The present publication is a follow-up to the colloquium of the same name, which took place on 25 January 2023 at the Brno Tourist Information Centre and whose aim was to explore the direction of artistic research at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the BUT and the Theatre Faculty of the JAMU. This is not a collection of papers from this colloquium, but a set of individual interviews with artistic researchers including: Andrea Buršová, assistant professor at the Drama Studio of Nika Brettschneiderová at the TF, JAMU, Jiří Honzírek, director, manager of the Feste Theatre and PhD student at the TF, JAMU, Barbora Klímová, head of the Environmental Studio at the FFA, BUT, Lenka Klodová, head of the Studio of Body Design at the FFA, BUT, Lucie Repašská, researcher at the Cabinet for Theatre and Drama Research at the TF, JAMU, Hana Slavíková, head of the Studio of Radio and Television Dramaturgy and Screenwriting at the TF, JAMU, Pavel Sterec, visual artist and former head of the Intermedia Studio at the FFA, BUT, and Lenka Veselá, a member of the Department of Theory and History of Art at the FFA, BUT and a PhD student at the FFA, BUT. These are artists who have been associated with art colleges in Brno, specifically with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Brno University of Technology and the Faculty of Theatre of JAMU. It is the environment of art colleges where artistic research has flourished most in the past twenty years. A significant impetus for the development of this medium was the introduction of artistic doctorates in connection with the implementation of the Bologna Process in the Czech higher education environment. The artists selected for interviews have completed or are currently completing their doctoral studies, and artistic research is a consistently important part of their creative work.
When thinking about artistic research, we can draw on the ideas of philosopher of science Nelson Goodman. In his book The Languages of Art, he refutes the argument that the concept of art is supposedly indefinable, which is based on the assumption that a work of art must be defined through its properties. For Goodman, however, the condition of artistry is not the properties of a given work, but the symbolic function it fulfils. Artistic research can be viewed in a similar way, and instead of trying to define it precisely, we can focus on what purpose it serves to artists and what its symbolic function may be in the world of art and science.
The set of interviews presented here shows that there are many paths that artistic research can take. It is more a range of approaches and strategies that perhaps by their very nature resist a single all-encompassing definition. What is clear though, is that artistic research is not just a way to get a PhD from an art college, or funding for science and research, but a tool in its own right that has the potential to expand our knowledge, emancipate hitherto marginalized forms of knowledge and create space for interdisciplinary collaboration.
The interviews with the artistic researchers were conducted in a gradual manner over the years 2021-2022, and each of the interviews, lasting on average an hour and a half, took different directions depending on how each of the themes raised developed. The main focus of the interviews was to find out when and under what circumstances the artists discovered artistic research, to explore what starting points they follow in their work and what research and creative methods they use. The aim of the questioning thus conceived was to trace the personal attitudes of the interviewees towards artistic research and to obtain an answer to the question of what purpose artistic research can serve. The interviews are arranged chronologically in the corpus, according to the date on which the particular interview took place. The interview with Pavel Sterec, which is divided into two parts, more than a year apart, is included at the end of the collection. The artists interviewed were given the interviews for their authorization prior to inclusion in the collection.
The selected group of artists is very diverse and their creative and research strategies are different, as are the purposes for which they use artistic research. We can find in them practices close to classical archival research, essayistic approaches, social and political activism, works based on site-specific art, interdisciplinary collaboration projects and activities aimed at the emancipation of citizen science. The unifying element in all these cases is the fact that the researcher is a person whose primary training is in the arts, and therefore approaches the object of inquiry from different positions, with different starting points and sensibilities than researchers trained in other disciplines. Artistic means and methods are used as a relevant part of the research, and the result can be a work of art as well as new knowledge. What is important for artistic research is that it is not what the German sociologist Max Weber described as a non-evaluative science, but rather that it involves the researcher's preoccupation and personal approach to the object, problem or topic under investigation. Artists approach the objects of their research with a predetermined perspective, and the research field is created by their relating to it in a certain way. They have artistic tools at their disposal for research purposes, and although the outputs of their research may take the form of, for example, a monograph on other artists, such as those written by theatre scholars or art historians, what is different is their ability to approach and personally experience the topic.
It is clear from the presented interviews that the discovery of artistic research by the interviewed artists is linked to their doctoral or postgraduate studies. It is worth mentioning that efforts to define standards for the third cycle of education within European universities have been emerging since 1999 in the context of the so-called Bologna Process. The division of studies into three cycles, bachelor, master and doctoral, responds to the significant increase in the number of university students in European countries and also makes it easier for students to move between the different cycles, which can be taken in different countries.
