quality+assured

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 4:23 PM Dear AACORN members, Is there anyone in AACORN that has done/published anything that would be considered 'quality-assured' according to the rules of the art world? Best regards, Teike Asselbergs

Tuesday, December 02, 2008 5:43 PM Teike, can you say more? (especially for those of us not directly practicing in the art world). What's your sense of "quality assured"--how does it go in your practice? What are some of the rules and what are some examples (as you experience them)? I can make some guesses but I'd be happier if I didn't guess too much :). Also, what spurs your question? Maybe if I knew more about your motivations I could suggest some sources/directions (though maybe not!). Thanks. Daved

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 10:18 AM Teike, To follow Daved could you define "quality assured" Who edicts and enacts the "rules of art world" What are these "quality assured" rules What is the "art world" For "those of us not directly practicing in the art world" I would rather think, as a layman, that the notion of "Artworld" - according to Danto of Dickie - is in a certain (many) sense(s) antonymic to the notion of "quality-assured" productions, (let us recall the "Cambell soup cans") Regards Vincent Degot

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 12:59 PM Dear Daved, there are PhD programs for artists. In these artists get a PhD for their practice and some form of reflection on that practice from art departments of universities. These are known (in the UK) as 'practice as research PhD's', 'art practice as research' or 'research in and through the arts'. Not all countries have these PhD's and it is currently a discussion in the Netherlands whether the Dutch art academies and Universities should set up such PhD's. As I am an artist and doing a PhD in the Netherlands, it is of interest to me which publications are quality assured. I know the current academic rules about what in Dutch universities is considered quality-assured, but am interested to know what rules exist in other countries that do have 'practice as research PhD's'. I heard that exhibitions in certain art institutions are also considered 'quality assured publications' according to some rules. As I would like to know more about this topic, I asked the question to AACORN. For people interested in this discussion check these titles I found in a paper by Henk Bergdorff Dutch publication called 'De strijd der faculteiten, over zin en onzin van onderzoek in de kunsten' by, 2004 in 'Boekman, tijdschrift voor kunst, cultuur en beleid' 58/59 (voorjaar 2004) p.191-196: Alan Davies (ed.), Enhancing Curricula: exploring effective curriculum practices in art,design and communication in Higher Education, CLTAD/The London Institute 2002 Practise-based Doctorates in the Creative and Performing Arts and Design, UKCGE 1997 Research Training in the Creative & Performing Arts & Design, UKCGE 2001 Report of the Review of Arts and Humanities Research Funding, 2002 Practice as Research: regulations, protocols and guidelines (including: 'Draft 'best practice' guidelines on Practice as Research PhDs' and 'Ten Steps to a 'Perfect' Practice as ResearchPhD'), Palatine/LTSN 2003 The RAE and Research in the Creative & Performing Arts, AHRB 2003 Greetings,Teike

Wednesday Dec 3, 2008 kl. 1:05 PM Dear Vincent, When asked as an academic to give ones list of publications, there is the question whether publications are "quality assured" or "non-quality assured. When a paper/article is published by a recognized 'publisher' that also reviews the text submitted, as far as I understand one can speak of a 'quality assured' publication. An art magazine can be non-academic for instance, but quasi-academic and with an editorial board: that magazine can be considered 'quality assured'. I need to write a list about which quality assured texts I have published, and it is not clear for me for instance whether images can also be quality assured following 'art as research' rules? The international art world is a heterogeneous milieu consisting of several actors, such as: artists, art critics, art organizations, financing institutions and governmental bodies. There exist different definitions of 'art world' but it goes a bit far to discuss all of them here. The contemporary view on this as also that there is no 'one art world' but that there exist 'art worlds' (many smaller 'art world' milieus) even within the fields of diverse art forms, like theater, fine art, contemporary art etc. The art worlds as social systems share unwritten rules/'name of the game rules' that can not be used in the 'quality assured' sense, but in the art world certainly have 'ranking effects'. Following this I think that the question: Who edicts and enacts the "rules of art world"? is partly answered by Mikael Scherdin, who has written a PhD on how his innovative art organization was given 'the invisible foot' by the Swedish art world. For "those of us not directly practicing in the art world" But many AACORN members write about art in one way or another. Why would you want to use the word 'art' if just some general form of creativity is intended? I assume that AACORN members writing about art would also study the social system in the art world they write about, or not? As an artist that focuses on organization I read and try to get to the details of organizational studies, even to the extend I am writing a PhD about it, so why would AACORN academics not do the same with art? Isn't it so that in order that, within the framework of 'art, aesthetics and creativity in organizational research, the 'art' has any significance; the rules/'name of the game' in the professional cultural field also need to be addressed? Regards Teike Asselberg

