Research Catalogue

Arts-based-philosophy is an emerging research concept at the cutting edge of the arts, philosophy and the Sciences in which cross-disciplinary research collectives align their research practices to finally stage their investigations in field-performances, shared with the public. Our research explores the significance of the HEART in artistic research and performance philosophy from a cross-cultural perspective, partially based on the concepts of the HEART in the works of two artist-philosophers, in which philosophy already became arts-based-philosophy: Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra and Aurobindo’s poetic opus magnum Savitri. We generally assume that the works of artist-philosophers are not only engaged in “creating concepts” (Deleuze), but their concepts are also meant to be staged artistically to let them bodily matter in fact. The role of the HEART in respect to this process of “bodily mattering” is the core objective under investigation: Firstly, because we hold that atmospheres trigger the HEART of a lived-body to taste the flavor of things it is environmentally engaged with basically in an aesthetic manner (Nietzsche). In this respect the analysis of the classical notion for the aesthete in Indian philosophy and aesthetics, sahṛdaya––which literally means, “somebody, with a HEART”––becomes crucial. Secondly, because the HEART is said to be not just reducible to one’s manifest Nature, but has access to one’s virtual Nature as well. The creation hymn in the oldest of all Vedas (Rgveda) for instance informs us that a HEART is capable of crossing being (sat) & non-being (asat), which makes it fluctuate among these two realms and even allows its aspirations to let virtual possibilities matter. Such concepts show striking similarities with contemporary concepts in philosophy-physics, e.g. the concepts of “virtual particles” and “quantum vacuum fluctuations” (Barad).

This page is under construction It contains material created for and in the context of the research project Gifts from the Sentient Forest at the University of Lapland. See https://www.sentientforestproject.com

The publication Paths of artistic research is a collection of interviews with artistic researchers - Andrea Buršová, assistant professor at the Nika Brettschneiderová Dramatic Acting Department, Faculty of Drama, JAMU, Jiří Honzírek, director, manager of the Feste Theatre and PhD student at the Theatre Faculty, JAMU, Barbora Klímová, head of the Studio of Environmental Design at the FFA BUT, Lenka Klodová, head of the Studio of Body Design at the FFA BUT, Lucia Repašská, researcher at the Cabinet for Theatre and Drama Research, Theatre Faculty, JAMU, Hana Slavíková, head of the Studio of Radio and Television Dramaturgy and Scriptwriting, Theatre Faculty, JAMU, Pavel Sterec, artist and former head of the Intermedia Studio at the FFA, BUT, and Lenka Veselá, researcher at the Department of Theory and History of Art at the FFA, BUT and PhD student at the FFA, BUT. These are artists who have been associated with art colleges in Brno, specifically with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the BUT and the Theatre Faculty of the JAMU. Through interviews with the artists, the reader will learn under what circumstances they began to engage in artistic research, how they perceive it, what meanings they attribute to it and the purpose it serves for them. The selected group of artists is very diverse and their creative and research strategies are different, as are the purposes for which they use artistic research. The publication does not aim to provide an exhaustive overview of the methods used in artistic research, but it does aim to show that there are many approaches to artistic research and to present the paths that have brought particular artists to artistic research.

Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 Master Photography & Society Welcome to the TROPICAL TRAUMA MISERY TOUR. I invite you to take this tour through aroofless theater called media, the stage representing the farce and media opportunism ofthe Brazilian president and far-right populist, Jair Messias Bolsonaro—The Myth.In 2018, Bolsonaro was stabbed during a presidential rally campaign. Against a backdrop ofpolarization, micro-narratives, and misinformation,The Mythstarred in an online politicalcampaign where he had complete control over his narrative and self-presentation. This tourinvestigates how the ambiguity of the stabbing event exposes the network propaganda in theBrazilian political game.Through a speculative documentary photography practice, this piece overcomes the politicalillusions and dissemination of nonprogressive values of digital populists. The fictionalizationof the real is a form of resistance towards such ideological shams and manipulations. Itdevolves into a meta-play, a farce within a farce.

Thesis of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2022 Master Photography & Society The "Trauma of Looking: Readings and Counter-readings of the representation of femicides in theGreek mainstream media" is a work that aims to decode the narrative strategies used by the Greekmainstream media to report sensitive topics related to gender inequalities and gender-basedviolence. In this work I explore the tropes and the effects of media cannibalism, a term which I havecoined and it will be explained further in the text, through the lens of intimate femicides - aphenomenon which has recently entered the wider public discourse in Greece. There is a need frommainstream media to commercialize such crimes and exploit personal dramas. They are treatingreal-life stories as a spectacle, as another true-crime series ready to be consumed by the audience.This globalized "life-as-spectacle" approach, which goes beyond Greece, transmutes our collectivemoral principles into a new culture where violence is always legitimized and thus is made acceptablein society.

Research Paper of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, 2023 MA Interior Architecture (Inside) Public space is defined as “ an area or place that is open and accessible to all people, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, or socio-economic level. These are public gathering spaces such as plazas, squares and parks”. Public spaces that bring together a great diversity of people are therefore designed as “zero friction” spaces, but when in use, people will experience friction. This research paper focuses on how one constructs territories within the public realm and how this can both foster participation for those who can identify themselves with the activities within the territory and others who do not -to depart from a space. This creates fear tendencies against the unknown and in order to maintain a certain behavioral control, objects are being modified, removed and designed to prevent certain behaviors and user groups from territorializing certain spaces from happening. One territorial action is found in the action of skateboarding. Skateboarders do not only foresee opportunities for action through the use of affordances within the public realm, but also territorialize the space through extractions, additions, and public interactions for their action to be possible. Skateboarding might be considered an action that excludes certain user groups from using the public space if territorialized by the skating community. Yet, on the contrary, skateboarders see opportunities for action within the public realm through affordances that might not be obvious to the naked eye and therefore creates another level of interaction and encounters which may alter the behavioral corollary within the space. If skateboarders see the user value of public space through affordances and claim elements within the space through action, does their territorialization of the space actually negatively impact the space? Or do they introduce a new user value of the space that furthers behavioral actions and introduces new encounters? Therefore, this research paper reflects on how a skateboarder's perspective of the public realm criticizes how we use space and reveal new design potentials for a multifunctional public space.