From 4 - 11 May, I was working within the frame of the Research Pavilion,
Venice, as part of a research 'cell', Through Phenomena Themselves.
Through
Phenomena Themselves: Exploring new possibilities of mutual transformation
between artistic and phenomenological research practices
A
schedule of the activities at the pavilion is here.
This
research cell proposes an inquiry into research practices developed in two
fields—artistic research and phenomenology—that operate with and through
phenomena as their object of research or as the primary medium of exposure to
and/or of their object of research. Accordingly this cell is to be understood
as a network of practice-based research processes on phenomena based and/or
phenomena-oriented research practices. The main focus of this research cell is
to explore new possibilities of mutual enhancement, refinement and hybridization
between specific artistic and phenomenological research practices. Although the
research goals might be divergent, both evolving fields of practice share a
common base: an interest in the generative nature of our existence, alongside
the mobilization of embodied subjectivity in first-person perspective processes
of inquiry whose primary objects are emergent, co-constituted, intuitive,
evident presences—that is, phenomena. Shared reflection based on processes
of artistic and phenomenological research and the artifacts they produce as
well as texts and dialogues in different formats and constellations, will aim
to bridge the gaps and mutual misapprehensions that hinder tapping the full
potential for the further development of both fields of research. Specifically,
interpretations and uses of phenomenological theories by artist researchers can
diverge, sometimes fundamentally, from the understanding of these theories in
the phenomenological context, focusing on a restricted concept of phenomenology
as a set of theories, whilst ignoring that phenomenology is, first of all, a
method of research. In parallel, the distance of phenomenologists to artistic
practices can result in their reluctance to acknowledge such practices as
research. The aim of this research cell is not to defend phenomenology but
to investigate unexplored possibilities by exposing phenomenological concepts
and practices and practices of artistic research to one another. In this
open-ended investigation, critical views elaborated in the framework of process
philosophy, poststructuralism, feminism, new materialism and speculative
realism will also be addressed.
Cell’s
participants: Emmanuel Alloa, Alex Arteaga, Emma Cocker, Alexander Damianisch,
Cordula Daus, Nikolaus Gansterer, Saara Hannula, Juha Himanka, Ralo Mayer,
Charlotta Ruth, Esa Kirkkopelto, Tuomas Laitinen, Jaakko Ruuska, Tülay Schakir
and Katarina Šoškić.
This
research cell is conceived and coordinated by Alex Arteaga in cooperation with
Emma Cocker, Leena Rouhiainen and Alexander Damianisch and produced as a
collaboration of the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the University of
the Arts Helsinki.