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 8:56 AM Hi Vincent, hi Teike, hi all ! Yes, one have to put the question as Vincent does: What is the requirements for "quality assured" art production in the 'art system'? And I agree with Vincent: There's is no 'rules'; Or: The only 'rule' is the 'non-rule'; Art production is sanctioned via social processes made up by the agents of the very art system (artists, critics,curators, etc.). This 'social condition of art' is the very point made by Danto, right? How this 'social game' works is part of the knowledge of producing art - when adding the knowledge about the tradition(s), the contemporary critique(s) and development(s) of the production of the specific art form and genre. So, when using the term "art" when eg. evaluating art production the requirement for a "quality assured" text is the texts ability to demonstrate a knowledge about contemporary art production. If not demonstrating such knowledge the very text/article can not/should not be be "quality assured" in the art system. The question of criteria or "quality assurance" regarding topics of the Aacorn Network e.g. "art in an organisational context", "manager as artist", etc - can then be be put in this way: If ‘something’ - that we initially term "art" - generates other results than e.g. ‘traditional’ methods on e.g. the marked for eg. organisational consultancy and/or management – does this 'something then 'work' because it functions 'as art'? Knowing that "functioning 'as art'" first of all means meeting the requirements of the 'art system'. Despite “If someone calls it art, it’s art” (paraphrasing Don Judd, in Duve: Kant after Duchamp), “Every human is an artist” (Beuys), or the fact that maybe everyone already has become an artist (due to Duchamps (articulation of) ‘readymade’; not as a consequence of ‘readymade’, but as a condition), you may first of all insist that, when "organisational art project"-makers and -evaluators in their terminology wants to activate the term "art", then such "organisational art projects" need to be evaluated 'as art’ - a specific project evaluation need to be valid as an art critique. Hence - in the field of "art & organisation" - projects need to be criticised on the backdrop of the criteria that exist in a specific contemporary culture relating to this or that type art production which a project (may) articulate; just as such "organisational art project" should be criticised on the backdrop of the criteria for e.g. ‘(project)management’, ‘organising’, 'work place psychology', etc. Said in another way: If the 'something' that is initially is called "art" is not evaluated 'as art' - then the term "art" has no theoretical bearing in the evaluation of, or writing about, such specific "art production" in an organisational context. And why would you call it "art" in the first place? Drop the term "art" in the evaluations of so called "organisational art projects" if the project is not eventuated 'as art' anyway! In practice the specific project will 'work' as fine without the (pure rhetoric) 'art brand', I guess. all the best! kent NB: Note, that the Anglo-Saxian "art" is a bit broader than the term Germanic "kunst", and being a Dane I'm probably overlapping the two; art = kunst, I'm leaning towards "kunst". and generally I'm addressing contemporary visuals fine art after the mid sixties.

Dec 3, 2008 kl. 4:14 PM Hi AACORN colleagues discussing "quality assured" art production, > > Interesting discussion. There is a similar conversation (and > oftentimes, a non-conversation) going on in the academic community > on what constitutes quality research and quality publications. > Unfortunately, the focus on quality often gets lost, or more > frequently subsumed in academic research conversations into a > measure of impact (as most commonly measured by the number of times > a particular article is cited by other academics, over a specific > time period, in a limited number of journals). Impact, in large > part because it has been easy (in a very limited sense) to > quantify, has eclipsed the more important (in my mind) questions in > research of: does the research ask important questions and is it > appreciated, using any set of agreed upon criteria, as having > quality. The most glaring version of impact eclipsing any > consideration of meaning or quality shows up in the ranking of > journals (and the labeling of select journals as A-level). There is > clear evidence that even reducing the discussion to impact (as > measured by citations), such A-listed journals do not consistently > publish the highest impact articles. > Welcome to one of the raging (and very important) discussions > currently taking place not only in academic management, but across > disciplines. Anne-Wil Harzing (University of Melbourne) and I have > an article coming out on the topic in the March 2009 issue of the > Academy of Management Learning and Education journal > Adler, Nancy J. & Harzing, Anne-Wil (2009) “When Knowledge Matters: > Transcending the Sense and Nonsense of Academic Rankings,” Academy > of Management Learning and Education, March (forthcoming). > All my best, Nancy >

