CFP: Methodological and conceptual challenges in cinematic Arts-Based Research (Deadline: 15 February 2025)

2024-10-25

Call for Papers for the next Thematic Section of Aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image, on the theme of Methodological and conceptual challenges in cinematic Arts-Based Research.

Arts-Based Research refers to a growing interdisciplinary field identified by various terminologies, such as Practice-Based Research, Practice-Oriented Research, Artistic Research, Art Research, and Studio-Based Research. It encompasses a research modality that spans across visual arts, performing arts, and moving image, in dialogue with other arts, sciences, and humanities—embodying an ecology of practices (Stengers 2005).

From the effort of theorization emerges a symbiotic tension between academic institutions and individuals/collectives with professional trajectories in the arts—on the level of creation protocols and knowledge production—and a gatekeeping that accommodates segregated methodological approaches (Cotter 2019). The proliferation of PhD programs in visual arts, film, and media arts has generated fertile grounds for artistic and speculative hybridization in higher education. This trend has challenged established canons by encouraging the production of artistic works and the validation of research/creation pathways that materialize in diverse artworks, essays, and other epistemic objects that transcend textual forms (Boomgaard 2022). It also fosters new forms of documentation and multimedia publishing, which, in turn, impact creation, research, and reception by non-academic audiences—amplifying their socio-cultural impact.

Emerging from an experimental approach, this research modality engages with critical contemporary issues, such as ecological concerns and social action. It also addresses the role of algorithms in organizing and cataloging film collections, and in other archival activities, enabling new encounters between audiences, art, and technology (Fuller, Weizmann 2021).

The expansion of these transdisciplinary practices challenges some of the most orthodox taxonomies within artistic, academic, and cultural systems, significantly affecting the creation, study, and reception of artworks. This broadens the conceptual frameworks for understanding these and contributes to reshaping critical discourse (Pareyson 1984), within the space “between” the arts (Deleuze 1985). These practices are evident in both the immanent filmic condition and the multisensory and performative aspects, which not only nurture the arts system but also provoke new reflections on representations of the past.

The relevance of Arts-Based Research —arising from and through artistic practice— can be attributed to various key factors, such as:

  1. Viewing the creative process as a source of knowledge, emphasizing insights generated through filmmaking practices;
  2. Exploring new narrative forms and aesthetics inherent to the cinematic field, combining different media and enhancing audience engagement;
  3. Challenging cinematic and cultural conventions, particularly regarding representation, identity, and politics, as reflected in the visual and emotional impact of disruptive experimental documentary practices (e.g., Agnès Varda, Kamal Aljafari);
  4. Exploring, integrating, or even subverting technology (e.g., Rosa Menkman, Forensic Architecture);
  5. Promoting reflexivity and critical self-awareness regarding the creative process, questioning methods, narratives, and approaches to the act of making itself (e.g., Werner Herzog, Trinh T. Minh-ha);
  6. Systematizing tacit and intuitive knowledge resulting from film production contexts and material manipulation (e.g., Jonas Mekas, Chantal Akerman, David Lynch).
  7. Highlighting intersections of contemporary cinema and other art forms, navigating the friction between mediation and mediatization (e.g., Manu Luksch, Bill Viola) to explore entanglements of representation and immersion;
  8. Embracing new forms of sensory experience through the convergence of art, science, and technology, in line with extended reality (XR) interfaces, which broaden synesthetic experiences and alter perceptions of the body and the world at large (e.g., Ron Fricke, Ryoji Ikeda);

Within this framework, the thematic section of Aniki aims at bringing together multiple perspectives on the relevance, specificity, and scope of Arts-Based Research in the cinematic arts. It seeks to explore how these practices influence creative processes, introduce new conceptual approaches, and imapct cultural and socio-political contexts.

We invite contributions from artists and curators working within the moving image field, filmmakers and other professionals involved in creating works, producing contents and critical reflections within the fields of film and expanced cinema.

