Pozorování a jeho popis
(2025)
author(s): Roman Štětina
published in: Research Catalogue
(CZ)
Předmětem mého výzkumu je ekfráze – detailní obrazný popis, který svou přesvědčivostí vyvolává ve čtenářově či posluchačově mysli vizuální představy nebo jiné multisenzorické, emocionální a estetické prožitky.
Prostřednictvím setkání a rozhovorů s lidmi z různých oborů se snažím přiblížit roli popisu napříč historií i rozličnými oblastmi lidské činnosti. Zkoumám, jak se měnilo postavení popisu coby kdysi esenciálního stavebního prvku rozhlasových pořadů. Dále jeho význam a užití jako jedné z prvních forem reprodukce umění, analytického kunsthistorického nástroje nebo nedílné pomůcky při interpretaci výtvarných děl. Zaměřuji se také na jeho aplikaci v podobě promptu pro generátory obrázků založených na strojovém učení a trénování neuronových sítí. A věnuji prostor také úloze popisu v životě nevidomých a zrakově hendikepovaných i jeho funkci jako klíčového nástroje v psychoterapeutické praxi.
Podstatnou součást práce tvoří sdílení konkrétních pedagogických postupů při výuce umění v intermediálním ateliéru na Akademii výtvarných umění v Praze (AVU) a v kurzu intermediální přípravky tamtéž. V tomto prostředí, kde se často pohybujeme mezi médii, hraje ekfráze zásadní roli – umožňuje překlenout mezeru mezi slovy a obrazy, respektive plní roli žánru prostředkujícího mezi médii.
V závěru disertační práce prezentuji vlastní umělecký audit v podobě autorské knihy. Zároveň uvádím sbírku ekfrází převážně fiktivních uměleckých děl, které jsem během svého výzkumu nashromáždil od studujících a vyučujících na AVU.
úvodní ilustrace: Martin Groch
(EN)
My research topic is the ekphrasis, i.e., a detailed figurative description that, with its conclusiveness, evokes visual images or other multisensory, emotional and aesthetic experiences in the reader’s or listener’s mind.
Through meetings and interviews with people from different disciplines, I try to approach the role of description throughout history and various areas of human activity. I examine how the notion of description as a historically essential building block of radio programmes has changed. Furthermore, the emphasis is put on its importance and use as one of the first forms of art reproduction, as an analytical tool for art historians or as a crucial device for artwork interpretation. I also focus on its application in prompting of image generators based on machine learning and neural network training. And I also consider the role of description in the lives of the blind and visually impaired as well as it being a key tool in psychotherapy.
A substantial part of the work is dedicated to the dissemination of specific pedagogical practices in teaching art in the Intermedia Studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU) and in the intermedia preparatory course there. In this environment, where we often switch between various media, the ekphrasis has a crucial role. It allows us to bridge the gap between words and images, or rather it represents a genre that mediates between the given media.
In the conclusion of my dissertation, I present my own artistic audit represented by my artist's book. At the same time, I present a collection of ekphrases of mostly fictional works of art that I collected from students and teachers at the Academy of Fine Arts during my research.
thumbnail by Martin Groch
STUDIES IN KUNSTVAKIDIOTIE
(2024)
author(s): Mirjam van Tilburg
published in: Research Catalogue
Welcome to "Studies in Kunstvakidiotie". Here, you can browse through the photographs, essays, drawings, audio and video clips. ‘Studies in kunstvakidiotie’ is the doctoral research of Mirjam van Tilburg at Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA). This is a study in arts education from within the arts. She tries to shift the dominant image of life-long-learning (LLL) and provide insight into the possibilities that this LLL space also provides to art teachers. By searching in this way, more and more became clear about life-long-learning of art teachers. Therefore, a linear cause-and-effect narrative did not seem to do justice to the subject matter. The term ‘studies’ in the title is sketchy — it also involves repetition and seeking connections and, above all, it is a derivative of studio and study.
Five essays form the markers within ‘Studies in Kunstvakidiotie’. Together, they construct a narrative. The essay ‘(onder)zoek in kunsteducatie’ describes practices and values that stem from Mirjam van Tilburg’s artistic practice: education. The motivation behind this research is that art teachers find LLL events to be limited. The essay ‘LLO als commoning practice’ discusses the possibilities of commoning practices. The examples: The New School Collective and studios are outlined herein. The studios are the experiment within this doctoral research. During the winter of 2020-2021, Mirjam van Tilburg worked with ten art teachers. The experiment of this doctoral project coincided with the Covid-19 crisis. Together they occupied artist studios in Tilburg and Rotterdam to de-automate and look at teaching practices.
The essays ‘Blik’ and ‘Tijd’ therefore propose two topics of conversation within LLL: the ‘aesthetic glance’ and the temporal experience of ‘interruption’. These essays question the efficient and productive order prevailing in the work environment and LLL of art teachers.
The essay ‘Herontdekking van Kunstvakidiotie’ is the story of a change in the craft of art teachers in the first Covid-19 crisis year. The term ‘kunstvakidiotie’ in the title cannot be directly translated into English because it is a compound word and may have specific connotations in the Dutch context. The essay describes how in these studios, art subject teachers had one foothold: artistic fervour.
Mycological provisions
(2016)
author(s): Christopher Lee Kennedy
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
This exposition considers the use of mycology and chance operation as a method and material for arts-based research. The exposition details a series of mushroom hunting excursions designed to engage four artist-teachers in collaborative dialogue about their practice and identity. As participant and researcher converse, the hunts unfold as dérive-like encounters with a landscape interrupted through chance and embodied experience. The project draws from the work of artist and composer John Cage, who used fungi and mushroom hunting as one of many devices for exploring sound and its relationship to environment. Contextual research and documentation offer a glimpse into this process, while considering unstructured, kinetic, and uncertain ways of knowing in qualitative and arts-based research. The aim is to explore mycology as a post-formal lens for understanding the pedagogical and creative practices of the artist-teacher as a networked, fluid, and relational system.