Wednesday, December 03, 2008 11:24 PM Hi What a coincident! I just received this newsletter that address precisely the problematic of scientific research & writing regarding art production. Check below. pity one is not in ny at the moment... ;) all best, kent

Exhibition: Nameless Science curated by Henk Slager The debate on artistic research emerging worldwide in the field of visual art for some five years focuses on what artistic research could be or should be. The exhibition Nameless Science aims to expand this debate by showing the outcome of artistic research in seven examples of best practices from artistic PhD projects. A striking similar methodology in the practice of artistic research is the problemization of specific situation-based artistic processes interconnecting with various knowledge systems and disciplines. At the same time, these PhD projects deal with an artistic reinterpretation of both representation (al) models and academic classification systems. Consequently, the projects do not only produce fluent forms of interconnectivity and methodology through different forms of knowledge production, but lead to novel artistic strategies and intensities of perception.

Do artistic research projects demand an idiosyncratic form of presentation? Using an inventive form of display, the curator will investigate this question and exchange thoughts and ideas with the participating artists through a presentation system balancing between an exhibition and an info-lab.

Nameless Science: Research projects by Ricardo Basbaum (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro), Jan Kaila (Finnish Academy of Art), Irene Kopelman (MaHKU, Utrecht), Matts Leiderstam (Malmo School of Art), Ronan McCrea (University of Ulster), Sarah Pierce (Goldsmiths' College, London), and Morten Torgersrud (Bergen School of Art).

apexart, 291 Churchstreet, New York, NY 10013, USA. http: //[|www.apexart.org] December 10 – January 31. Opening reception: December 10, 6-8pm

Symposium: Nameless Science The symposium involves a presentation of the Nameless Science research projects by the artists, followed by a discussion with critical referents from EARN (European Artistic Research Network: Dublin, Helsinki, Malmo, Vienna), The Cooper Union, Columbia University, University of California and Idsva (Portland).

Symposium Location: The Cooper Union (Wollman Auditorium), 51 Astor Place, New York NY 10003. December 12: 10 am to 5pm. Information and reservation: info@apexart.org

Symposium Program 10.00-10.15. Opening Saskia Bos (Dean School of Art, The Cooper Union), Henk Slager (curator Nameless Science). 10.15-10.45. Keynote presentation: Sarat Maharaj (Malmo School of Art). 10.45-11.20. Presentation: Jan Kaila (Helsinki School of Art). Referent: George Smith (Idsva, Portland). 11.20-11.55. Presentation: Morten Torsgerud (Bergen School of Art). Referent: Tamar Zinguer (The Cooper Union, School of Architecture). 11.55-12.30. Presentation: Ricardo Basbaum (Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro). Referent: Gertrud Sandqvist (Malmo School of Art). 12.30-13.30. Break. 13.30-14.30. Doctoral Studies in the US. Presentation: George Smith (Idsva, Portland). Presentation: Grant Kester (San Diego, University of California). Referent: Mick Wilson (Gradcam, Dublin). 14.30-15.05. Presentation: Irene Kopelman (MaHKU, Utrecht). Referent: Grant Kester (San Diego, University of California). 15.05-15.30. Break. 15.30-16.05. Presentation: Ronan McCrea (University of Ulster). Referent: Felicitas Thun (Vienna School of Art). 16.05-16.45. Presentation: Matts Leiderstam (Malmo School of Art). Referent/Closing Remarks: John Rajchman (Columbia University).

Publications Reports on the project Nameless Science will be published by http:// [|www.artandresearch.org.uk] (Volume 2, No. 2, Winter 2009) and by MaHKUzine, Journal of Artistic Research, Volume 7, Spring 2009, [|http://www.mahku.nl]

Support The project Nameless Science is supported in part by Bergen Academy of Art; FRAME Finnish Fund for Art Exchange; Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam; The Research Institute Art and Design, University of Ulster, UK; The Cooper Union, New York; Idsva, Portland; EARN (European Artistic Research Network);' Malmo School of Art; Vienna School of Art; Gradcam Dublin and MaHKU/Utrecht Consortium.