Konst som deltagande metodologi

Abstract

While Art is often defined in opposition to Science, artistic research is often legitimaced by a positivistic classical scientific paradigm. For example the artist as scientist was highlighted in 2012 year’s Documenta – one of the most important exhibitions of contemporary art. In contrast to this position, I intend to show the fruitfulness in positioning art in a feminist, qualitative-oriented research tradition. An important point here is the definition of an artistic methodology, where art is a reflective process and where artistic work is both means and goal. This includes the use of artistic practices to break the own pre-understanding of a phenomenon. It is the personal motive that determines what is relevant, while this perspective is exposed to critical scrutiny. Based on this, I discuss how art can be described as a participatory methodology, and use a research project in urban planning and information and communication technology as an example. Here, the art project functioned as a creative and critical room that created a greater understanding of the significance of discursive practices and the importance of reviewing the information that is the foundation of how we formulate the research problems. The most significant conclusion is that artistic research in this sense may well be, and probably should be, an important part of a scientific research and is a prerequisite for scientific development.