Borderlands: traversing spaces between art making and research

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to offer a picture of the relationship the researchers perceive between the art and research practices, unravelling the ways the authors shape and inform enactment of a purposeful nexus between art making and research. Design/methodology/approach – A hybridised methodology is adopted, where methods integral to narrative inquiry and a/r/tography are drawn together to generate a series of “pictures” of the interplay between research and artistry. Through exploration of critical events, creative prose and artefacts, the paper unfolds the parallels perceived and tensions encountered between the approaches to making art and conducting research. Findings – Borders can create a sense of calm and safety in allowing us to organise and contain information or matter, but they are also provocative in their potential to be crossed. Through this work, the authors chart the borders of the art making and research, and how, why and when these borders might be traversed to augment the integrity of both practices. In unfolding and examining the experiences and the perceptions thereof, the authors articulate ways in which the authors find arts practice to enrich and inhibit the research, and vice versa. Originality/value – Of particular value in this paper is the way in which the authors not only tell of the experiences as artists and researchers, but also show these experiences through a/r/tographic methods. As such this paper presents an approach to research that is generative, suggesting rather than concluding and challenging rather than resolving, and ultimately offering multiple avenues for artistic and analytic insight.

Interdisciplinarity for social justice enterprise: intersecting education, industry and community arts perspectives

“…Socially engaged arts programmes such as 24CG function in the liminal spaces ‘between’ disciplines, community and organisations. Adapting Deleuze and Guattari’s ( 1988 ) liminal space as the ‘in-between and around’ disciplinary and organisational edges, where interpretations can flow with dynamic momentum (MacDonald & Moss, 2015 ), teachers, students, artists and investors are able to make and take risks; to reimagine how curriculum stimulates local social change with impacts on health and wellbeing. Liao ( 2016 ) has argued the transformative potential of the spaces between disciplines.…”

A/r/tographic inquiry in sport and exercise research: a pilot study examining methodology versatility, feasibility and participatory opportunities

“…In terms of the outcomes of this a/r/tographic investigation specifically, the findings have revealed how through the implementation of the practices of artist, teacher and researcher, the swimmer participant produced an aesthetic representation that drew together analysis, prose and imagery to render what she found to be occurring, inferred and unspoken in Mandy's story and Australian swimming culture. By interweaving the artistic and analytic, a powerful connection was encouraged by furthering means for interpretation and communication (Springgay et al 2008, MacDonald andMoss 2015). Accordingly, the analytic and aesthetic qualities of a/r/tography were able to (in this case) bring the unspoken to light.…”

O Instrumento Relacional da Investigação em Arte

“…Since completing my PhD in 2014, I (Abbey) have enjoyed exploring the diverse ways in which a/r/tography methodology has enabled me to render the artist becoming teacher journey (Macdonald, 2012;Macdonald, 2016;Macdonald, In press;Macdonald and Moss, 2015). I have also come to increasingly perceive and experience how this distinctive form of Arts-based research enables the eliciting of much more robust insights within my inquiries, particularly in terms of rendering outcomes and, most importantly, elucidating the processes employed to manifest these outcomes.…”

“…This is largely due to a/r/tography enabling researchers who also practice and identify as artists and teachers "to utilise arts practices and sensibilities to inform and enhance interpretive skills" (Bickel, 2008: 86).A/r/tography becomes a form of "living inquiry that utilises pedagogical and artistic practices for means of inquiry that are simultaneously creative and critical, evocative and provocative" (Irwin et al, 2017: 477). Having a background in or a familiarity with the processes and practice inherent to art making, research and teaching is clearly advantageous for those who interact with, participate in or conduct a/r/tographic inquiry (MacDonald and Moss, 2015).…”