SAR Special Interest Group 

“Co-Agency – Artistic Research as a transformative practice” 

Invitation for contributions

Invitation to the SAR Community

During the SAR International Forum, the SIG Co-Agency invites all interested parties to participate in the further profiling of the three thematic fields to which the members of the SIG are dedicated:

• The specification of the topic "Co-Agency" with reference to, among other things, the interaction of different knowledge cultures and concepts of non-anthropocentrically addressed inter- and intra-actions between humans, nature and technology;
• The development of (propositional and non-propositional) vocabularies allowing an appropriate conceptualization of co-agency in the above focus areas and building a corresponding glossary using a wiki-based collaborative approach;
• The creation of a forum for the exchange of specific experiences in bridging artistic research approaches and methodologies with other forms of knowledge production, in order to gain a deeper understanding of how artistic research can contribute to coordinated and collaborative efforts to address societal challenges.

Organisation/procedure

The work on the thematic areas will be mainly based on the discussion/analysis of specific artistic research projects. Topic-specific work phases in groups and discussions in plenary sessions alternate and are documented in each case.

Possible contributions may include:

• the presentation of own research projects in the subject area;
• the presentation of thematically relevant examples;
• the formulation of questions and theses on the topics mentioned. 

Contributions can be registered the evening before (10 April) during the poster session; spontaneous contributions are also possible.

Background

The SIG “Co-Agency – Artistic Research as a transformative practice” addresses the question of what role artistic research plays and could play in the context of contemporary, social-ecological transformation processes. This refers in particular to the potential for shifting perceptual dispositives and relevance regimes through artistic-research modes of thinking and procedures, and the associated opening up and activation of actionable futures. The aim of the SIG is, on the one hand, to create a platform within SAR for the exchange of researchers interested in the topic and to network ongoing and planned projects in the thematic field.  On the other hand, it also aims to do conceptual work: Here, fundamental questions are to be considered, such as the characteristics of an epistemology of transformation through artistic research processes in the context of debates about the future. But the question of integrating artistic research into concrete research contexts such as transdisciplinary sustainability research should also be addressed - not least with a view to shaping suitable framework conditions and policies.

Group members (1/2024):

Jens Badura (Coordination), Marianna Bastashevski, Prerna Bishnoi, Alexander Damianisch, Leonard Grond, Anke Haarmann, Emily Huurdeman, Joe Lockwood,  Mari Sanden, Hilde Stiegler Rubecksen