P&P

Praxis and Poiesis: from arts practice towards art theory

Description

The research cluster investigates on Artistic Praxis and Poiesis through diverse media to depict visible and invisible, past and future, realms. The researchers are interdisciplinary and have a wide range of expertise within the fields of art. The research emerges from critically investigating bodies of knowledge through the hybrid methodologies and mediums employed by the maker.

The search for understanding multiple praxis and poiesis around the production, reflexion and dissemination of arts in diverse material forms motivates and unifies this research community, however the questions asked, the methods, and the outcomes of these diverse practices differ in multiple ways. Through pondering on critical and philosophical views on artistic practices and through studio/lab  exploration, workshops, publications and presentations the group reconsiders media, image, photography, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, video and hybrid expressions of these through installations, interactive applications, performance, sound and time-based arts, holography, augmented Reality, 3D modelling and printing.

In our group teacher-researchers, research fellows and postgraduate students on practice-based research processes seek to deepen problematising strategies and contribute to innovations in arts and education.

The group meets regularly to discuss current research projects, develop a shared vocabulary and conceptual framework and to nourish one another intellectually and artistically.

The nature of the research activities differs per educational level. In the bachelor’s this involves the learning of basic research skills which an artist or multimedia creative will require in their future artistic practice. These have relevance to the articulated ability to reflect on the artist’s own expertise and artistic practice in general. Research at the master’s level is more specifically directed towards doing a research project into a specific field of study. The research topics are usually directly related to the specific field of study of the student, and relevant to both the artistic and intellectual development of the student on the one hand and to the development of the field of study on the other. After the master’s course students can apply for participation in the doctoral programmes in Design or in Art Practice that are facilitated in Aveiro and Oporto University.

Ultimately all the findings that derive from the different forms of research and at the different levels are of crucial importance for artistic practice and will contribute to the strengthening of the quality of education in the Universities implied in the research cluster.

The PP cluster consists of twentynine researchers from different departments, countries and professional expertise, with outcomes that include exhibitions of work (spanning a wide compass of fine art practices - installation, drawing, lens based and digital media, sonics, performance, graphic design, painting and sculpture, 3d modelling and printing, architecture projects, engagement public art), publications (as exhibition catalogues, books, articles, journal entries), residencies and curatorial projects, workshops, conference chairing and festival organization.

Objectives

Promote an inter/transdisciplinary research with a center in the experimental and original creation of artistic projects, individual, collective and socially inclusive;

Develop, explore and stimulate research activities and outcomes in artistic and technological areas that underlie the visual and performing arts practices of the members of the broad group of researchers and collaborators;

Foster a critical discussion and disseminate knowledge in the context of the Arts Studies and Praxis.

Between 2013-2017 the group finished several funded PhD research projects, numerous masters and a few Postdoc projects - which ignited research in the fields of art criticism, photography,  science and technology, memory studies and neuroscience, sociology of art, teaching of the arts; interaction, augmented reality, digital culture or culture and tradition, representation in cultural and scientific collections - presenting them at conferences, publishing in national and international scientific journals, producing curatorship and participations in exhibitions and festivals of recognized impact.

In the coming years the aims are to deepen and broaden research extending the collaboration through protocols to other research groups and institutions through joint application for fundraising and support for projects, at international and national level.

Keywords

  • Arts /Curatorial Practice/ Visual/Critical Thinking; Memory/Identity/ Becoming/ Affect/Hybridity; Science /Technology/Digital Interaction; Sustainability/Place/ Heritage /Material