On the Education of Art-Based Researchers

Abstract

This article engages in a prosthetic reading of Charles Garoian’s definition of art-based research—prosthetic insofar as it connects his definition with the ideas of others, to intellectual traditions not immediately recognized as his—in an effort to consider how “newcomers” to the field of art-based research might be welcomed and prepared to act as researchers. Arguing that art researchers and scholars have a collective responsibility to welcome “newcomers” to the field, acquaint them with the possibilities of a form and practice that they seem to care deeply about, without dictating what “newcomers” ought to do, the article explores how Garoian’s definition constructs art-based research as a place from which to act, to inquire generously, to make good judgments, and to give accounts of others in ethical ways.