research project:

ACKnowledge – Artists Community Knowledge

Partner:

Kunstinstituut Melly/Formerly Known as Witte de With
Het Nieuwe Instituut
De Appel
Casa do Povo
EUScreen
Re:vive
Dropstuff
AVA_net

ACKnowledge (Artists Community Knowledge) explores alternative forms of knowledge produced in the arts: in art libraries, audiovisual collections, artist collectives. How can we unlock and share knowledge embodied in these contemporary art practices? The focus is on collective, practical and non-coded knowledge that exists in the arts.

The subprojects of ACKnowledge investigate art as an alternative form of knowledge production, as defined as one of the three ‘game changers’ within the NWA route Kunst. They investigate three different, real-life examples of contemporary art practices and objects as embodied and situated forms of knowledge and insight:

 

1) art libraries;

2) artists’ self-organized communities/collectives;

3) artists’ material craft practices.

 

All three of them concern developments of new concepts and knowledge in contemporary art practices that could migrate into and innovate other societal sectors, such as:

  • new, unconventional ideas on how to access libraries and archives, using digital tools;
  • new, non-standard ideas on extending the concept of artistic autonomy from individualist art practices to the self-organization of communities (including activist and learning communities);
  • new, non-standard ideas on how to work with analog media, such as print and film, in the digital age.

Preparatory research for the three subprojects indicates that these ideas and insights largely exist in artist’s collectives and communities as shared and practical knowledge that is not yet codified or archived.

 

Researchers involved in ACKnowledge:

Remco van Bladel (ArtEZ University of the Arts), Dr. Florian Cramer and Simon Kentgens (Willem de Kooning Academy, Hogeschool Rotterdam), Dr. Josué Amador (Codarts University of the Arts), Johan Oomen, M.A. (Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid), Prof. Dr. Alec Badenoch (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture) and Mariana Lanari (Amsterdam School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture, Universiteit van Amsterdam).

research project:

ACKnowledge – Artists Community Knowledge

Partner:

Kunstinstituut Melly/Formerly Known as Witte de With
Het Nieuwe Instituut
De Appel
Casa do Povo
EUScreen
Re:vive
Dropstuff
AVA_net

duration:

12 months (Jan-Dec 2021)

scale:

< 250.000

financing:

NWO - NWA Route Kunst

Keywords:

artistic research
artistiek onderzoek
communities
contemporary art