Artistic Practice Research Articles

Embodying sound: body, territory, and community in the music of Mare Advertencia and Cynthia Montaño

ABSTRACT Rap and urban music have become increasingly relevant in the study of alternative practices of art, activism, and resistance in Latin America. This article examines how Mare Advertencia Lirika (Zapotec) and Cynthia Montaño (Afro-Colombian) use rap to build community and women’s agency through staging Indigenous and Afro ancestral knowledge in Oaxaca, Mexico, and Cali, Colombia, respectively. Grounded on an analysis of their albums and the conduct of ethnographic work in Oaxaca and Cali, I contend that these artists’ rap art embodies alternative forms of Indigenous, Black, and grassroots expressions from a feminist community perspective. By embedding their work on ancestral knowledge, community practices, and an interwoven sense of cuerpo-territorio, both at the sound and lyrical levels, these artists challenge patriarchal, colonial, and capitalist violence. This study aims to understand better the intersections between music, women of color’s agency, and social movements in local/global scenarios.

An exploration of the act of (digital) mark-making in the form of analogue drawings

This paper proposes that posted online content can be understood as (digital) mark-making. Through research as creative practice in the form of drawings created with grey-lead pencil on paper (an analogue form of mark-making), the notion of (digital) mark-making is explored as an existential act. Dating back thousands of years, human mark-marking in the form of handprints can be found in caves in many parts of the world, a declaration that ‘I was here!’ Mark-making plays a role in human becoming, the self an ongoing creation rather than already being created, and over time, forms of mark-making evolved into artistic practice, cultural transmission, language and narrative modes for storytelling. With the introduction of the Internet, online content creation fulfils the same roles as traditional mark-making. Posting content online has become an existential act, a way to document one's existence and give proof of presence through storytelling – acts of (digital) mark-making. Current theories on the nature and social functionality of the Internet, particularly social media as modes for storytelling, are engaged to reflexively analyse the drawings which express human-lived experiences that now oscillate between virtuality and reality.

Distant dinosaurs and the aesthetics of remote art

Abstract Francis Sparshott introduced the term ‘remote art’ in his 1982 presidential address to the American Society for Aesthetics. The concept has not drawn much notice since—although individual remote arts, such as palaeolithic art and the artistic practices of subaltern cultures, have enjoyed their fair share of attention from aestheticians. This paper explores what unites some artistic practices under the banner of remote art, arguing that remoteness is primarily a matter of some audience’s epistemic distance from a work’s context of creation. I introduce palaeoart—the depiction of extinct prehistoric fauna and flora, especially from the Mesozoic—as a paradigmatic case of remote art, showing that its remoteness is secured both by the deceptively rich cognitive load required for its creation and appreciation, and by its existence at the margins of the institutional artworld, which ensures that this cognitive loading is largely obscured. Too often, remote art is not just inscrutable, it is invisible to us.

Symbolist Androgyny: On the Origins of a Proto-Queer Vision

This article focuses on artistic and aesthetic practices within the idealist and symbolist movements of the late 19th century in France. It investigates how artists and art critics embraced androgynous imaginaries derived from Greco-Roman antiquity and the Platonic myth, transforming them into tools for social and sexual emancipation and giving rise to a proto-queer vision. An analysis of the art of Alexandre Séon, Odilon Redon, Jeanne Jacquemin, and Léonard Sarluis, in conjunction with the symbolist theories of Joséphin Péladan, Gabriel-Albert Aurier, and Émile Verhaeren, reveals an idealistic pursuit grounded in the union of the masculine and the feminine through the act of creation. Through the examination of artworks, contemporary critical discourse, and the personal correspondence of these art figures, this study posits that the androgyne serves as a heuristic model for a queer art history. The ideal androgyne, as theorized in Freud’s psychoanalytic writings, can function as a methodological paradigm in art studies as a tool for visualizing and conceptualizing homosexuality in art.

