Module 1: Introduction

New PhD students from the Norwegian member institutions will be invitation to both an online seminar and an in-person seminar, together comprising Modul 1: Introduction.

Module 1 introduces the PhD students to the historical development and different models for artistic research, with particular emphasis on what is distinctive about The Norwegian Model. We discuss the difference between research on, for and through the arts, and the connection between artistic research and artistic practice. Further, we discuss which research topics and questions are dealt with in artistic research and what characterises knowledge production. Key concepts in artistic research – nationally and internationally – are elaborated on. The participants will also be introduced for the Norwegian Artistic Research School and relevant learning resources and research tools. We will very briefly introduce research ethics, and we will investigate different formats for research abstracts and ways of sharing artistic research.  

 

Recommended time:

First semester. The seminar must be completed before the research fellow can participate in the next modules.

 

Duration:

A total workload of 37,5–45 hours, corresponding to 2 credit.

 

Work and teaching methods:

Preparatory assignments, lectures, presentations in varied formats, workshops and discussions

 

Coursework requirements:

  • Make yourself familiar with the online resource and the literature/projects on the reference list
  • Submit a bio and project abstract in a relevant format
  • Give a presentation of your research project
  • Contribute to the discussions about the other PhD students’ research projects
 

The seminar relates especially to the following learning outcomes:

  • masters fundamental theory for artistic research
  • can describe the diversity in theories and methods in artistic research, and reflect on and argue for choices of methods and processes in own artistic research
  • can formulate research questions and plan the artistic research, with the focus on artistic processes and results 
  • can share artistic research in relevant national and international contexts  

 

Module 1 consists of:

Seminar (online): Introduction to the Norwegian Artistic Research School

See program and information about preparations

Seminar (in-person): Introduction to Artistic Research

See program and information about preparations

We recommend that the PhD student take part in the first conference (Artistic Research Forum, ARF) immediately after the in-person seminar.

Digital resource for self study - read / look at / listen to:

On Artistic Research in the resource pool

Current and finished PhD students share their experiences

Each year we invite a current PhD student and/or an graduated PhD student to join Module 1. The PhD students share their experiences and lessons learned in informal conversations. 

 

In 2024/2025 we have invited:

Liv Kristin Holmberg

 

Liv Kristin Holmberg (b. 1980) has a Master's degree from the Academy of Fine Art in Oslo and is a trained classical pianist and organist with an educational background from the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Her academic studies within philosophy, psychology and global intellectual history are from the University of Oslo and Humboldt University in Berlin.

 

She has performance art in religious spaces and experimental music theatre as her major. She has been the art director and contributed to many stage productions domestically and abroad. She has an interdisciplinary approach bordering ritual theatre, installation art and visual concerts, focusing on utopian philosophy and the relationship between art and faith. Read more


She completed her Artistic Research project The Art Liturgy - on the Limits of Art in 2024. 

Photo: Bjarte Bjørkum

Liv Kristin Holmbergs PhD project; The Art Liturgy - on the Limit of Arts, reflection component. Photo: Linda Lien

Mandatory Reading for Module 1

 

As part of for Module 1, we ask of you to read the following litterature. The different perspectives on artistic research introduced here, will provide a valuable resource that can be brought into the collective discussions of Module 1-4. 

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Not only experimentation in practice, but also reflection on practice and interpretation of practice, may be part of research in the arts as defined here’. (Henk Borgdorff)


Borgdorff, H. (2012).
"The Production of Knowledge in Artistic Research", Chapter 7 in: The conflict of the faculties: Perspectives on artistic research and academia (pp. 140–173). 

Retrieved from: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/18704/07.pdf?sequence=11
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'Rathter than being the settled end of a discussion, research is in facts it´s beginning’. (Danny Butt)


Butt, D. (2017). "Artistic Research in the Future Academy", 
Chapter 3, Artistic Research: Defining the field, from Intellect Books, Briston, UK. 

Retrieved from: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/31315

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Some authors require that artistic knowledge must nevertheless be verbalized and thus be comparable to declarative knowledge. Others say it is embodied in the products of art. But ultimately it has to be acquired through sensory and emotional perception, precisely through artistic experience, from which it cannot be separated. (Christopher Doherty)


Doherty, C. (2021). "
Reflections on Artistic Research as a Decolonising Strategy in Africa: the ARA2020 Conference", JAR Journal for Artistic Research. 

Retrieved from: Reflections on Artistic Research as a Decolonising Strategy in Africa: the ARA2020 Conference | JAR (jar-online.net)

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Doherty, C. (2019). New developments in the European space of Artistic Research. [podcast]. Arts Research Africa (ARA) Podcast. 

Available at: https://iono.fm/e/753229

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Doherty, C. (2021). Artistic Research in Africa - a conversation with Berhanu Ashagrie Deribew [podcast]. Arts Research Africa (ARA) Podcast. 

Available at: https://iono.fm/e/1037781