Bachelor Thesis : Artistic Activism through Audiovisual research by Sinnnenomine

As the final product of my bachelor in Global Studies, I wished to assess the presence of political engagement in the artwork of young artists in Maastricht. To do so, I undertook an audiovisual research combining video interviews, visual galleries and soundscapes as a content for analysis. This exposition is the result of my research and analysis. It resumes my findings into an interactive documentary. Political Participation among youth populations is shaped by its distinctive patterns of actions but remains difficult to properly frame and define. Within the multitude of behaviors that can be observed among this target group, I wish to take a look at a very specific one; Artistic Activism. To do so, I undertook audiovisual research to understand the involvement of Artistic Activism, as a non-institutionalized form of political participation, in the artistic practice of Generation Z artists in Maastricht.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS & REFLEXION

Honesty

To ensure honesty, a few considerations will be established. First, I do not enclose myself towards a specific outcome and I acknowledge that my results might be completely different from what my expectations are. I work on being the least biased possible in the making of my research. Moreover, all collaborators will equally be represented and identified in terms of roles, responsibilities and perspectives. (Trust, 2020) As a concrete example, the ten participants I will select for my interviews are not meant to be practicing artistic activism as a criteria for them to be relevant. The scope of my research will be randomly assigned in a way to stay neutral when retrieving answers from the participants.

Positionality

Some aspects of my identity need to be taken into account to understand my positionally with regard to my research and my participants, as well as hot it influences my perspectives and interpretation. Although I am not researching a vulnerable or minority population, these aspects are still important to reflect on as biases can still be involved. The major elements of my identity relevant in the consideration of my positionality for this research is my age, which is similar as the target audience, as well as my studies which differs from my target audience. In the case of my thesis, aspects of gender or nationality does not impact my perspectives as it is not in any respect involved in the process of collecting and analysing the data.

However, the fact that my age range is similar to my target audience engage two implications that I need to be careful with; this commonalty can indeed facilitate the communication with my participants as they might feel more comfortable and the interaction can be more casual, but I need to be careful that it does not turn to a informal meeting as it is still in an academic context. Subsequently, I need to ensure that because I have an easiness to communicate and understand my participants does not mean that I make assumptions or my own interpretations of their statements. To prevent this sort of issues, I will ensure that my questions for the participants are clear and elaborated in a way that no different interpretations can be made and all the informations needed are provided as primary data by the participants.

Another consideration on my positionality addresses the photography intent behind my visual data. As a matter of fact, the images I will produce are inevitably influenced by how I take it, what I want to show, and who I assume will be my audience (Marion & Crowder, 2013). As I produce this content, it will be shaped by my expectations and predispositions, itself influenced by my identity.

Harm and Benefit

Two further requirements are essentials when undertaking my research, to maximise the benefits for my target, and minimise the potential harm. (Papademas, 2009) To ensure such an important status, I will put a special effort in making my research fair and see how it could also be relevant and useful for my target population. (Trusts, 2020) Indeed, as I will research on their behaviours regarding their own artwork and compare it with others, ones can benefit from it by putting themselves in perspectives besides others and have a better understanding of their identity as an artists in bigger scales of evaluation.

Another way to limit harm in the process of my research is to ensure that the participants are satisfied with the image they convey of themselves through my work. In that respect, the videos, sounds or images I will use in the final version of my thesis will need to be first approved by the participants that features on it.

Transparency

Lastly, a major ethical consideration I will take into consideration is the transparency of my research. The first point I will put in place is a complete and written informed consent that needs to be signed by both participants and myself. Additionally, I prepared an interview statement in which I clearly explains who I am, what I am studying, the purpose of my research and how it will be conducted. In this manner, I ensure that participants are fully aware of what they commit to, in what ways are their contributions will be utilised as well as what my expectations are.

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