Suggested topics for articles include:
  • Incorporation of practices and knowledge into research through non-academic artistic approaches;
  • Reflections on heterodox, anarchival, and decolonial research strategies enabled by practice-based research;
  • Analyses of the implications of interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, or even transmedial strategies as forms of agency within a specific reality;
  • Studies of emerging examples of artistic research processes that contribute to innovation and critical analysis of the expanded cinematic field;
  • Investigative approaches rooted in artistic practices that foster critical perspectives on emerging issues;
  • Consideration of artistic practices framed within autoethnographical or autofictional initiatives, including but not limited to oceanic (tidalectics), feminist, queer, BIPOC, grassroots, ecological, decolonial, and anti-genocide ontologies and epistemologies.

This thematic section is coordinated by Paula Albuquerque (Nova University of Lisbon and Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam) and Francisco Paiva (University of Beira Interior and iA* Unidade de Investigação em Artes / Arts Research Unit).

Paula Albuquerque

Albuquerque is an Amsterdam-based Portuguese artist and scholar showing work in solo exhibitions at galleries Zone2Source (2024), Bradwolff Projects (2023, 2018, 2015), Looiersgracht 60 (2023) and Nieuw Dakota (2020); with films at International Film Festivals IDFA (2024), Ji’hlava IDFF (2024), DocAlliance (2024), DocLisboa (2023), Sheffield DOC|Fest (2020) and Rotterdam IFFR (2016); and presenting papers at conferences EYE International, Media in Transition at MIT, NECS and Visible Evidence. She published the books Enter the Ghost—Haunted Media Ecologies (2020) and The Webcam as an Emerging Cinematic Medium (2018). She is currently a Senior Researcher at Gerrit Rietveld Academie, an Assistant Researcher at the Institute for Contemporary History (IHC) at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and a Supervisory Board member of Framed Framed Contemporary Art Platform in Amsterdam.

Francisco Paiva

Full Professor at the University of Beira Interior (ubi.pt). PhD in Fine Arts from the U. Basque Country, Bilbao, graduated in Architecture from the U. Coimbra and in Design from the U. Lisbon. He was director of the Multimedia Design course for 8 years and created the Doctorate in Media Arts at UBI in 2017. Coordinates the Labcom Arts Research Group (labcom.ubi.pt) since 2014. President of the Board of iA* Arts Research Unit (iartes.ubi.pt) since 2023. Supervised numerous dissertations and regularly participates in juries, scientific committees and editorial boards of specialized publications, having been a visiting professor at several schools. Develops research, creation and curation on space-temporality, intermediality and identity in the Arts. Scientific coordinator of DESIGNA (designa.ubi.pt), since 2011, of Montanha Mágica* Art and Landscape (montanhamagica.ubi.pt) and of the Journeys of Research in Arts (iartes.ubi.pt/jornadas). He was Executive Director of Covilhã's candidacy for UNESCO Creative City, approved in 2021. He is also a member of Coolabora, a social intervention cooperative.

The deadline for submitting complete, original articles is 15 February 2025.

Submitted articles will undergo a selection process by the editors and a double-blind peer review by external evaluators. Articles should not exceed 8,000 words and must include the following in both Portuguese and English: a title, an abstract (up to 300 words) and a maximum of 6 keywords.

Before submitting your article, please review all the instructions here.

If you have any questions, please contact: aniki@aim.org.pt

Bibliography

Boomgaard, Jeroen e Clarke, Katie. 2022. Hinterlands: How To Do Transdisciplinarity. Amsterdam: ARIAS Amsterdam.

Cotter, Lucy. 2019. Reclaiming Artistic Research. Berlin: Hatje Cantz.

Deleuze, Gilles. 1985. L'image-temps. Cinéma 2. Paris: Les éditions de Minuit, coll. Critique.

Fuller, Matthew, e Eyal Weizmann. 2021. Investigative Aesthetics: Conflicts and Commons in the Politics of Truth.London e New York: Verso Books.

Henke, Silvia, Dieter Mersch, Nicolaj van der Meulen, Thomas Strässe, e Jörg Wiesel. 2020. Manifesto of Artistic Research: A Defense Against Its Advocates. Zurich: Diaphanes.

Pareyson, Luigi. 1984. Os Problemas da Estética. São Paulo: Livraria Martins Fontes Editora.

Smith, Hazel, e Roger Dean. 2010. Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Stengers, Isabelle. 2005. "Introductory Notes on an Ecology of Practices." Cultural Studies Review 11 (1): 183–96. Accessed May 1, 2021. https://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/issue/view/165