The interviewed artistic researchers had graduated from art colleges prior to starting their doctoral studies. Doctoral studies and the associated artistic research became a means for them to deepen and broaden the theoretical knowledge they felt was lacking in their previous studies. On the basis of these statements, one could speculate that artistic research and doctoral studies also serve the more intellectually based artists as part of a strategy to further their theoretical education, since art schools do not allow them to acquire a sufficiently extensive theoretical knowledge in the first two cycles of their studies. Doctoral studies at an art school have reinforced the need to apply the tools of artistic research for the interviewees, although the motivations to use them are partly different for each of them.
The reasons that lead artists to use artistic research are twofold, i.e., intrinsic motivations on the part of the researcher and external circumstances that can be defined institutionally. The internal reasons stem directly from the personality of the artists and their desire for education and also reflect their relationship with the art world and its institutions. The institutional reasons are linked to the aforementioned Bologna Process, which led to the establishment of a doctoral degree at art schools, coupled with the requirement to carry out research work. These two parallel processes have led to the search for a way to conduct research at art schools where exact science is not taught, so that it is not just an imitation of scientific work. This reinforced the role of artistic research as a cognitive tool in its own right. Research work is perceived as part of the activity of a university teacher and reflection of one's own artistic and research work becomes one of its components. The university environment thus creates a kind of basic framework for a certain type of research activities. However, more essential for artistic research to actually take place are the intrinsic motivations of artistic researchers. The basic motive is primarily the desire to learn and develop theoretical knowledge that can then be used again in one's own work. A deeper immersion in the subject matter, a broader theoretical grounding and the interconnection of different perspectives helps to use other, also non-artistic sources in artistic creation. There is a strong emphasis on the connection with reality and the concrete practical implications of artistic research projects. In the university environment, a frequent motivation for artistic research activities is also the need to create practical tools that are focused on students.
The researchers interviewed have usually been developing their own themes for a long time, focusing on a particular area of artistic and social practice in which they are specific and original. In this respect, the continuity of their creative work is particularly important for all interviewees, and the role of personal experience and direct participation in the projects they have undertaken appears to be crucial. The starting point of their work is then the theme, which must be strong and far-reaching. The means by which the theme is developed is only the next step. The artists see artistic research as a way to contribute to the current state of knowledge. The interviews show that they initially involved the artistic research approach in their work rather intuitively and that they only use it at certain stages of their work. At the same time, however, the interviews show that the artists are also creators of original artistic approaches in addition to original research methods.
Artistic research serves as a source of stimuli for their work, as a tool for emancipation and as a source of self-confidence. Artistic research does not stand in opposition to scientific knowledge, but is a complement to it and an extension of it. Its great advantage is the possibility of interdisciplinary teamwork, which can contribute to changing the perception of the role of the artist in interdisciplinary teams and to expanding cognitive tools beyond the field of expert science, for example by increasing sensitivity to the overall context and perception of the complexity of relationships. The influence of working on a theme for a long period of time also gradually modifies the artist's attitudes when delving deeper into the issue.
In the interviews, the concept of artistic research is emphasized as something that gives the artist freedom in their approach to research and at the same time grounds them in reality. What comes to the fore is the desire to find objectively provable principles for artistic work based on the apparatus of science, while at the same time preserving the freedom to follow one's own, albeit unexplored path, without necessarily setting a binding methodology in advance. The need to act consistently and consciously is mentioned as an important factor, leading to increased self-confidence and a sense of legitimacy in one's own actions.
In terms of the starting points of art and research, a unifying element that appears in all conversations across artistic fields is the need to consistently name the reasons for interest in a chosen theme, as informed interest in a theme is the foundation of both art making and artistic research. Artistic researchers should follow their own paths and be able to reflect on those paths, embrace the uncertainty factor as part of the creative process, be courageous and not easily succumb to external pressures.
Although attempts to define artistic research and describe its methodological procedures still keep appearing, it is clear from the interviews that the approaches of individual artists are very diverse, as are the research methods used. According to German filmmaker and art researcher Julian Klein, "there is not even a method within art research, because art research is itself a method, or rather a strategy for conducting research" (Klein, 2017: 80). It seems, then, that exploring the functions that artistic research performs may be more fruitful than trying to define its methodology.