Artistic Research PhD Programme (PhD in Art): Public Colloquium 2024

Presentations of the Artistic Research PhD Programme (PhD in Art) at the University of Applied Arts Vienna
Convened by Ruth Anderwald + Leonhard Grond

Public Colloquium
14 – 17 May 2024
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Auditorium, Vordere Zollamtsstraße 7
1030 Vienna

Accompanying Programme
Richard Shusterman, 14 May 2024, 18:00h
Egle Oddo, 15 May 2024, 18:00h
Dominique Savitri Bonarjee and Jack Halberstam, 17 May 2024, 16:00h

Lecture --> Performance <-- Lecture
Once every year, the Artistic Research PhD (PhD in Art) candidates come together to exchange with each other and their guest critics at the Public Colloquium. This year, we are pleased to welcome esteemed guests, Dominique Savitri Bonjaree, Egle Oddo, and Richard Shusterman. The focus on lecture performance puts embodied dimensions of practice and knowledge sharing as well as the voicing and performing of artistic research center stage. Embodied practices of knowledge transfer, non-linguistic and tacit modes of sharing go hand in hand with musical performances, dance lectures, poetry or prose readings. What remains unknown or unnamed in such performances can create a fertile shift compared to conventional modes of academic presentation. But they also move beyond artistic representation to activate an embodied, immediate and ephemeral presence. What artistic impulses, epistemic and research endeavours will become palpable in the gathering of the Public Colloquium?

The programme foresees first to discuss the PhDs’ propositions; afterwards the Epistemic Decompression programme proposes a different mode of metabolising the experienced and learned, and prepares us for the guest critic’s inputs. The evening programme, beginning with Richard Shusterman’s renowned L’homme en or, a performance oscillating between artistic and philosophical practice, leading to Egle Oddo’s Performative Habitats, and Dominique Savitri Bonjaree’s practice and concept of Collapsing, which will then be enriched by Jack Halberstam’s response, highlights the guest critiques’ artistic and research practices connected to the format of lecture performance.

The Artistic Research PhD Programme cultivates a Community of Practice facilitating an ecology of epistemic solidarity. The community invites individuals from diverse backgrounds to work together on their individual (and sometimes also collective) projects. Each participant brings a unique perspective and insight to the group, cross-fertilising and advancing the collective and individual understanding, creating the polyphonic voices of artistic research as practiced at the Artistic Research PhD Programme. Epistemic solidarity means cultivating a shared understanding and knowledge among a group of diverse learners and involves “practices of supporting others (with whom one recognises similarity in a relevant aspect) as knowers. To qualify as solidarity, these practices must involve certain costs (such as spending time, giving up a privilege, or accepting risk for oneself)” (Pot 2022). It entails respecting and recognising how multiple perspectives, voices, practices and experiences enrich our understanding of a subject or question, leading to more comprehensive insights in a sustainable and generative environment of learning. The voices of artistic research are found first and foremost in the voices of learning.

Participants: Sanja Anjdelkovi?, Tamara Antonijevi?, Nisrine Boukhari, Johanna Bruckner, Andrew Champlin, Corç George Demir, Rah Eleh, Jošt Franko, Oscar Gardea, Wolfgang Konrad, Joseph Leung, Judit Navratil, Jo O’Brien, Tamás Páll, Marthin Rozo, Juli Sikorska, Lenka Stepankova, Konstanze Stoiber, Ksenia Yurkova and Conny Zenk

Guest critics: Richard Shusterman, Egle Oddo, Dominique Savitri Bonarjee and Jack Halberstam

(Jack Halberstam’s contribution is made possible with the kind support of the Institute for Art History and Institute for Art Theory of the University of Applied Arts, and the Department of Gender Studies (IKM), mdw, University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna.)

Epistemic Decompression: Andrew Champlin, Leonhard Grond, Judit Navratil, Jo O'Brien, Dominique Savitri Bonarjee

Photo: Holding Space © Anderwald + Grond 2024