Difficulties in merging methodological demands and artistic conventions—"Artist's Neurophysiology in Performance" project case

Abstract

Contemporary development of research methods and tools is often conducive to ambitious art studies, in which the research methodology and study protocol are the result of negotiations between creative and research strategies. The article discusses the key sources, possibilities, and threats of interdisciplinary projects often referred to as practice-as-research. The following comparison of the orders of the scientific methodology and the artistic convention allows one to show the similarities and potential points of contact between science and art, which are independent of the different values and methods of evaluation in both of these areas. The research-based practice model by Pil Hansen and Bruce Barton is also presented as a solution that takes these issues into account. It is also used to present the project of Interdisciplinary Center for New Technologies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the Art & Science Research Foundation om—organisms and machines in culture (FUNom) the project "Neurophysiology of the Artist in Performance", which is a bold example of the transdisciplinary activities of scientists and researchers. Its content is analyzed through the reports of artists, researchers, and participants taking part in public presentations of the project.

Transdisciplinary solutions to methodological and ethical problems in performing arts psychology

“…Rather than waiting for institutional and material conditions to fully undergo the changes that de Oliviera and Baggs call for, the RBP model acknowledges (1) that different methodologies can examine different aspects of a phenomenon, including aspects that otherwise are hidden by the WEIRD paradigm; and (2) that combining methodologies therefore can be a useful driver of diversification. Instead of hoping to integrate different disciplines under a single epistemological framework, our model is recognized for enabling collaborators to produce multiple kinds of knowledge through productive inter-disciplinary discovery and collaboration (e.g., Ciesielski, 2023 ; Murphy, 2023 ). When the different results and the interdisciplinary exchange are brought together in response to the original and shared research questions and practices studied, then we arrive at transdisciplinary knowledge.…”

“…Transdisciplinary frameworks like the RBP model may begin to address some of the systemic factors that produce WEIRD bias from within. When such frameworks are used in performing arts psychology to bring subject-specific and practice-based forms of knowledge and research into collaboration with scientific inquiry, then grounding in specific practices and contexts of practice become stronger (see Ciesielski, 2023 ; Murphy, 2023 ; Shaughnessy et al, 2023 ). This furthermore means that homogenized sample groups no longer can remain hidden under universalized findings, as the specific practices, practice-context, and its associated sample group will be more transparent.…”

“…Another useful feature is that frameworks like PBR render points of methodological negotiation clearer (see Hansen and Bläsing, 2017 ; Ciesielski, 2023 ). Each discipline brings a set of priorities that must be met for validity within their research space, whereas standards that are less important can be released in support of another discipline's priorities.…”