NEW FACTS ABOUT THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN RESTORER A.F. MITROKHIN (1765-1845)

NEW FACTS ABOUT THE LIFE AND WORK OF THE FIRST RUSSIAN RESTORER A.F. MITROKHIN (1765-1845)

Socially engaged art proposals: between collaboration, affect, and the commons

This paper presents some aspects of socially engaged art proposals, such as collaborative methods, affective relationships, and the production of the common. Currently, we observe in transdisciplinary projects and collective actions a growing focus on collaborative practices as attempts to go beyond practices strictly engrained in established institutional spaces such as museums, universities, and governmental or private spaces. With the perspective of a certain local activation of collective pieces of knowledge and practices, these artistic proposals aim at the circulation of knowledge, its integration and contamination by unusual places, narratives and methodologies belonging to each daily life. Therefore, we find in socially engaged artistic practices artistic interventions that highlight the power of affects for the production of knowledge managed in communities, making us think about what relationships consist of and how they may or may not give space for the common. We understand that by considering the power of affects and art in their political and social dimensions, we incorporate a discourse of difference that allows for other possible forms of communal living.

The interdisciplinary method of musical literacy, education and artistic sensibilization: Objectives, structure and evaluation

The Interdisciplinary Method of Musical Literacy, Education and Artistic Awareness (MILMESA) aims to provide a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to education, integrating four artistic expressions (theatre, music, visual arts and physical/motor expression) essential for the development of skills such as creativity, expression and improvisation in a school context. The method aims to prepare adults who are in training for future practices aimed at children, young people or adults. MILMESA integrates 129 activities, classified by degree of difficulty, to improve personal and artistic skills, foster innovation and creativity, improve interaction and sociability, promote concentration and active listening, and improve rhythm, repetition, movement skills, expression and improvisation. A non-experimental methodology was chosen in which post facto questionnaire interviews were applied to 350 training participants. This method is a valuable tool for those looking to expand their artistic knowledge, as well as preparing them to educate and raise awareness among future generations. They also demonstrate the development of interdisciplinary artistic skills and practices in an educational context, the integral development of the individual, the connection and interaction between the arts and other areas of knowledge, and the improvement of skills in individuals who are training for future roles as teachers or artists.

Print Imaging Practice

This article discusses the author’s transition from artist to curator and cultural producer of contemporary print exhibitions. By exploring the creative process of three exhibitions, including I AM that I AM (2015) at IMPACT 9 in Hangzhou (China), Out of the Matrix 3.0 (2018) at IMPACT 10 in Santander (Spain), and Out of the Matrix 2.0 (2019) at Hong Kong Open Printshop in Hong Kong (SAR, China), this paper uses personal reflections on the relationship between artistic practice, collaboration, and collective creation in cross-cultural print exhibition works. These research projects provide an opportunity to investigate specific elements of print productions from printmaking practice to collaborative curation.

Toward a Genealogy of Certification

For about 25 years now, I’ve been researching the shape, style and function of graphic signs connected with the production and reproduction of printed money. The research grew out of my visual arts practice and despite being consolidated as a university doctorate, it has mostly been pursued outside or across established academic disciplines, never having found easy accommodation in any one of them. Among other things this has resulted in a hybrid terminology defining its aims and scope. What began as an etymology of monetary signification (an early attempt to tie it to the field of linguistics and semiotics) now seems better expressed as a genealogy of certification, which represents a much broader field of investigation and reduces the risk of it being seen as a strictly numismatic study. The following paper summarises this genealogy and describes how monetary designs are adapted for different purposes and contexts, while showing some examples of their foundation in experimental and creative invention. I should firstly mention that the designs themselves communicate all kinds of meanings beyond the monetary: not just claims of authority and authenticity usually associated with banknotes, but also declarations of contractual certainty, social obligation, affection, prestige, satire, accreditation and so on. Even so, printed money remains at the heart of this research as an exemplary graphic statement articulated from within the nexus of mechanisation, global economics and modernist abstraction.

