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JRP Submission ID#111

TITLE: Unstated Contributions in "Artistic" Research

Abstract: In the past two decades many of the "creative" disciplines,
such as art, design and performance, have become more engaged with
research in the academy. Their emergence as research disciplines has
required the development of methods of inquiry that reflect their
knowledge, concerns and practical expertise and this has generated
passionate debate within and beyond their communities. One of the
questions that arise is about the kinds of contribution to knowledge
and understanding that such research might make, since these fields
tend to deal with matter which can change its meaning very quickly
with time or context and practitioners often resist the idea that they
should make concrete statements about what they have achieved,
expecting their audiences to complete the meaning of their work for
themselves.

This paper offers an oversight of these issues and sets out some
examples of research from the wider community that illustrate how
incomplete or tacit contributions to inquiry can be a valuable and
sometimes necessary part of the enterprise of creating knowledge. It
goes on to set out a tentative framework for such contributions. Such
a framework may be helpful to the creative disciplines but it also has
implications for the wider research community wherever it wishes to
investigate problems that resist easy definition.

Keywords: art; creative; practice-led; contribution; tacit
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EXCERPTS: In reality, researchers from the creative disciplines have
conducted valid inquiries into a very wide range of topics. Richard
Buchanan (1992) has suggested that design may be "the last liberal
art" but it is arguable that all creative disciplines provide means
for wide-ranging inquiry into the material/social world and we are
short-sighted if we ignore those opportunities. Author (2004) has
described how the creation of new imaginary worlds may stimulate new
inquiries in the natural sciences and how engagement with or "dwelling
in" novel artefacts and environments can lead individuals and groups
to reveal new insights about their own tacit knowledge and experience.
The practices of the creative and performing arts provide invaluable
tools in such inquiries, whether undertaken by artists on their own
account or in collaboration with others.
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Request interested reviewers familiar with the issues addressed in
this article to please respond at the earliest.

DP