Co-Founded by Yvette Dubel and Ronald Wopereis February 2006

Status: Inquiry and development is ongoing

Related: http://www.attentioninstitute.com

https://www.webantiphon.com

 

 

 

what is Art Based research?

 

Definitions:

 

1.

 

“What is arts-based research” As soon as we ask this question, we have stepped outside the realm of research itself. The question,“What is it?”, is fundamentally a philosophical question, as Socrates showed...

 

“Art-based research” may be a contradiction in terms, but, as Jacques Derrida might say,“Vive la differance!” This kind of research takes place in the liminal space of the imagination in which contradictions can co-exist. The poet John Keats once said that an artist needs the “negative capabilit” of being able to live with uncertainty and contradiction without irritably searching for reasons. In trying to understand the essence of art-based research, let us use our negative capability of being open not only to scientific cognition but also to artistic imagination. The result may not only produce a new vision of research but a new conception of our lives as well. 

 

Source: Arts-Based Research: A Philosophical Perspective*    Stephen K. Levine http://www.lesley.edu/journals/jppp/9/Levine.html

*  A revised version of "Researching Imagination : Imagining Research," originally published in POIESIS: A Journal of the Arts and Communication, Volume 2, 2000.

Stephen K. Levine, Ph.D., D.S.Sc., REAT, is Professor of Social Science at York University (Toronto), Co-Director of ISIS-Canada, and Dean of the Doctoral Program in Expressive Arts: Therapy, Education, Consulting at the European Graduate School (Switzerland).  He is the author of Poiesis: The Language of Psychology and the Speech of the Arts and other works, and the Editor of the journal, POIESIS: AJournal of the Arts and Communication.

                      2.  

"Art-based research can be defined as the systematic use of the artistic process, the actual making of artistic expressions in all of the different forms of the arts, as a primary way of understanding and examining experience by both researchers and the people that they involve in their studies...

 

Artistic inquiry, whether it is within the context of research or an individual person’s creative expression, typically starts with the realization that you cannot define the final outcome when you are plannng to do the work. As contrasted to scientific methods, you generally know little about the end of an artistic experiment when you are at the  beginning."

Source:  Handbook of the arts in qualitative research: perspectives, methodologies, examples, and issues
Shaun McNiff  "Art Based Research" pg. 29 ;  Editors,  J. Gary Knowles, Ardra L. Cole
Edition    illustrated,  Publisher:    SAGE, 2008

 

 

 

          

 

Source:Artist thoughts on traditional research paradigm in relation to:

cfAaP - Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy

 

Hypothesis: Art Based Solutions can lead the way in moving from outdated exclusion models to new inclusion models, by increasing the rate of innovation to address complex social/economic/ecological issues holistically and with improved transparency, efficiency for more sustainable world where Attention, care, trust, inclusion and diversity are appreciated as valuable intangible assets.

 

Instead of focusing on traditional "job creation" as the main objective of economic development activities, the objective is increasing discovery of meaningful work that increases the peace within and among people.

 

See reason(s) for revision

 

 

Methodology:

Employ multiple qualitative research design approaches To document (creation of Art-i-facts) multidisciplinary knowledge, using Information Technology and Art to create public research framework to foster new experiences of innovation and community economic development that advance new understanding of community.

Expressed in the Cultural Fusion Model for Community Change Management Research & Development (diagram in research paper draft)

 

Strategy:

Applying SoulFood model to reframe conversation about "anti-racism" to conversations about cultivating inclusion and creating languages of trust. 

 

Principles:

a. collaborating with businesses and institutions as part of the community,

b. collaborating with service providers in the community to explore human rights and sustainability strategies,

c. collaborating with people to be served by solution,

d. collaborating across sectors/communities to expand knowledge bases to develop holistic solutions.

 

 

Source:Artist Discovery: thoughts on new Paradigm(s) of Possibility

Cultural Fusion Art as Philosophy [an Art:Series and an Art:Movement]  inspired by possibility to see more clearly how art leads to discovering solutions.

This approach defies the walls separating knowledge silos and industries to advance the experience of one humanity having many experiences.

 

More than brainstorming - Source Art that has emerged from Cultural Fusion shares the experience and insights that come from creative and the practical working together from our better, if not best, selves. Using an A/r/tographic approach that  engages Institutional Critique occasionally, while paying attention to where questions lead to reveal solutions. Rather than like-minded our interest is in like-virtues and like-values expressed through diversity.  

 

There has been research supporting that art helps people develop new ways of seeing and finding meaning. However, experience suggests it requires the right art to get the best results. And right has to do with attention to these deeper sources of origin that converge in meaningful ways to inspire, create or support. 

 

Reading Kafka Improves Learning, Suggests Psychology Study

ScienceDaily (Sep. 16, 2009) — Reading a book by Franz Kafka –– or watching a film by director David Lynch –– could make you smarter.

 

Practical Cultural Fusion Mission: 

 Based on SoulFood framework "Business" is engaged as an ingredient in Conceptual driven artworks to help clients and collaborators address the challenges, explore the ideas of interest, express the realities of valuable insights, and experience awareness that see beyond known needs to access potential. This potential benefits new understanding and experiences of community that is persistently recreating itself.

