Circle 7: The experiential in artistic practice and research: methods, knowledges and reflective processes
Inspired by the idea of healthy ecosystems, as systems in which a multiplicity of beings and different ways of doing find interesting things to do together, we invite participants to join us in the upcoming winter symposium in Stockholm, to explore these ideas through artistic research. In this symposium we want to emphasise working-with as a methodology, echoing what would occur in a sustainable and robust ecosystem; because we believe that balanced collaborations produce a satisfactory sense of shimmering, vitality, and mutual empowering for all involved.
We welcome submissions of papers that respond to the themes of the symposium. These can be approached as explorations on ideas of guest and host, generosity, exchange and reciprocity, languages, multicultural relationships, listening and encounter and transformation. These are just guidelines, and we are very interested also in other ways of interpreting and exploring the themes.
We will be addressing these themes through the research questions of the present iteration of Circle 7. The research questions must be considered when you submit the paper. We will then explore them together and try to answer them during the symposium. These are:
- How do knowledges emerge in artistic research practices through the experiential?
- What kind of knowledges are they?
- What methods and methodologies are employed in this work/paper/seminar/collaborative project?
- How is experiential learning and learning-by-doing significant for art practices and artistic communities?
Where:Stockholm University of the Arts, Brinellvägen 58, 115 53 Stockholm, Sweden
When:Arrival and welcome 23rd February, Symposium 24th-25th February, study and research morning and goodbye 26th February
Cost:
Paper presentation participant €90 (includes lunch and dinner on 24th and 25th, brunch on the 26th)
Participant not presenting paper €90 (includes dinner on the 24th, lunch and dinner on the 25th, brunch on the 26th)
Student at Stockholm University of the Arts €0 (excluding food) €90 (food included)
All participants will have to register with NSU and pay the annual fee (€0, €15, €25 depending on income)
Participants will arrange their own transport and accommodation. Travelling bursaries and participant bursaries will be available on request.
Submissions: Submissions must be related to the theme of the symposium. They can be of any genre, any mix of genres, disciplines, and media. You must include your name, your country of residence, your email, a short bio about you (200 w max), the title of your presentation and a short abstract (300 w max). Please include your CV in a separate file.
Submissions must be emailed in a PDF no larger than 10 Mb to marina.velez@marinavelez.com
Deadline for submissions: 15th December 2022. Selected submissions will be announced on 6th January 2023.
About the study circle
The new iteration of Circle 7 will consist of a series of symposia, which will aim to create opportunities to explore plurality of experiences through art practice and to gather methodological abundance by investigating practice-based methods and research strategies. This will be done through questioning and evaluating the experiential as a form of artistic reflection and a means to move the practice forwards.
Taking the questions How do knowledges emerge in artistic research practices through the experiential? and What kind of knowledges are they? as a starting point, this study circle will provide opportunities for investigating and experiencing other forms of knowledge through building trust in imagination, intuition and working-with others in the artistic practice process.
The focus of this three year cycle is the investigation of the methods, knowledges and reflective processes involved in artistic practice research in a collective effort to explore and articulate how, in artistic research, experience informs experience and the experiential changes the researcher and the practice as it unfolds. Experience is what different disciplines of artistic research have in common, as Mika Hannula states, ‘artistic research is a way in which experience reflectively changes itself’ (Hannula et al, 2005, p. 39). As such, it is different from other types of research as it merges subject, researcher and process in the experiential as a way of advancing practice.
We have organised two successful symposia, Experiential Artistic Processes as Research in Latvia on April 2022 and Experiencing Artistic Research Through the Senses, in Oslo in August 2022.
Coordinators:
Heidi Seppälä is a dancer, choreographer, dance researcher and pedagogue.
Born in Finland in 1987 but since lived in 10 countries around the world, Heidi’s artistic work is rooted in multiculturalism and explores the complexities of freedom and imprisonment in both mental as well as societal level.
Heidi holds a BA in dance pedagogue (Tartu University 2009), BA Dance Theatre (London 2012) and MA in dance anthropology (2019). She is currently a student of Uni-arts Helsinki’s pedagogical studies for teachers in the arts, and runs a new international initiative for de-colonising the art of dance.
Dr Marina Velez Vago is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher based in Cambridge. UK. She was born in Argentina, lived in Spain, The Netherlands and the UK and travelled extensively.
Marina is the founder and organiser of Cambridge Sustainability Residency and the founder and curator of Sustainability Art Prize at Cambridge School of Art.
Marina has co-edited two books about art and sustainability, MILK. and ROAR. She is a member of the Dalvazza Group at the Swiss Artistic Research Network and a member of the British Art Network.
Marina holds a BA, a Masters and a Ph. D. in Fine Arts and she lectures at Norwich University of the Arts and the University of Cambridge. Her doctoral research title is ‘Exploring value, meaning and worth through five art projects in rural Spain’.