Situating Artistic-Anthropological Research

In the arts, situated, relational, and interdisciplinary approaches have gained traction over the same period that the anthropological turn has taken hold, with research around each coming to fore in the late 1990s and building through to the present day. Further written work on the use in the arts of particular anthropological methods, for example filmmaking practices which resonate with observational ethnographic methods. However, it has been suggested that most research on the intersection of the arts and anthropology thus far has been generated by anthropologist, or maintains an academic form. Furthermore, whilst there is a growing body of work around artistic-anthropological practices, as yet there is little research into the best ways in which this type of artistic practice can be sustained and supported, and even less on how an organisation's own practices might themselves be reconfigured. The proposed research positions itself at the intersection of these varied fields and develops in response to the following questions: How might anthropological methods of fieldwork and participant observation be implemented to develop new approaches to research and development of contemporary arts programmes in organisations whose work can be understood as situated and/or relational? Would artists working at the intersection of arts and anthropology benefit from particular structures or opportunities, and if so, how might organisations implement these to support the development of this type of practice? Can the study of anthropological evaluation methods which prioritise qualitative data and durational engagement lead to the development of new methodologies for evaluating situated, relational, and interdisciplinary arts practices and programmes that are underserved by current quantitative approaches to data collection? It seeks to address these through a process-led and iterative approach, building knowledge and new methods: Fieldwork-in-residence at the partner organisations: drawing on anthropological methods of fieldwork and participant observation to gain a close familiarity with the organisations and their practices. Interviews with artists whose work draws on anthropological methods or interests. Academic study on subjects underpinning the research question: anthropological methodologies, situational and relational practices, and approaches to curatorial and organisational practice. Developing new methods for research, development, production, and evaluation and working with partner organisations to identify projects at these different stages where these methods can be tested and further refined. The culmination of the research through a practice-based project and accompany thesis: Working in collaboration with an invited artist to produce a commissioned project that also functions as a test case with each stage of the development, production, and evaluation realised using methods developed. The writing of an accompanying thesis supporting the commissioned project, defining the methodologies developed, and situating the work in a wider research context. This works seeks to develop a set of methodologies for organisations whose processes foreground situated, relational, and durational processes, and who seek to support artists working in the AntArt field. More widely, research into AntArt practices from a curatorial position adds to the research into this area from the arts rather than anthropological field and contributes to the ongoing work in the field of visual anthropology to develop new methods by which anthropological research can be understood on its own terms rather than by means of established textual framework. This research can be disseminated in both theory and practice, and enables an extended reach that can further enhance its impact across subject areas, and in academic, organisational and public arenas. It is also an opportunity to develop and define a rigorous and critically-grounded curatorial approach.