Forms of Translation, Translation of Forms: From Gorky’s Mother to Mahasweta Devi’s Mother of 1084

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the Bengali novel হাজার চুরাশির মা (Mother of 1084) by Mahasweta Devi to read it as a rewriting of Maxim Gorky’s The Mother. It contends that Mother of 1084 recasts Gorky’s radical and gendered bildungsroman for the context of India where it not only documents the development of the radical consciousness of Sujata, the mother of the revolutionary Brati killed by the Indian state, but also the patriarchal structure of the Indian/Bengali family. Furthermore, it argues that the Bengali novel recasts the socialist realism of the Russian novel into modernist Bengali prose. It examines Mahasweta’s deployment of the modernist aesthetic while locating Mother of 1084 in a broader tradition of actually existing communist artistic praxis in South Asia to illuminate the tradition of committed modernism.

Scenography and Societal Change and the Creation of Artworks in Contemporary Art: An Analysis of the Practice of Scenography in Nabajyoti Nagar, Guwahati, Assam, India

The most beautiful visual element of a theater is its scenery. It entails placing a performance in a distinct and recognizable setting, defining the characters in terms of costumes and the accessories and qualities that go along with them, and lighting the performance appropriately to maximize the audience's enjoyment of the performance. Therefore, in addition to a mastery of architectural principles, the practice of scenography requires a sufficient understanding of the fundamentals of design, fair knowledge of graphics, and a working knowledge of the fine and practical arts, carpentry, tailoring, and electrical engineering. Because of this, the scenographer needs to be a well-rounded artist with enormous creative potential. Scenography can be used to create a civilization in the right way. Scenography investigates societal influence. In this study, the practice of scenography in Nabajyoti Nagar, Guwahati, Assam, India, is analyzed in relation to societal change and the creation of art works in contemporary art.

Elephants, Ecological Grief, and Art Therapy

Climate change is a well-documented challenge for human societies where human actions have spurred global warming leading to climate breakdown. Ecological disasters are already affecting the mental health of many people, and this is escalating. By painting elephants, I address ambiguous loss and demonstrate the power of art therapy to inform grief work and ecological grief as humanity’s shared trauma. Seen through the lens of elephants, one realizes the many connections between elephant and human societies, including ancestral memories, experience of attachment and trauma, and capacities to heal. Maintaining a consistent art practice helps one make sense of the senseless and deal with grief as an act of resilience, self-and-planetary care, and ethics, thereby having implications for art therapists.

Breaking the fifth wall: on creating a sense of wonder with(in) mixed realities through XR performance, creative AI, and embodying virtual identities. An encounter in VRChat: Anneleen Swillen and Guus Vandeweerd in conversation with Ine Vanoeveren

ABSTRACT This article explores the roles and impact of XR technologies in the creation and perception of performances. The main methodology is a conversation between Anneleen Swillen, Guus Vandeweerd and Ine Vanoeveren in VRChat. As researchers in the arts, they investigate the expansive possibilities of XR performances, each offering insights from their respective perspectives in jewellery, graphic design, and music. The text commences with an introduction to their performative project ‘Mirrored Dwellers’, brought into relation with subjects such as a sense of wonder and virtual embodiment. Subsequently, the text features a conversation in which the authors delve into the influence of VR on audience experience and participation, the roles of AI in artistic practice, and how XR performances and digital media may contribute to a more inclusive artistic landscape. Drawing from their research, the authors discuss these themes in connection with a key concept introduced in the text: ‘breaking the fifth wall’, a proposition by Vanoeveren aiming to effectively merge the physical and digital realms. By examining perspectives and challenges faced by performers and audiences alike, this conversation provides insights into the distinctive experiences and complexities encountered when embodying avatars, immersing oneself in virtual realms and co-creating with AI.

