Project leaders: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Basak Senova and Prof. Dr. Johan Thom
Duration: 01.04.2021 – 30.11.2023
OeAD Africa-UniNet and BMBWF: P017_South Africa/ A Research of Doing/ University of Applied Arts Vienna, University of Pretoria
A Research of Doing is a collaborative, research-based artistic project shaped by its process, involving a multitude of collective activities. The concrete result of the project is manifested in the form of an online joint publication, ARD+, presenting the accumulated activities and content.
A Research of Doing is executed throughout two segments of inquiry that are designed for practising, analysing, and documenting: researching by “doing”—practising and producing; and documenting, analysing, and discussing by “writing”.
A Research of Doing is facilitated by two teams from the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the University of Pretoria in collaboration with The Centre for the Less Good Idea in Johannesburg. The teams involved in the project contribute to the research through the project’s collective activities along with their practice-led artistic research projects and teaching. In fulfilling the second segment of the project, these teams also contribute to the online book, ARD+.
The project serves to connect two universities and an art centre through collaborative research and artistic production (through joint work on research questions) as part of an educational process and artistic research framework. This partnership facilitates and underscores a dynamic model of cultural and pedagogic exchange between Europe and South Africa, achieved through the collaborative development of research-based teachings and workshops.
The Octopus Programme has provided further input to this research with an integrative approach. Referring to it as its ‘sister project,’ the Octopus Programme merged and shared numerous activities such as workshops, talks, and artistic production with the A Research of Doing project.
A Research of Doing, which has been developed through researching and producing together, values and connects diversities between and/or among (i) interdisciplinary approaches towards artistic research and practices; (ii) the various forms of artistic research and practices; (iii) divergent perspectives on artistic production methodologies and creative outputs; (iv) individual and community-based approaches towards artistic practice and research; (v) diverse socio-political realities and context-specific perspectives; (vi) strategies of sustainability; (vii) global and context-specific artistic challenges and opportunities; (viii) diverse forms of engagement between artists, audiences, institutions, forms of innovative and technology-driven mindsets; and (ix) diverse knowledge production models. The impact and effectiveness of the programme on the participants and students are contextualised and put into perspective in ARD+.
A Research of Doing was an Africa-UniNet project supported by BMBWF – The Austrian Federal Ministry of Education and Science and Research and OeAD – Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation.
