Tues 23 Sept Starting in Research
What does it mean to do research? How do you know if a research topic is interesting or worthwhile? Where do you go for context of existing knowledge, or “state of the art”, or mapping what is already known, or “literature review”?
In initiating research there are certain operations that can be useful:
- Understanding the basic nature of your interests, and finding a vocabulary for the inquiry, by taking one example of what you wish to study and looking at it closely.
- Making a summary mapping of what is already known about the phenomena that you wish to study.
You were asked to identify an example and to find one to five sources that are relevant – that are part of the existing knowledge on the phenomena that you wish to study.
Tues 7 Oct Research Design
We begin the session with a progress update on the two tasks set in the first session.
EXAMPLE
What is the example, or “case” of the phenomenon that you wish to investigate or explore or understand?
- How to develop the price point and volume of artist sales as a gallerist?
- Ecocritical pronciples and practices in contemporary Latvian art
- Latvian national identity as mediated, activated or otherwise present in exhibition-making
- Museological practices and audience development of the small memorial museums
- The role of curators in cultural activism for animal rights.
OR Educational programmes and public engagement by art museums
One to five sources
Mapping the current state of knowledge:
What the one to five sources that you identified that are relevant, in helping us to understand what is already known about the object or phenomenon that you wish to explore?
CHOICE OF RESEARCH DESIGN
We continue the session by thinking about the choice of two alternate approaches to research design that you have: (i) a research process that generates a thesis only; or (ii) a research process that generates thesis and practical production. We could also think of this as: a research process about curating or a research process through curating.
After session reading:
- Here is a list of some sources that may be of interest in general: https://exhibition.school/the-riga-rous-informal-2/
- Georgina Jackson (2014) “And the Question Is” in P. O’Neill and M.Wilson (eds.) Curating Research, de Appel / Occasional Table.
- Nick Aikens (2022) “Approaching Research-Exhibition Practices” in Cătălin Gheorghe and Mick Wilson (eds.) Exhibitionary Acts of Political Imagination, VECTOR/PARSE.
Tues 25 Nov Research Progress
Progress updates on individual research projects.
Materials being gathered and used to develop the research topic.
What has changed in the process? What are the new insights or new thinking that is emerging?
For online discussion in December: ZOOM is https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/61702676488
Wednesday 17th December 12:30 “The poetics of white fabric in Latvian contemporary art etc.”
Thursday 18th December 12:30 “The role of the curator in animal rights activism etc.”
exhibition.school 