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EMERGENCE AND POWER
International conference on interdisciplinary research in the arts

October 26-27-28, 2022
University of Barcelona, Faculty of Fine Arts. Pau Gargallo, 4, 08028 Barcelona

Submissions: inarts.net

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Emergence and Power is a conference which aims to pose questions regarding "interdisciplinary research", with the objective of learning about and interacting with concrete initiatives, while at the same time activating new shared research projects, in which the field of art (visual, performative and musical) may become involved.

Bearing in mind that research may develop between various art sectors, as well as between a few other disciplines which may also include any one among the arts, other related and complementary concepts may be introduced within such research, such as transdisciplinary, multidisciplinary or extradisciplinary. These concepts exist in various areas of discussion and action which are located outside their own disciplinary boundaries, as well as in the articulation of new trends in content creation which attempt to find a more specific social relevance. These concepts, seen from an international perspective, will also be present at the conference through contributions from specific projects.

Through this conference we would like to outline a state of play, or a sphere of possibilities, based upon the increase of research in the context of the arts, and the potential energy, that transforms unique opportunities into actual instances of confluence between various disciplines, both within and out with the same field of research "Emergence and power" is the proposed title of the conference, in order to catalyse the moment in which the arts find themselves in relation to our context. It refers to the emergence of interdisciplinary research in the arts, a landscape that is still undergoing definition, and potential as a mechanism for multiplying and transforming activation.

Artistic practices are becoming essentially interdisciplinary (including in this case the prefixes trans-, multi- and extra-) due to the fact that they are situated between multiple forms of knowledge and multiple forms of creative experimentation, and also due to the growing interest in areas that reach beyond the limits of the artistic disciplines themselves. This condition of emergence in interdisciplinary research is justified by the task of defining itself in a moment of growth and interest to define artistic research, but also due to the need to connect to other disciplinary areas, in order to face more complex issues. This is what we call potential. It is in this sense that the Faculty of Fine Arts, in collaboration with the institutions that are part of the Arts Campus, the future potential of research is considered, attempting to align the interdisciplinary nature which is intrinsic to the arts to arrange points of common confluence, or visualise divergent approaches, between different agents interested in these ways of working.

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TALKS AND DEBATES

26.10. 2022 from 16.00 to 18.00h

Disciplinary interactions. Art - Science - Environment

- George Kallis. ICREA Professor at the Institute of Science and Environmental Technologies (ICTA) of the UAB. He is involved in research projects on economics and ecology, positioning himself as a non-disciplinary researcher. He has recently published "Limits. Ecology and freedom".

- Yvonne Volkart.  Senior Lecturer and Head of Research at  Institute Art Gender Nature (IAGN), Academy of Art and Design FHNW Basel. She’s currently developing a project called Plants_Intelligence. 

26.10. 2022 from 18.45 to 20.30h

Inhabiting the margins. Arts - Architecture - Public space

- Torolab (Raúl Cárdenas / Ana Martínez). Counter-disciplinary project in the context of the border between Mexico and the USA. Co-curators of the BIAU Ibero-American Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.

- Marion Hohlfeldt. Professor of Art History, Department of Visual Arts. Université Rennes2. Director of EUR Creative Approaches to Public Space (GS_CAPS). CAPS focuses on innovative and creative ways of experimenting in research, teaching and academic action, within the public space, combining creative imagination, critical thinking and interdisciplinary collaboration.

27.10.2022 from 16.00 to 18.00h

Political imagination. Arts – Sociology – Activism

- Pilvi Porkola. Performance artist, writer and researcher. Doctor of Arts (D.A.), graduated at University of Arts, Helsinki 2014. Currently she is working as Senior Researcher in the Academy of Finland project ”Political Imagination and Alternative Futures” (2020-2024) at University of Turku.

- Institute of Radical Imagination (IRI) is a group of curators, activists, scholars and cultural producers with a shared interest in co-producing research, knowledge and artistic and political interventions, aimed at the implementation of post-capitalist ways of life.

27.10.2022 from 18.45 to 20.00h

Interdisciplinarity as a mechanism to face complexity. (Closing conference)

- Georgina Born. Professor of music and anthropology at UCL Anthropology. Her work combines ethnographic and theoretical writings on music, media and cultural production. In 2017 she was appointed Chair of the Culture, Media and Performance Group of the British Academy. She has extensively researched on interdisciplinarity.

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SEMINARS

27.10.2022 from 10.00 to 13.00h

Building networks from an internationalising perspective

- Jordi Ferreiro. Manifesta Education and Mediation Coordinator. Manifesta is an itinerant platform focused on the dialogue between art and society in Europe that will celebrate its 15th edition in Barcelona in 2024.

- Tere Badia. Director of Culture Action Europe. She works on research and cultural production in various formats, especially on cultural policies, cultural networks, contemporary art and R+D+i in the visual arts.

28.10.2022 from 10.00 to 13.00h

Building interdisciplinary research spaces

Participatory session with working tables.

Activity led by Moisés Carmona Monferrer, Head of the IDP-ICE Education and Community Section. GRICS (Social Interaction and Change Research Group). Department of Social Psychology and Quantitative Psychology. Social Psychology Section of the University of Barcelona.

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Organise: Campus de les Arts and Deganat de la Facultat de Belles Arts, University of Barcelona

Direction: Ramon Parramon, tenure-eligible lecturer Serra Húnter at Visual Arts and Design Department, University of Barcelona

Coordination: Mercedes Pimiento, researcher at  Visual Arts and Design Department, University of Barcelona