Artistic ambassadors: making art as a research method

Painting, writing, making theatre productions — not the first activities that spring to mind when you think of academic research. At the University of Groningen, it is nonetheless possible. What are these artistic research studies about and what role does art play in them?

^{Text: Britt Corporaal / /Photos Ann-Sophie Lehmann: Henk Veenstra (Photos taken at the “Almond Blossoms” Project by Academie Minerva students)}

What is an artistic PhD track?

In an artistic PhD track, the researcher combines theoretic methods with making art, such as visual arts, music, dance, or creative writing. Ann-Sophie Lehmann, Professor of Art History and Material Culture at the UG, explains: ‘The biggest difference from traditional PhD research is that the artistic work is also taken into account in the assessment of the research. An assessment committee should therefore comprise not only academics but also people who know something about art.’

In this track, the artist researches how insights obtained through art can be shared with the broader public. After all, artistic researchers have unique ways of communicating observations and knowledge, because they have access to materials and media that traditional academics useless frequently. Lehmann: ‘In a sense, these artists are positioned in between the academic world and society. An ambassador, if you will.’

How the PhD track came into being

The UG offers an artistic PhD track since 2020. Since then, the UG has started working with Minerva Art Academy (AM), University of the Arts (HfK) Bremen, and the University of the Free State in South Africa. Lehmann initiated the artistic promotion track. She first encountered the concept as a member of various assessment committees at the Royal Academy in London, and the PhDArts programme of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the University of Leiden. To Lehmann, the existing collaboration with Minerva seemed a good foundation for setting up an artistic PhD track in Groningen as well. Supported by UG and AM colleagues, especially Anke Coumans and Minerva Dean Dorothea van der Meulen, the track became a reality.

In order to achieve this, support from the upper echelons was needed as well: ‘The Rector at the time, Elmer Sterken, had a brilliant idea.’ Sterken realized that the possibility for an artistic PhD track was already implicitly described in the existing PhD regulations. These regulations state that a dissertation may consist of a published text but also of designs, such as those developed by medical professionals, natural scientists, and engineers. Sterken asked the question: does art not also belong in that list? Lehmann: ‘To me, that is still an important aspect of how we define artistic research here, because it clearly shows that art is just another form of innovative and unconventional research, just like the “hard sciences” where, alongside knowledge, new methods and things are produced that can be used by other people.’

Art to raise awareness

Harm Coordes became a PhD student at the UG and the HfK Bremen with the project ‘Exploring Expanded Semantic Levels in Fashion: A Performative Interconnection with the Mundane’. The focus point is the interaction between people and their environment: ‘I’ve never been completely focused on garments as a product of fashion, but more on interactions between people during fashion shows. Fashion can make abstract concepts tangible and invite people to discuss them.’

Coordes delves into the consumption aspect of fashion. ‘The fashion world is known for its fast pace. How can I slow it down? How do I enable reflection?’ His experiences at fashion shows made him reflect on the various roles within the fashion industry, such as designers and companies. How do people communicate through fashion? How do our garments and our bodies influence our interactions with the world around us? Coordes seeks answers by activating mundane events, behaviours, and surroundings through participatory fashion experiences. He organizes performances in which the visitors have an active role.

In the installation Framing the Sky, for instance, the visitor would lay on a mattress underneath a hatch through which the sky was visible or, if the hatch was closed, the words ‘imagine the sky’ could be read. By taking place on the mattress, the visitor became part of the installation and viewed by other people in a way that is similar to models in a fashion show. In this way, Coordes takes a part of the visitors’ daily lives—the sky—and lets them experience it in a new way. Coordes says that his growing theoretical awareness makes it easier to describe his artistic work. This has advantages as well as disadvantages. On the one hand, it allows him to deepen his insights, but on the other hand, the gained awareness is at odds with his wish to create unbiased, intrinsic experiences.

Art as a means of communication

The interdisciplinary nature of artistic research houses a constant search for balance. That search takes a central place in the PhD research of Joosten Mueller, who analyses the functions of scientific cell visualizations across time and places them in a new context to redefine their roles. ‘Everyone knows the concept of the “typical cell” as well as the general appearance of this model, yet it remains an abstract notion. The intention of the model, which dates back to the late nineteenth century, was to summarize current cell knowledge in one schematic drawing. One issue is that this historic, simplified drawing, which has rather little in common with the true nature of cells, has become an iconic element of our visual understanding of biology. How has this model never been questioned before?’

In the exhibition How Are We Picturing Cells?, visitors began a journey to question their own understanding of cells, reflecting on how visual representation shapes our perceptions and experiencing visual and material explorations of the diversity of cells in nature. Designing the installation and exploring how visitors interact with objects and materials provided Mueller with new insights regarding his research methods: ‘Choices in composition are not merely design or research choices. They are an integral part of the artistic perspective.’

The way in which scientific objects, along with their materiality, are presented significantly impacts how visitors perceive and acquire knowledge. This concerns the physical placement of the objects, but also the intention of the artist-researcher: ‘The goal of my work is for people to realize that the models and concepts they have learned may be far from the reality of nature. My motivation when creating interventions that bridge multi-sensory, material-driven science exhibitions with artistic installations and educational tools is to get the conversation started.’

Community and connection

Mueller and Coordes work partly in Bremen and partly in Groningen. At Lehmann’s PhD colloquium, they meet both artistic and traditional PhD researchers. Mueller states that this helped him think in new ways: ‘It is extremely valuable when someone does not understand your work. It forces you to step outside your own bubble and ask yourself why there is a lack of understanding.’ Lehmann also reflects on this reciprocal interaction: ‘There is more than one supervisor in a team, so you have to listen closely to each other, and you have to coordinate what to communicate with how you communicate.’

By now, almost twenty PhD tracks are underway and Lehmann looks to the future with optimism. Increasingly more faculties are showing interest in the artistic PhD track: ‘That’s also how we started out: in the hope that the track would go beyond the Faculty of Arts. Artists are able to apply their knowledge and perspective to any environment. On a national scale, we also see more research projects include an artistic PhD track in applications. That is a sign that it’s slowly beginning to show up in more layers of the academic world.’ However, Lehmann also dreams of connections that artistic research could make outside of the academic sphere: ‘That’s where I would like the track to go: for institutions—museums, hospitals, municipalities, big corporations—to see art not only as something to hang on the wall or have in a company’s collection, but also as an opportunity to collaborate with artists on bringing about change and coming up with unexpected solutions to the big problems of our time.’

More information

• Ann-Sophie Lehmann
• Harm Coordes
• Joosten Mueller