Khalid Bin Walid in Javanese Visual

This paper aims to discuss the model for the creation of wayang figures depicting Kekayon Khalifah, specifically focusing on Khalid bin Walid, a renowned figure in leading battles. The method employed involves Artistic Research and Practice Based Research in contemporary art. The focus of this discussion lies in the development of practice-based artistic techniques. Furthermore, it explores the realization of these figures on buffalo skin, portraying the character as a respected warlord by his troops and feared by his enemies. Realization of embodiment through decorations and ornaments on beautiful leather crafts. This leathercraft works will produce artifacts in the form of the Khalid bin Walid paraga puppet. The ornaments and decorations in this work are complemented by the calligraphy of the characters’ names. Then an interesting visual is created and can imply a certain message to the audience. Especially when this media is exhibited. Works that can be enjoyed by viewers. So this art can be used as education to the public, both formal and non-formal. Keywords: wayang kekayon, modern art of decoration and ornamentation, paraga Khalid bin Walid

Exploring arts-health ecologies in the very remote Barkly Region of Australia.

This article explores links between arts, health, and wellbeing for diverse First Nations and non-Indigenous peoples living in the very remote Barkly Region of the Northern Territory in Australia. The article stems from a major 3-year study of the Barkly arts sector conducted in partnership with Barkly Regional Arts and Regional Development Australia Northern Territory. Key findings relate to an arts-health ecology evident in the region, the interdependence between artists' own health and their arts activity, the value of arts spaces as places of safety and refuge, and the potential of the arts to promote cultural and intercultural healing and development. We discuss these findings in the context of relevant literature and make suggestions for future arts-health and wellbeing related research, policy and practice in rural and remote contexts. This study employed an ecological mixed-methods research design, including quantitative and qualitative survey and interview data collection as well as collaborative, data-driven thematic analysis. The ecological approach was used to map a variety of creative practices through a broad range of art forms. Commercial, amateur and subsidised art and creative practices were included in this study and represented the multicultural population of the Barkly Region (both First Nations and non-Indigenous peoples). Arts and creativity in the region were recognized as a complex ecology that saw individuals, businesses, organisations and government working in different ways to sustain culture and contribute to social and economic development. Research participants from diverse cultural backgrounds recognised health and wellbeing benefits of arts and creative activity. Arts participation and engagement were reported to have intrinsic individual health and wellbeing effects such as mental health and mindfulness, emotional regulation, enjoyment, and relief of physical and emotional pain and stress alongside promoting spiritual connection to self, culture and community. The study indicates that the arts can also shape powerful determinants of health and wellbeing such as employment, poverty, racism, social inclusion, and natural and built environments. Barkly arts-health ecology featured extensive involvement from health and human service and arts organisations, which provided a strong foundation for inclusive, healing and holistic regional development. This study has outlined how arts and creative activity contribute to holistic regional development in the Barkly desert region, an area with a high percentage of First Nations peoples. Arts and creative activity were reported to have intrinsic health and wellbeing effects for individuals, which included mental health and mindfulness, emotional regulation, enjoyment, and relief of physical and emotional pain and stress as well as promoting spiritual connection to self, others and environment. Arts activities were also seen to shape powerful determinants of health and wellbeing such as employment, poverty, racism, social inclusion, and natural and built environments.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN ART AND DESIGN THROUGH NEW-AGE MEDIA

Culture is a broad-spectrum term commonly used to identify habits of a heterogeneous social groups which develop in a specific geographic location. It is evidently reflected through the various art practices, be it visual or performing arts, or artifacts created by the artisans. They have become an integral part of the cultural ethos. India is a country rich in such diverse treasure of cultural practices through art. Artisans have also migrated beyond their original geographical boundaries to diversify the reach of the art. It is an important cultural asset which helps to preserve the culture and heritage of a community or the skill-sets of the artisans. Our ancestors have been preserving this culture of storytelling through the art forms which show a perspective of life. They also contribute to the livelihood of the craftsmen, thus contributing to the economy of the country. There is beauty in promoting cultural diversity; people learn new skills from other cultural groups and encourage innovation through various art forms and designs. In the contemporary era of technology, modernization and globalization, the traditional art forms are fading away. Sustainability of these valuable these art forms is a concern today. Purposes and functionality of these art practices have also diversified. The study creates new objectives through cultural diversity and designing new products for sustainable development in art and design. The article discusses some aspects of technological intervention in these art practices that can help sustain these heritages. Thus diversification of media, purpose and an involvement of the young generation can help to preserve the social cultural ethos of our country.