 

To explore and pay attention to the initial question in this project What is peace? 

 

Personal Artist Statement (evolving)

 

Seeking to create, explore, share and apply Cultural Fusion derived series in Art:Work to create personal community/public art that documents while also acting as multilateral vehicles for new ideas, application of social technology to better understand complex challenges. This includes integrating narratives that contribute to the evolution of how we engage with and understand the humanities and their value. 

What if the opposite of war is creation?

 

What if  [Compassion + Generosity of spirit]] = the other L word?

 

What if forgiveness heals?

 

    Blog: Source Artist Discovery Blog

 

This Art Based research explores/advances a new paradigm that eliminates or greatly reduces poverty (materially and spiritually) based on promoting  value of diverse expressions in the humanities as communal rather than institutional, innovation that empowers the best in individuals within communities/organizations/businesses, and Radical Inclusion as a norm. With the mission to create Art:Work that delivers solutions to advance solutions that automate global social responsibility as Added Value.

Specific areas of interest include: Creating/Advancing technology for sustainable living, developing/researching system models as a means to Ending Poverty. addressing issues related to Homelessness & Hunger, Ending Slavery/Human Trafficking, Ending Domestic Violence. 

 

As an inquiry into art with purpose the Art Based research seeks as a component of functionality the project aspires to  result in the information technology and social system infrastructures that support easy glocal (globally local) deployment of new projects as part of this Art:Work first and foremost. As communities of practice become a more normalized concept the concept of community itself expands. People are now having to learn to manage global relationships in terms of geographical spaces giving way to a range of meet-up events uniting a few or many. The concept of region is being redefined and the impact of innovation will serve some regions over others.

 

Using Art as the base line, the spaces between the business market view and human/ecological services can be seen and experienced as a paradox.  

 

      

 

The Beginning:

 

 

Practical Objective:

 

Develop and explore Art Based methodologies, their potential for application and to advance/refine work developing new models for change management adapted for communities with consideration for individuals

 

Goals:

Promote rethinking of what constitutes Public Research with new understanding of the commons and interest in the socially driven private sector

Create community change management infrastructure with Art:Work that is both private and public.

 

This is an ongoing inquiry to explore and pay attention to the initial question in this project What is peace? 

 

Background

 

When I started my questions were confined by the silos I had to operate within while doing community development. If you asked what I did I would have told you I developed community based programs for crime, domestic violence, child/elder abuse intervention/prevention, inclusive economic development as a poverty reduction solution, social responsibility programs, CRM Strategy and social entrepreneurship as mental health intervention/prevention strategy.

 

Because the idea of doing this as part of an art series seemed too challenging for people to understand, so I tried to reduce the collaborative components to expressive therapy and public benefits to corporate social responsibility.

 

It didn't work out so great, but I learned a lot.

Stifled creatively and disappointed by the politics of community work -seeing more clearly the role it all played in the bigger scheme of things became increasingly hard to see and not act more directly.

 

That's when I began to seriously explore the value of the work to enrich private-public partnership, as well as organizational-community-individual development. One day in a dialogue with Humanity:Ronald Wopereis  (co-founder) the question "what can i do?" emerged.

 

You see, one aspect of community development that I loved was program and strategy development. It became clear that managing projects others regarded as complicated was easy for me because it was natural for me to keep an eye on the Big Picture of things.

 

That’s what I do naturally as a Source:Artist. It was quite natural for me to identify where private and public needs converged and to develop sustainability programs around them. The breakthrough came when I decided to see my consulting projects as performance art. It change the kind of projects I was willing to take on. Leveraging resources between organizations and partners became creative collaboration to meet project specific needs. By learning about the needs and criteria for success for all stakeholders, I had the chance to test new ideas about how the work could be done more efficiently and get better results. 

 

 

Minimizing the risks of trying something new

Now although you may not have heard of an Arts Based approach before, it is based on work in Art Based research. This kind of research has been used in community development for years, it just is not widely known or discussed outside artist researcher circles...which tend to be primarily academic and relatively defined by that knowledge. It is inspiringly open relative to some other research disciplines of interest. 

The problem is that most people are only aware of cutting edge insights after they have trickled down into policies that they either help or hinder them. And reading the numerous papers being released by various organizations is a bit much for most of people as you are already drowning in information that you may struggle to assimilate into anything meaningful.

These are a couple of the challenges my Art Based approach helps to address - 

Since businesses are the key part of society, it is no small thing for them to be brought more fully into circles of deeply meaningful innovation.

 

Thoughts on Theory

Using Art Based Solutions advances the rate of meaningful innovation, encourages micro-economies that inform new approaches to community economic development in context of global economic recoveries, expands what is possible in closed systems, and makes complexity or conflict manageable and solutions likely.  

 

A business, individual, or group can benefit and collaborate in public art research, learning about it at their own pace in their own time when they choose.

 

The Offering: Art as Service and Resource