Pool 1: Art & What Artists Do (gLV)

How do we describe what we do as artists? We communicate through art. But our everyday work also includes explaining what we do. Artists write statements, present work to diverse audiences, and prepare funding applications.

We will first examine various views on art. These include contradictory standpoints regarding the role of intuition, technology, skill, and research in art practice. Among others, James Elkins’ edited volume “What do Artists Know?” (2012) offers rich insights into different attitudes and positions. We will discuss how particular artists describe and position their work, such as Firelei Báez, Richard Bell, Tiffany Chung, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, FX Harsono, Kerry James Marshall, and Yinka Shonibare.

We will then explore what we can learn from researchers about explaining art and will practice how to configure methodologies that fit our work. The term “methodology” describes the framework and strategies that are employed to create a piece of research or an artwork. We will also consider the Art in Action Research (AiAR) approach. AiAR supports working on and through art in socio-cultural settings. Coursework will show how parts of AiAR can be useful for describing the framework of artistic work or research in general.

About the lecturer:

Dominique Lämmli has long been working with studio-based, collective and performative painting strategies. She has also co-initiated temporary spaces for joint learning, imagination and co-creation with colleagues across the world and has explored and written on working with art in socio-cultural settings. She is professor specialized in drawing and painting at Zurich University of the Arts, the co-founder of FOA-FLUX, a Zurich-based research micro-hub, and holds a PhD in Global and Area Studies.