The Application and Research of Digital Art in Architectural Decoration Design

This paper aims to explore the application and research of digital art in the field of architectural decoration. With the continuous development and popularization of digital technology, digital art, as a new form of art expression, is gradually infiltrating into every aspect of architectural decoration. The introduction of digital art provides architectural designers and decorators with a broader space for creation and a richer way of expression, and also endows architectural works with more colorful artistic connotation and the atmosphere of The Times. Based on the concept and characteristics of digital art, this paper discusses the application practice of digital art in traditional and modern architectural decoration, analyzes its influence on architectural decoration style, spatial atmosphere and user experience, and prospects the future development trend of digital art in the field of architectural decoration.

Female Participation in Creative Arts Practice and Sustainable Development in Selected Primary Schools in Cross River State, Nigeria

The aim of this paper was to discuss on how active participation of primary school pupils in creative art can bring sustainable development in the society. Generally, people do not see the subject “art” as an important course. They place more emphasis on other courses such as engineering, medicine, law and what have you. Art is of no value to most people in the society. Meanwhile everywhere man is, there is artistic presence. Right from the clothes we wear, the food we eat, chairs in our sitting room, the pots, plates and spoons in our kitchen, the desk, chairs and table in our schools. Our hair dos and decoration and even music from our radios and televisions are all artistic. So in order to recognize its importance and for the fact that we need these artistic values everyday of our lives we must lay more emphasis on the training of our children right from their tender age on the idea of Art Creativity. To discuss effectively on this topic, the following were looked into: Definition of creative art, Arts Creativity and the primary school child, problems of teaching and learning of arts, Arts creativity and sustainable development, Summary and conclusion were finally drawn

Using Ripple Effects Mapping to understand the longer-term impacts of delivering a dance programme for older adults on dance artists

ABSTRACT Background The dance workforce plays a central role in delivering arts and health programmes yet there is little exploration of how programme delivery impacts dance artists in a professional or personal capacity. This study explored the experiences of dance artists delivering Dance On, which engages inactive older people 55yrs+. Methods Ripple Effects Mapping was used to explore the short- and long term experiences and practices of dance artists delivering a dance programme. Findings Two ripples were developed 1) Becoming a specialist 2) Connecting with communities. These ripples highlighted the strengths of the sustained nature of the programme and emphasised the need for ongoing support from employing organisations, communities, and dance artist peers. Conclusion This study showcases the central role dance artists play in upholding the outcomes we observe in arts and health work – their role, expertise, and commitment to programmes should be further illuminated and supported through ongoing discourse about their practice.

Exploring the Role of Conceptual Art for the New Museology – Conceptual Art as Method in Revisiting Objects, Their Display, and Heritage Institutions

ABSTRACT In the context of the recent involvement of contemporary art in the field of museology, my article aims to point out the revolutionary role that conceptual art played in the understanding of heritage. This article argues that conceptual art crucially advanced the critical redefinition of the nature, value, display, role, and agency of the heritage object. Due to the specific understanding of the “object” and the institutional critique discourse it established, conceptual art significantly furthered the development of new methodologies in museological practice since the beginning of the twentieth century. Although new museology gradually involved contemporary art, a theory of its specific modus operandi in this context and – as will be argued – the particular contribution of conceptual art have not been systematically pursued so far. This article will demonstrate how the involvement of conceptual, performative, and multi-disciplinary artistic practices as well as display strategies have contributed to the elaboration of innovatory, critical, de-colonial, and inclusive methods of heritage transmission.