Symposia

Hurricanes & Scaffolding: Symposium on Artistic Research 2024 

4-5-6 December 2024
Arts Campus, Umeå University

The conference starts on Wednesday at 13.00 in the Project Hall of UID, Umeå Institute of Design.

This year the Swedish Research Council Symposium on Artistic Research explores the dynamic interplay between more-than-human forces and culturally resilient structures. 

The Symposium is organized by UmArts Research Center and will take place on the Arts Campus, in partnership with Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå School of Architecture, Department of creative studies, and Bildmuseet . There will also be events taking place across the city.  Within the lively debate of artistic research, the symposia will identify critically reflexive frameworks that the arts bring to the wider discourses of society and politics, starting with the concept of hurricanes and scaffolding.

The full program can be found on the Symposium webpage. 

The Welcome address, keynotes and plenary session will be live streamed here: www.umu.se/live

Theme 

The concepts of hurricanes and scaffolding will be used to identify new critically reflexive frameworks that the arts bring to the wider discourses of society, technology and politics. The hurricane being a non-human force, and scaffolding being the built infrastructure on which systems can grow. Nora N.Khan outlines her concepts of hurricanes and scaffolding in her essay ‘Towards a poetics of Artificial Super Intelligence’ (In: ‘The Atlas of Anomalous AI’ edited by Ben Vickers and K Allado-McDowell).  The symposium presentations will explore human and non-human perspectives on infrastructures for new ways of thinking and making. 

Whilst artistic academies and conservatoires have supported the development of the arts for many centuries, Artistic Research is a relatively new field of practice in relation to University research infrastructures. On the one hand disciplines want to protect their traditions, whilst on the other hand practices that engage with an interdisciplinary critique enable a clearer understanding of the contribution of the arts to society. This symposia will bring together artists, architects and designers who are moving beyond individual practices that rely on the art market or state sponsorship to engage with societal infrastructures and responsibilities through research. At the same time Universities in Sweden are slowly changing the way in which they validate artistic research supported by new initiatives such as CoARA which require subject specific assessment.

Practical Info

The symposium will be held mainly in English and in Scandinavian languages. Participation in the symposium is free of charge. For climate reasons we recommend traveling by train, please see SJ.se.

Supporters  

The Symposium is financially supported by: Swedish Research Council, UmArts Research Centre, Umeå University, Umeå Kommun, Umeå Transformation Research Initiative (UTRI), The Communications Office, Umeå University. In partnership with Umeå School of ArchitectureUmeå Institute of Design, Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, the Department of Creative Studies in EducationBildmuseet and Folkets Bio.