This year the Swedish Research Council Symposium on Artistic Research explores the dynamic interplay between more-than-human forces and culturally resilient structures. Drawing inspiration from Nora N. Khan's contrasting concepts of "hurricanes and scaffolding", we invite researchers in the field of art to identify the frameworks, practices, perspectives and themes that art can bring to the broader discourses of society, environment, technology and politics.
The symposium is organised in close collaboration between the Swedish Research Council and UmArts Research Center, and will take place on the Arts Campus, 4-6 December 2024, in partnership with Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå School of Architecture, Department of Creative Studies and Bildmuseet. The symposium offers a platform for participation and engagement where different kinds of contributions together may enrich a critical and creative dialogue on artistic research. There will also be events taking place across the city.
Within the lively debate of Artistic Research, the symposia will identify critically reflexive frameworks that the arts bring to the wider discourses of society and politics, starting with the concept of hurricanes and scaffolding.
Whilst artistic academies and conservatoires have supported the development of the arts for many centuries, Artistic Research is a relatively new field of practice in relation to University research infrastructures. On the one hand disciplines want to protect their traditions, whilst on the other hand practices that engage with an interdisciplinary critique enable a clearer understanding of the contribution of the arts to society. This symposia will bring together artists, architects and designers who are moving beyond individual practices that rely on the art market or state sponsorship to engage with societal infrastructures and responsibilities through research. At the same time Universities in Sweden are slowly changing the way in which they validate artistic research supported by new initiatives such as CoARA which require subject specific assessment.
The concepts of hurricanes and scaffolding will be used to identify new critically reflexive frameworks that the arts bring to the wider discourses of society, technology and politics. The hurricane being a non-human force, and scaffolding being the built infrastructure on which systems can grow. Nora N. Khan outlines her concepts of hurricanes and scaffolding in her essay 'Towards a poetics of Artificial Super Intelligence' (In: 'The Atlas of Anomalous AI' edited by Ben Vickers and K Allado-McDowell). The symposium presentations will explore human and non-human perspectives on infrastructures for new ways of thinking and making.
The conference is designed for structured engagement with these ideas through maximum participation through three presentation formats:
The keynotes will introduce critical tools and reflexive analysis for artistic research that can be used to think through the presentations throughout the conference.
Susan Schuppli (London) is an Artist, Writer and Director of the Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London. Susan Schuppli’s scholarly and creative work investigates how the concept of the ‘material witness’ (MIT Press) can be used as theoretical framework for analysing materials and events analysis.
Moa Sandström (Umeå) is an Inquiry Secretary in the Swedish Truth Commission. What is the political agency of Sami art within the commission process? What are the tensions between artistic rights and responsibilities in rethinking the human-nature relationship? And can this form a critical research framework for rethinking the role of the arts in the decolonial Arctic context? (TBA)
Sarah Cook (Scotland) is a curator and an UmArts/WASP-HS Guest Professor in Art & AI in partnership with TAIGA, Umeå School of Architecture and Bildmuseet. AI is ubiquitous, but how do the histories and tactics of media arts enable a critical framework for tackling the social and ethical challenges of artificial intelligence and machine learning?
1 June 2024 – Deadline for submission of abstracts. Submission via link.
1 August 2024 – Notification of acceptance.
September 2024 – Registration opens, and detailed programme announced.
25 November 2024 – Deadline for registration.
4-6 December 2024- Symposium at Arts Camus, Umeå University
The symposium will be held mainly in English and in Scandinavian languages. Participation in the symposium is free of charge. For climate reasons we recommend travelling by train, please see SJ.se.
Maria Hellström-Riemer, Swedish Research Council
Camilla Eeg-Tverbakk, Swedish Research Council
Cecilia Järdemar, Swedish Research Council
Johan Redström, Swedish Research Council and Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University
Ele Carpenter, Prof Interdisciplinary Arts, Director of UmArts
Ylva Fernaeus, Deputy Director of UmArts
Maria Luna Nobile, Associate Professor and Head of Research at Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå University
Anders Lind, Associate Professor at Department of Creative Studies, Umeå University
Lisa Nyberg, Postdoc at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå University
Cindy Kohtala, Professor at Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University
Clara West, Research Coordinator and Symposium Project Manager at UmArts
The conference is financially supported by:
Swedish Research Council
UmArts Research Centre, Umeå University
Umeå Kommun
Umeå Transformation Research Initiative (UTRI)
The Communications Office, Umeå University
In partnership with Umeå School of Architecture, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Creative Studies and Bildmuseet.
