Towards an Artistic Research Community
In the fourth and final session of In the Making 2026, writer and art scholar Tobias Dias will share fundamental points he has developed in his forthcoming monograph, Elements of the Revolution: A Prehistory of Artistic Research.
Although the phenomenon of Artistic Research and contemporary art’s now notorious turn towards knowledge production, collaborative research, and pedagogy have transformed and redefined the artistic field in the last few decades, genealogies and prehistories of this social, institutional, and disciplinary form are still generally lacking. In this talk, Tobias Dias will ask: How did the “form” of artistic research come into being? Why, when, and how did artists begin to redefine their practice and identity towards knowledge, collaborative research, and technoscience, and even endow such a redefinition with political and revolutionary motivations? In other words, what are the historical conditions for “artistic research”? and, ultimately: What can a prehistory of artistic research do to artistic research in its current form?”
This presentation will lead towards a panel discussion with a group artist researchers, curators and scholars on the conditions necessary (or desired) for the eventual emergence of an Artistic Research community. The question of such emergence concerns, essentially, how the artistic research perspective alters, or may alter further in the future, the way artists conceive of themselves – in a fundamental way – beyond the paradigm of the individual artist. It might also lead to speculations as to the kind of infrastrucutures, habits and protocols that such a community would need.
Programme
18.30 Starting off with free soup and encounters
19.00 Start public session (lectures + panel discussion)
21.00 After talk and free access to the current exhibitions
22.00 Closing
Location
The programme will take place in at West Den Haag, in the former American embassy in The Hague (Lange Voorhout 102, 2514 EJ, Den Haag—walking distance The Hague Central), on Thursday nights from 18.30 — 21.00.
