Research Catalogue

As the first intermittent forum (or Foro No.1) of the Nodos Activos project, 4 activities were carried out with the participation of Dr. Adriana Raggi, Lic. María Sánchez, and Mstr. Rubén Cerillo from UNAM, Mexico; and Dr. Alejandra Cano and Mag. Diego Romero from the National Pedagogical University of Colombia. Colleagues from Mexico physically visited Costa Rica for the activities, while the later Colombian academics did so digitally. In addition, the Foro No.1 counted with the participation of students, academics and graduates of the four different Centro de Investigación, Docencia y Extensión artística, CIDEA (Spanish for Research, Teaching and Artistic Extension Center). All activities took place on May 19, 20 and 23, 2022. All participating academics in this forum belong to the Arts and Design Research Network (INV+ART+DIS) in which the Nodos Activos project team is an active member since 2021.

This three-part Audio-Visual Podcast (in Spanish) gathers a series of discussions between the leading researchers of the first intermittent forum (or Foro No.1) as a result of the various experiences gathered in that activity. Participants are Dr. Adriana Raggi and Lic. María Sánchez from UNAM (México); and Dr. Yamil Hasbun and M.A. Pamela Jimenez from UNA (Costa Rica) whom also lead the Nodos Activos project team. The Audio-Visual Podcast is presented in three separate blocks, each one starting with a table of content summarizing what is being discussed in each segment.

Graduation Seminar (2021) Arts and Visual Communication This document constitutes the memory of the Graduation Seminar of the year 2021 of the School of Art and Visual Communication (EACV) of the National University (UNA), Costa Rica. The theme endorsed by the Academic Unit for 2021 consists of the project directed by Dr. Phil. Yamil Hasbun Chavarría (EACV) and the M.A. Pamela Jiménez Jiménez (School of Performing Arts): Nodos Activos (Investigación + Practica artística (Spanish for Active nodes: Research + artistic practice). The Seminar is materialized in 5 associated research projects focused on 5 different topics: Artistic research through dialogical and playful processes; Artistic research in the 4th Industrial revolution; The urge to allow research performed by students to be further and easier exposed; the experience interdisciplinary artistic research; and experiences of meta-artistic research. Authors/students: Mariana Cañas Lopez, Gloriana Cordero Rojas, Valeria Esquivel Jiménez, Wensi Fuentes Hernández, Andres garita Briseño, Susana Gonzales Gabrilova, María Gabriela Isturiz Rojas, Valeria Leiva Ruiz, Yendry Madrigal Mora, Mariela Martínez Alfaro, Gabriela Mora Araya, Maria Soledad Morales Brenes, Tifany Perla Brenes, Randy Rojas Diaz, Jose Solano Sanchez

This exposition recounts the design process behind the creation of a series of games implemented in the second forum of the Active Nodes project (Foro No.2 Nodos Activos), and the experiences obtained during the days in which the the Nodos Team carried out the activities in which the current research activities where materialized as games throughout the various installations of the Artistic Research, Teaching and Extension Center (CIDEA) and its surroundings where the four schools of art and design of the University Nacional, Costa Rica (UNA) converge: The School of Art and Visual Communication (EACV), Performing Arts (EAE), School of Dance and Music school. Since the general theme of this Second Nodos Activos forum was ‘Artistic Research through Play’, the participatory research tools developed here actually took the form of a games. Games created to have fun, create expectations, create curiosity, create empathy and friendships and create new artistic constructions through innovative research hands-on processes. Aside from the researchers in charge of the Nodos Activos project, the creative team in charge of the development, design and ‘put to practice’ work implicit in all these research tools/games included EACV students Karolay Mendoza Castrillo, Marian Casanova Guzmán, Iván Sibaja Segura, and Nicole Barboza Alvarez; and EAE student Adrian Campos Chaves. The present exhibition recounts the process of game design, while a second exhibition present in this catalog (Titled FORO NO.2 NODOS ACTIVOS, 2023: Artistic Research Through Playing. https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2431060/243106) recounts the experience of the process of playing the game itself.

Systematiation of the experiences lived in a space of reflection and dialog among teachers, researchers and students from various artistic and design fields. This particular activity, coined ‘think-tank 0.0’ is the culmination of three similar experiences in which the Nodos team explored how the concept of ‘Artistic Research’ takes shape in practice and as a complex system of intertwined concepts. Hence, the ‘think-tank’ experience initiates with a ‘hands on’ exercise in which participants construct a personal interpretation of a certain ‘phenomenon’ (i.e. Body, light, space and movement) by means of ordering images, drawings, objects, sounds, materials and bodies as symbolic representations of meaningful concepts. Followed these hands-on experiments, participants reflect on the methodological processes followed to construct their interpretations while exposing what sort of learnings, limitations and opportunities where identified. Finally, the various participants engage in a dialogue about their common findings, interests, and sensibilities, allowing them to identify potential theoretical, methodological, epistemological, and empathic partnerships for the future. At the same time, this space for interaction allowed participants to further experience the heterogeneity and similarity of CIDEA’s artistic research constellation and identity.

On July the 4th 2023, the Nodos Activos Teams was invited to participate in an event named ‘Las Julias’ as organized by the School of Performative Arts (Escuela de Artes Escénicas) from the Universidad Nacional. An event that allows researchers from the aforementioned school to show the academic community of UNA their ongoing or concluded research experiences. Typically, participants are students and academics from the Performative Arts disciplines. However, Nodos Activos combines an interdisciplinary team of students and academics from Design, Visual Arts and Performative Arts, and its products reflect that heterogeneity. Thus, the activity was planned as a means to allow Performative Arts students and academics to exit their comfort zones, and explore the research and creation methods, tools and concepts of the visual arts and design fields in a ‘hands on’ activity developed through an active concept of playfulness and abstract thinking-and-doing.

Systematization of the experiences lived in a space for reflection and dialogue between teachers, researchers and students from various artistic and design fields around the theme “artistic research through playing”. The games implemented in this forum are the culmination of an extensive design and planning process summarized in a second exposition in this catalog titled DESIGN OF GAMES AS ‘HANDS ON RESEARCH TOOLS’ FOR FORUM No.2 NODOS ACTIVOS: 2023’ ( https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/1920338/1920339) This exhibition recounts the experience of playing those games during the month of October 2023, in the facilities of the Center for Artistic Research, Teaching and Extension (CIDEA) and their surroundings, where the four schools of arts and design of the University come together: School of Art and Visual Communication (EACV), Performing Arts (EAE), Dance School and Music School. Aside from the researchers in charge of the Nodos Activos project, the creative team in charge of the development, design and ‘put to practice’ work implicit in all these research tools/games included EACV students Karolay Mendoza Castrillo, Marian Casanova Guzmán, Iván Sibaja Segura, and Nicole Barboza Alvarez; and EAE student Adrian Campos Chaves.