Introduction
holt journal for artistic research was co-founded in Spring 2022 with the intent of creating a platform for practice-led research that is situated in artistic practice. This practice-led research is a relatively new form of research that according to Estelle Barrett “... draws on subjective, interdisciplinary and emergent methodologies that have the potential to extend the frontiers of research.”1 It is therefore no coincidence that the common thread in the papers included in our first issue focus on the exploration and development of diverse creative arts research methodologies. In this publication we aim to share not only the outcomes of artistic research but the processes, reflections and methodologies through which these outcomes emerged. This issue aims to contribute to the growing debate and understanding of artistic practice and its capacity to share practice-led experiential and situated methods of knowledge production.
Our first issue entitled Methodologies presents a series of five works. Each of these works explores an emergent methodology situated in artistic practice and provides the context for the contribution to knowledge. Methodology, or the development of methodology, is central to the artist as researcher. In this dual role, the artist/researcher inhabits/embodies their situatedness and develops a methodology specific to the enquiry at hand. “What knowledge can studio based enquiry reveal that may not be revealed by other modes of enquiry?” is a question posed by Estelle Barrett, which this issue seeks to address through a selection of curated papers.2
The methodologies featured in this issue have been developed by creative practitioners working across different fields of enquiry, but what they have in common is the creative means of sharing their research through an exegesis (the writing with and around) of the practice. The exegesis develops alongside the practice through studio-based enquiry and reflection, it emerges in tandem and forms an integral part of the artistic research process. The exegesis does not solely explain the practice but also works to present a context for the knowledge created through practice. Neither are presented alone but work in tandem to allow an experience of the practice on the page alongside images and links to sound and video documentation, offering a more rounded and situated experience of the artistic research. . .
Notes:
1 Estelle Barrett, ‘Introduction’, in Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry (London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019), 1.
2 Ibid, n.p.
Read the full Introduction here