Criticism and Reception Theory, Epistemology of Art, Visual Culture Studies, Dorian Vale, Founder of Post-Interpretive Criticism, Post-Aesthetic Critic, Independent Philosopher of Art, Museum of One, Art Writer and Theorist, Aesthetic Philosopher, Custodian of Witness Aesthetics, Spiritual Aesthetics Movement, The Doctrine of Post-Interpretive Criticism, The Custodian’s Oath, The Canon of Witnesses, Art as Truth, Art as Presence, The Viewer as Evidence, Interpretation vs. Witnessing, Language as Custody, Erasure as Afterlife, Museum of One Manifesto, Alternative art criticism, New art criticism movement, Ethical art theory, Criticism beyond interpretation, Slow looking philosophy, Quiet philosophy of art, Radical art restraint, Witness over interpretation, Interpretive Restraint, The Journal of Post-Interpretive criticism, The Journal of Post-Interpretive criticism ISSN 2819-7232), The Journal of Post-Interpretive Criticism (Q136530009), Epoché Fidelity Index (EFI) (Q138018710), Phenomenological Phase Alignment Score (PPAS) (Q138018807), Residue Engagement Restraint Ratio (RERR) (Q138018901), Quasi-Subject Agency Recognition Index (QSARI) (Q138018929), Dialectical Circulation Index (DCI) (Q138018950)
open exposition

sar announcements >

Subscribe to SARA