The Society for Artistic Research (SAR) is an international nonprofit,

artistic Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

society A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...

devoted to developing, linking and disseminating internationally

artistic research Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness ...

as a specific practice of producing

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is disti ...

. SAR also aims to facilitate

co-operation Cooperation (written as co-operation in British English) is the process of groups of organisms working or acting together for common, mutual, or some underlying benefit, as opposed to working in competition for selfish benefit. Many animal a ...

and

communication Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inqu ...

among those interested in the study and practices of artistic research.

History

SAR was founded in 2010 in Bern, Switzerland (as an initiative of the two artists Florian Dombois and Michael Schwab together with Henk Borgdorff) by about 80 artists, researchers and academics from around the globe. It is the only international society for artistic research in the world. It has an international membership drawn from both academic and non-academic institutions and individuals.

Objectives

* to promote the practices of artistic research done in and outside of

academic institutions Academic institution is an educational institution dedicated to education and research, which grants academic degrees. See also academy and university. Types * Primary schools – (from French ''école primaire'') institutions where children r ...

* to facilitate co-operation and communication among those interested in artistic research * to hold, or to participate in the holding of, conferences and meetings for the communication of artistic based knowledge, and to publicise and disseminate by other means knowledge and views concerning artistic research practices and results

Activities

* The society publishes the triannual ''Journal for Artistic Research'' (''JAR''), an international, online,

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre o ...

and

peer-review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: * Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...

for the identification,

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Con ...

and

dissemination To disseminate (from lat. ''disseminare'' "scattering seeds"), in the field of communication, is to broadcast a message to the public without direct feedback from the audience. Meaning Dissemination takes on the theory of the traditional view ...

of artistic research and its methodologies, from all arts disciplines. * The society publishes the ''Research Catalogue'' (''RC''),Hughes, Rolf: "Leap into Another Kind: International Developments in Artistic Research," in Swedish Research Council, ed. (2013), ''Artistic Research Then and Now: 2004–2013, Yearbook of AR&D 2013,'' Stockholm: Swedish Research Council. a searchable, documentary

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

of artistic research, to which anyone can contribute. * The society awards the Annual Prize for Excellent Research Catalogue Exposition for innovative, experimental new formats of publications. * The society hosts an annual

convention Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

consisting of a

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...

covering various specialist topics organised around a theme.

Current executive board (elected till)

* Florian Schneider, President (Trondheim, Norway; 2026) * Geir Strøm, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway; 2024 ) * Jaana Erkkilä-Hill, Vice-President (Helsinki, Finland; 2024) * Angela Bartram (Derby, UK; 2024) * Michaela Glanz (Vienna, Austria; 2024) * Blanka Chládková,(Brno, The Czech Republic; 2026) * Esa Kirkkopelto (Helsinki, Finland; 2026) * Johan A. Haarberg, Executive Officer (Bergen, Norway) * Jessica Kaiser, SAR Executive Consultant (Gras, Austria; 2022) ''Board 2020-2022'': Deniz Peters, President / Geir Strøm, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway; since 2018) / Jaana Erkkilä-Hill, Vice-President (Helsinki, Finland; since 2020), Angela Bartram (Derby, UK; since 2018) / Chrysa Parkinson (Stockholm, Sweden; 2020-2021) / Gabriele Schmid (Ottersberg, Germany; 2015-2022); Johan A. Haarberg, SAR Executive Officer (Bergen, Norway) / Jessica Kaiser, SAR Executive Consultant (Gras, Austria; 2022) ''Board 2019-2020'': Deniz Peters, President / Geir Strøm, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway; since 2018) /

Giaco Schiesser Giaco Schiesser (born 1953) is a Zurich-based theorist of cultural and media studies. He is a professor emeritus for cultural theory and media theory and for artistic research of Zurich University of the Arts, ZHdK (Switzerland). Biography Gia ...

, Vice-President (Zurich, Switzerland; since 2013) / Angela Bartram (Derby, UK) / Alexander Damianisch (Wien, Österreich; since 2013) / Leena Rouhiainen, Helsinki, Finland; since 2015) / Gabriele Schmid (Ottersberg, Germany); Johan A. Haarberg, SAR Executive Officer (Bergen, Norway) ''Board 2017-2019'': Henk Borgdorff, President (Leiden / The Hague, Netherlands) / Geir Strøm, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway; since 2018) / Giaco Schiesser, Vice-President (Zurich, Switzerland) / Angela Bartram (Derby, UK) / Alexander Damianisch (Wien, Österreich) / Leena Rouhiainen, Helsinki, Finland) / Gabriele Schmid (Ottersberg, Germany); Johan A. Haarberg, SAR Executive Officer (Bergen, Norway; since 2018) ''Board 2015-2017'': Henk Borgdorff, President (Leiden / The Hague, Netherlands) / Johan A. Haarberg, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway) / Giaco Schiesser, Vice-President (Zurich, Switzerland) / Alexander Damianisch (Wien, Österreich) / Anya Lewin (Plymouth, UK) / Leena Rouhiainen, Helsinki, Finland) / Gabriele Schmid (Ottersberg, Germany) ''Board 2013-2015'': Gerhard Eckel, President (Graz, Austria) / Johan A. Haarberg, Vice-President (Bergen, Norway) / Rolf Hughes, Vice-President (Stockholm, Sweden) / Alexander Damianisch (Wien, Österreich) / Julie Harboe (Lucerne, Switzerland) / Efva Lilja (Stockholm, Sweden) / Giaco Schiesser (Zurich, Switzerland) ''Board 2011-2013:'' Anna Lindal, President (Gothenburg, Sweden) / Florian Dombois, Vice-President (Bern, Switzerland) / Rolf Hughes, Vice-President (Stockholm, Sweden) /

Barbara Bolt Barbara Bolt is an Australian academic and artist. She is the current director of the Victorian College of the Arts which is part of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music at the University of Melbourne. She is a research theorist her research investig ...

(Melbourne, Australia) / Gerhard Eckel (Graz, Austria) / Kim Gorus (Antwerp, Belgium) / Johan A. Haarberg (Bergen, Norway) ''Board 2010-2011:'' Florian Dombois, President (Bern, Switzerland) / Anna Lindal, Vice-President (Gothenburg, Sweden) /

Darla Crispin Darla Crispin (born 12 March 1964) is a Canadian pianist, scholar, lecturer and academic leader. She was the Director of Arne Nordheim Centre for Artistic Research (NordART) and Vice Rector for Research and Artistic Development at the Norwegian ...

, Vice-President (Ghent, Belgium) / Jan Kaila (Helsinki, Finland) / Sofie van Loo (Antwerp, Belgium) / George Petelin (Brisbane, Australia) / Stephen Scrivener (London, Great Britain)

References

External links

Official website

Journal for ''Artistic Research''

Research Catalogue
Arts organisations based in Switzerland Organisations based in Bern