Norway
In 2014 the National Council for Artistic Research, Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions, appointed a working group that produced a report about research and development in the Arts in Norway between 1995–2015.
The working group's mandate was to describe the relationship between artistic research and reflection; between artistic research and artistic practice, and the competence requirements of employees based on artistic qualifications. The group should also propose important specifications of which qualities artistic research brings to the field (‘what does artistic research do?’ – in contrast to ‘what is artistic research?’) and examine possible alternatives to the term ‘artistic research’ and assess the consequences of any changes.
In their report, the working group describes the development of Artistic Research in Norway and the influence from England ("Research and Development in the Arts 1995–2015: Twenty years of artistic research"): In the work on developing the Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship Programme in 1999–2000 (from 2018 replaced by institutional PhD programs), Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London had considerable influence, because they so clearly stated art as a subject area that communicates in a peer context.
The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme was established in 2012, and had a national responsibility for stimulating Artistic Research in Norway. From 2012 untill 2023, when the program came to an end, The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme funded in total 64 projects. From 2024 the funding for artistic research was redirected to the Norwegian universities and university colleges in the Arts.
→ External page: Projects funded by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme 2012-2023.
→ External page: Artistic Research in Norway - timeline
→ External page: Universities Norway UHR-Art, Design and Architecture
Sweden
The Swedish Research Council (VR) funds research in all fields of science, including artistic research. VR has a separate committee for artistic research that makes decisions on announcements and allocations within this subject area. VR is the only source of funding for artistic research in Sweden. There is a separate call for project grants, and the majority of the grants go to project support through this thematically open call. Support can also be sought through other support schemes, such as career support for people with a recent doctoral degree, exploratory workshops and communication activities with groups outside academia. In 2023, VR prepared a research review on artistic research. VR organize a yearly symposium on artistic research.
Artistic research can be found at universities such as Gothenburg, Lund (Malmø) and Luleå and at Konstfack, Uniarts and the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. CAPIm, esablished in 2024 with a grand from the Swedish Research Council, is the first Swedish centre of excellence in the field of artistic research.
The Artistic Faculty at the University of Gothenburg is Scandinavia's largest Academy of Arts. It runs PARSE, an open access, international artistic research publishing and biennal conference platform.
Uniart's international artistic research conference Alliances and Commonalities is happening every second year.
From the launche of VIS #7 at Tou Scene, Stavanger, 2022. Paola Torres Nunes Del Prado: The Sonified Textiles within the Text(il)ura Performance.
VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research
VIS - Nordic Journal for Artistic Research is a digital open access journal presenting artistic research, with a special emphasis on the Nordic region. It highlights the importance for Nordic artist-researchers of reflection as a mental discipline that, when interwoven with artistic practice, generates new knowledge. The journal is the result of a cooperation between Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) and the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme (part of Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills).
Finland
The Academy of Finland does not have its own programme for artistic research, but has various types of strategic grants for researchers, research groups or institutions. The academy has a research council for culture and society, and it also includes artistic research. The most important tool for the council is called Academy Contributions, which has thematic calls. The Academy provides competitive grants to strengthen the profile of the universities' research areas and grants for strategic research, cutting-edge research, flagships and infrastructure. There is no specific allocation for artistic research. There is a tradition in Finland for grants from private organizations for research. For art research, it can be from the Kone Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation.
Uniarts in Helsinki and Aalto University are the most important institutions for artistic research.
Uniarts is running the artistic research journal RUUKKU, the Research Pavillion and the performing arts conference CARPA. Uniarts is coordinating the network for SAAR – Summer Academy for Artistic research.
Denmark
In Denmark, most art education is organised under the Ministry of Culture, which has a subsidy scheme (pool) for Artistic Research. The pool has a separate committee that distributes the funds. There are opportunities for funding from private organizations such as the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the New Carlsberg Foundation and the Augustinus Foundation. Three educational institutions for architecture and design are organized under the Ministry of Education and Research. These can apply for grants for research from this Ministry's grant schemes (the research reserve).
For a period until 2022, the Schools of Visual Arts had a centre with national responsibility for the development of artistic research. The centre was responsible for the grant funds and network gatherings for the Danish institutions. The centre has been closed down, but artistic research takes place at all institutions of arts education at university level and each institution has developed its own, discipline-based strategies for managing Artistic Research as part of their knowledge base. Below, you can read more about the strategies of the individual schools.
The Royal Danish Academy of Music: Artistic Research
The Rhythmic Music Conservatory: Research and development
The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts: About research
The Royal Academy of Music Aarhus/Aalborg: Research and Development
The Danish National School of Performing Arts: Artistic Research
Danish National Academy of Music: Research and Developmen
The National Film School of Denmark: Artistic research
Iceland
The Iceland University of the Arts is the only university dedicated to the arts in Iceland. It offers architecture, design, film, art education, fine arts and performing arts. Read more about their research.
A joint nordic Summer Academy for Artistic Research (SAAR)
SAAR – Summer Academy for Artistic research – has been functioning as a Nordic network since the year 2014. Partner universities from Sweden, Norway and Finland cooperate and take turns to host SAAR each year.
The Nordic summer academy provides a supportive setting where PhD candidates and research fellows in artistic research from all fields collaborate, present their on-going artistic research and receive feedback from peers and experienced tutors from leading academic art institutions. The aim is to reflect the international diversity and scope of artistic research and to provide a stimulating intellectual environment.
All research fellows participating in the Norwegian Artistic Research School are welcome to apply for participation in the summer academy. There is a call every spring.