As an artistic researcher, you have an independent responsibility to identify ethical issues and engage in your research with integrity. The question of ethics constitutes a huge field in academic research as well as in artistic practices. As an artistic researcher one must consider the ethical question from this multifaceted position. However it is important to not only think of ethics as something limiting and offering restrictions on the artistic research. When working with an artistic research project the question of ethics should rather be considered as a productive inquiry enabling an opening up of and diving deeper into the relations between subject matter, materials, collaborators, guests, histories and possible futures.
Is it (un)ethical? Is it (il)legal?
It is important to distinct early on between the notions of what is (un)ethical and what is (il)legal. There are certain matters that needs to be in order for a research project to live up to research ethics; this especially pertains to issues like copyrights, privacy rights, plagiarism, juridical illegal activities, etc. While it's crucial to ensure that your research complies with legal standards, it's equally important to recognise that legality does not always equate to ethicality. For more information on legal requirements for research practices, check out the dive deeper resources and your institution's own resources.
Ethical perspectives
At the research school, we emphasise identifying and reflecting on ethical issues within the ongoing PhD projects. Reflecting on and discussing ethics in artistic research can also be beneficial in advancing your process. In this way the engagement with ethical issues in one's artistic practice and research is considered an opening up onto new perspectives for the research project.
The occupation with these questions of ethics can take an array of directions and include many different fields of inquiry to explore and, surely at times, problems to face and address. As an example, who you choose to include and who you exclude in your artistic research can foster ethical questions. Sometimes leaving an ethical concern out of a project can be more problematic than addressing it and confronting the politics/sentiments/materialities it may evoke. In this sense the non-present can speak as loud, in its negative space of omittedness, as that which is directly presented. Thus, sometimes it is can be an (un)ethical act to not confront an ethical concern, be it a marginalised position, an uncontested state of consensus or a stating of the obvious.
Of course, a project can not always include explorations down all the ethical pathways that a subject matter or a certain artistic practice prompts. It can be a good idea to identify and map out the ethical implications of one’s project from the outset and make a conscious and informed choice on what ethical implications are the most crucial for the project to address in depth. As an artistic research projects develops it can prove valuable to revisit this mapping of ethical implications, since new ethical questions can arise as the project unfolds into new areas, relations, collaborations and concerns.
→ Dive deeper: Conquergood, D. (1985): Performing as a Moral Act - Ethical Dimensions of the Ethnography of Performance. Literature in Performance, 5(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10462938509391578.
→ Dive deeper: Beshty, W. (2015): Introduction: Toward an Aesthetics of Ethics. Ethics, Documents of Contemporary Art (Cambridge, MA and London: MIT Press and Whitechapel Gallery)
→ Dive deeper: (Project Example) A Few Notes on Getting Lost (Once Again), Michelle Teran, VIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, 1 (2019)
→ Dive deeper: (Project Example) EXTENDED COMPOSITION, Henrik Hellstenius, Ellen Kristine Ugelvik, Tanja Orning, Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk, Christian Blom. Norwegian Academy of Music(2023)
→ Dive deeper: (Project Example) Reading out loud, Juliane Zelwies. Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen (2023)
What are the guidelines for ethics in artistic research?
In 2021, a speciality group was established by Universities Norway - Art, Design, Architecture (UHR-KDA) to suggest national guidelines for research ethics in artistic research. A public presentation of the draft of the guidelines took place on 14 March 2023, Oslo. The process has fostered debates, and the project is not yet completed, but the intention is to develop common national guidelines for ethics in artistic research. You must be aware that your institution might already have published their own guidelines for ethics in artistic research. You should be in dialogue with your institution to find out what the guidelines are and what kind of resources and supervision the institution can offer you.
→ Dive deeper: The guidelines for research ethics in the Social Sciences and Humanities
In Norway, there are no national, common guidelines for research ethics in artistic research (but there are ongoing effort to develope such guidelines, see above). This means that we on a national level relate to the guidelines for the academic disciplines that might be the ones closest to artistic research: the Social Sciences and Humanities: On 16 December 2021 new Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and Humanities were published. You will find the English translation here. There is also a National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities.
→ Dive deeper: The Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees
The Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees are independent agencies for questions regarding research ethics, and investigation of misconduct, within all subject areas. The committees' shared secretariat is based in Oslo. There is no separate commitee for artistic research.
What is the Act on ethics and integrity in research?
The purpose of the Act on ethics and integrity in research is to ensure that public and private research is conducted in accordance with recognised norms of research ethics. The law is in Norwegian, and is called Forskningsetikkloven for short.
→ Dive deeper: `Advancing Supervision for Artistic Research Doctorates
A number of tools and resources have been developed to support supervisors in artistic research through this international collaboration project. The tools and resources are relevant also for research fellows, aslo when it comes to ethics. The project´s web page contains an easy to navigate overview of the output.
→ Dive deeper: General Data Protection Regulation
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a privacy and security law. It was drafted and passed by the European Union (EU), but it imposes obligations onto organizations anywhere, as long as they target or collect data related to people in the EU (including Norway). The regulation was put into effect on May 25, 2018. This law might influence your research project, for example, if you are planning to record someone's voice. Learn more about personal data.
→ Dive deeper: Guide for research performing organisations
You might find important information about roles and responsobility in the National Research Ethics Committees' guide for research performing organisations. The guide is available both in English and Norwegian.
You might also find important information about roles and responsobility in the National Research Ethics Committees´ guide for research performing organisations.
The guide is also available in Norwegian.
In 2021, a speciality group was established by Universities Norway - Art, Design, Architecture (UHR-KDA) to suggest national guidelines for research ethics in Artistic Research. A public presentation of the draft of the guidelines took place on 14 March 2023, Oslo. The project is not yet completed, but the intention is to develop common national guidelines for research ethics in Artistic Research.
You must be aware that your institution might already have developed their own guidelines for research ethics in Artistic Research. You should be in dialogue with your institution to find out what the guidelines are and what kind of resources and supervision the institution can offer you.
In Norway, there are no national, common guidelines for research ethics in Artistic Research (but there are ongoing effort to develope such guidelines, see above). This means that we on a national level relate to the guidelines for the academic disciplines that might be the ones closest to Artistic Research: the Social Sciences and Humanities: On 16 December 2021 new Guidelines for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and Humanities were published. You will find the English translation here.
There is also a National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities.
The Norwegian National Research Ethics Committees are independent agencies for questions regarding research ethics, and investigation of misconduct, within all subject areas. The committees' shared secretariat is based in Oslo.
The purpose of the Act on ethics and integrity in research is to ensure that public and private research is conducted in accordance with recognised norms of research ethics. The law is in Norwegian, and is called Forskningsetikkloven for short.
Jesper Dalgaard - Ethics and Artstic Freedom
