This working group begins from a recognition that meaning-production can be a violent tool of categorizing and othering and that the concept of “research” has long been built on the condition of “extractivism.”

Artistic research dismisses the fantasy of creating transparent messages in order to transmit its findings. As art practice it deals with and reflects on aesthetic forms. I understand aesthetic form to describe all ways of appearing, including the specific spatial arrangement and temporal movement in works of art and other cultural products, and there is no aesthetic form without aesthetic politics. (1)

An aspect of the work of this group is to challenge, undermine, and transcend these processes. Refusal, opacity, and abjection are among some of the possible political-aesthetic ways of working in the field of art that are considered by the group.

Members of the working group include:
Dr. Azadeh Fatehrad (KUL/The Warburg Institute London) WG4 Contact Person
Prof. Renate Lorenz (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna)
Prof. Anette Baldauf (Academy of Fine Arts Vienna)

Upcoming activities
Focus week in Vienna, Autumn 2021
Planning meetings, Spring 2022

(1) Citation from Renate Lorenz “UNFINISHED GLOSSARY OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH”, Futures of Artistic Research, Helsinki, 2017.