NEWS A national symposium on artistic research will bring together over 200 researchers from 26 countries at the Arts Campus. The event is organised by the Swedish Research Council and co-organised by UmArts Research Center at Umeå University. The symposium is a platform for critical and creative dialogue on artistic research and all departments and organisations on the Arts Campus are involved in one way or another in the event, which runs between 4 and 6 December.
Ele Carpenter, Professor at Umeå School of Architecture and Director at UmArts. Photo: Mattias Pettersson.
“UmArts is the Research Centre for Art, Architecture and Design at Umeå University, established in 2021. We’re supporting interdisciplinary critically engaged practice -based research across: Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå School of Architecture, and Bildmuseet. Now that we are up-and-running with a team of postdocs and Small Visionary Projects, we thought it would be good to invite people involved in artistic research to come and think about some important questions with us.”, says Ele Carpenter, Professor at Umeå School of Architecture and Director at UmArts.
Maria Hellström Reimer, scientific adviser with special responsibility for artistic research at the Swedish Research Council. Photo: Swedish Research Council.
“When it comes to artistic research, Umeå and the artistic campus is a very exciting national environment. By co-organising the symposium, we can work together to strengthen curiosity-driven and method-developing research and make its diversity visible,” says Maria Hellström Reimer, scientific adviser with special responsibility for artistic research at the Swedish Research Council, which is responsible for the event.
The extensive programme is a mix of keynotes, panel debates and installations. The welcome address, keynotes and plenary sessions will be live streamed on the university website www.umu.se/live.
“The large turnout is no coincidence.There is a lot of focused and passionate work behind it, especially in the development of an inclusive structure with room for many voices and many burning topics. UmArts has also succeeded in bringing together the artistically orientated forces within the university and in a short time managed to build a strong research environment and a great commitment to artistic basic research,” says Maria Hellström Reimer.
The symposium explores the dynamic interplay between more-than-human forces and culturally resilient structures. The inspiration for the symposium's name - Hurricanes and Scaffolding - comes from American art critic, curator and writer Nora N. Khan's essay ‘Towards a Poetics of Artificial Super Intelligence’.
“The theme of the symposium is hurricanes and scaffolding, exploring the dynamic interplay between more-than-human forces and culturally resilient structures. There are many hurricanes looming; actual and metaphorical; from Artificial Super Intelligence to tsunami’s, winds, fires and flooding; to the Atlantic meridional collapse of climate crisis; and the catastrophe of war and genocide; and we need creative strategies and tactics for dealing with these increasingly commonplace challenges.”, explains Ele Carpenter.
“Which brings us to the concept of scaffolding – improvising temporary structures and infrastructures for building resilience, building back better, creating the communities we want to live in, to support us to be good humans in a multispecies environment. Our scaffolding should be critical and creative, and open up new spaces for the political imaginary – to imagine things otherwise.”
Hurricanes and Scaffolding - Symposium on Artistic Research 2024 takes place between 4 and 6 December and here is the full programme. The welcome address, keynotes and plenary sessions will be live streamed on the university website www.umu.se/live.
Illustration made for the symposium by Ida Åberg.