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Illustrations: Konstfack University
Konstfack Research Week is an annual event in the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. NoVA students Ji Youn Lee and Tyler Liu did a short term study trip to Konstfack Research Week 2020 in the late January 2020. Read how they experienced the Node II More-Than-Rational Methodologies and the other program.
Ji Youn's reflection
Last year, I studied at Konstfack for a semester. Many of the study materials they provided were greatly remarkable. Above all, I can not forget a programme where different researchers shared and explored their own interests through artistic ways. It was a combination of theoretical and practical exploration and they also provide distinct workshops which make a site for learning through bodily artistic experiences. I am very surprised how students, researchers, and school faculties held that event together based on trust and respect. There is no doubt not to attend the research week in year 2020 again. I was happy when NoVA teacher Anette Göthlund from Konstfack invited NoVA students from Aalborg University and Aalto University to this great event: Konstfack Research week 2020.
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I am a traveller who walk through the street of unfamiliarity and find out both others and myself during the journey. Apparently, Stockholm is becoming a city where I do not need to open Google Maps when I travel. I am navigated by my eye based on my memories. This city was sensed through my body and I tried to find out directly the way I walked before, bus number that I took, and a correct direction toward my destination. There is no failure. But also no experiment and no different perspectives. I can see similar sceneries as I saw before.
Image: Capture from the film made in the group
Through the workshop Memories of the Future: Sensing the City Through its Surfaces hosted by David Rousell in the Konstfack Research, we explored the world through camera’s eye, non-human perspectives. We let machines see as they want to see. Their eye followed any movement around people, space, nature, machine, and etc. we just helped them to film the moment. There was no ideas what they saw, what they sense, and where they wanted to move. From the final film they (Gopro camera) had taken, I can understand how they see the world. It was a vision that I would not have seen if I had taken a picture. It might be same as ant, plant, bicycle, ground, or perspective of ceiling. This unexpected gaze made me raise a question of human and non-human interaction toward a way of sensing others and myself again.
Images: Captures from the film made in the group
Tyler's reflection
Monday, 27 January-9:00-9:15AM
Views on Research
Welcome By Maria Lantz, Vice-Chancellor
“When we do research for artistic methods, we don’t necessarily look at the objective truth.We highlight the subject of stories. We don’t always give answers. We produce questions. We don’t always seek solutions. We point towards dilemma. The world needs the arts urgently, we need storytelling in films, texts, images, sound and object so we can speak about the world and live it not only function we need also artistic expression. In order to figure out new materials and what we can review services aesthetics for a non-violent future, and other expressions that can make us thrive in this world.”
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Wednesday, 29 January, 9:30AM -12:00PM
Node II: More-Than-Rational Methodologies
Affects of Research: Propositionality and Enactment as Modes of Shared Knowledge Production
Presentation and workshop with Sibylle Peters
In this lecture, Dr. Sibylle tried to bring together performance and cultural and social research, for instance one of the projects that she did is after school clock and time machine. It’s the project to simulate astronauts in which they tried to change their perspective and welcome we live as astronauts on the spaceship of the earth and then invented exercises like flying while lying. Another example is an very interesting ethnographical research, the researchers came into into the school and did psycho geographical mapping with kids based on the context children are used to believe in spirits and ghosts cannot be said. So they asked the kids to draw maps of their school then found out where to look for spirits of the place with the “ghost machine”, the final step is to talk about their feelings and make the spirit amendment as their school community, maybe make a little ghost house for them or they could leave them with the researchers. The purpose is through the process of imagination, discussion and artistic expression, they co-create a better atmosphere for the public space(the institution) and develop citizenship by making changes to the surroundings with each other.
If you are also interested in participatory art based research method, I highly recommend you to have a look at Performing Citizenship,Free download here.
Reference: Wishful Thinking, current works and projects by or with Dr. Sibylle Peters, PhD, retrieved from: https://www.wishfulthinking.eu/
Konstfack Research Week
Konstfack Research Week is an annual event in the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden. The week is organized into four main areas: Views on Research, Parallel Sessions, Nodes and Closing Events.
The Konstfack Research Week 2020 focused on the four areas: interdisciplinary perspectives that embrace topics surrounding physical, political and psychological aspects from the fields of art, craft, design, interior architecture and furniture design, visual communication and teacher education. Participants had access to a diverse range of futures that are possible within artistic research: from magic and meditation, to challenging canons and hierarchies, to the Anthropocene and how various lighting sources affect our lives.
In 2020 the nodes were:
- Node I Unfolding Canons
- Node II More-Than-Rational Methodologies
- Node III Undesigning Humans
- Node IV Center Pieces
- Node V In the Dark: Speculations on Visual Perception
For more infromation about Konstfack Research Week 2020.
EDDA Norden
The students’ study trips were funded by EDDA Norden. EDDA Norden is a network for Nordic and Baltic Higher Art Education institutions, and it functions under Nordplus. EDDA Network includes 13 members from all the Nordic and two Baltic countries. The goals are to increase Nordic art education collaboration and develop contemporary approaches in art teacher education. EDDA Norden aims to support a short term exchange between Nordic countries. Read more about EDDA Norden student grants.
Written by Ji Youn Lee, Tyler Liu and Anni Rupponen
NoVA Students from Aalto University