Artistic Research in the Future Academy

196 Pages·2017·9.958 MB·English

by  Danny Butt

Artistic Research in the Future Academy
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Artistic Research in the Future Academy
Danny Butt
intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA
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First published in the UK in 2017 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2017 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2017 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the
British Library.
Cover designer: Alex Szalbot
Copy-editor: MPS Technologies
Production manager: Richard Kerr
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-790-9
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-791-6
ePUB ISBN: 978-1-78320-792-3
Printed and bound by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow.
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: The Transformation of the University 17
Chapter 2: The Art School 45
Chapter 3: A rtistic Research: Defining the Field 69
Chapter 4: Science and Critical Suppression 93
Chapter 5: Critique, Artistic and Aesthetic 123
Conclusion: Exiting Artistic Research 141
Bibliography 159
Index 175
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Acknowledgements
Researching this book over the last decade has solidified its grounding principle: knowledge
only transpires in communities of support, and behind the authorial signature of every
creative effort lies a specific and extensive social world. In this case, I too owe many people
a range of debts that cannot be repaid or fully acknowledged.
The research underpinning the early chapters of the book was undertaken as doctoral study
at the University of Melbourne, under the supervision of Sean Cubitt and Scott McQuire,
who have been sensitive readers and fine examples of the lineage of interdisciplinary critical
work I hope to continue. The book was finished with the assistance of an Early Career
Research Fellowship at the Research Unit in Public Cultures at the University of Melbourne,
under the direction of Nikos Papastergiadis. All three have inspired with their support for
younger scholars and their commitment to institutional battles that allow such care to be
made meaningful. Suneel Jethani, Audrey Yue, Alison Young, Peter Rush, Meredith Martin,
Robert Hassan, Robbie Fordyce, Tom Apperley, Dan Edwards and Daniella Trimboli have
all provided important support at the university in different ways.
The Centre for Cultural Partnerships (CCP) at Victorian College of the Arts, and The
Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland provided venues where research into
the university-based art school has been grounded in my own teaching and supervision. At
CCP I enjoyed the leadership and collegiality of Lachlan MacDowall, James Oliver, Marnie
Badham and Dean Merlino, all of whom galvanised the political commitments of this book.
In the broader VCA the support of Su Baker, Barb Bolt and Richard Frankland has made the
institution seem humanisable and thinkable. At Elam, Jon Bywater has led a critical studies
programme of vision and integrity. Departmental heads Derrick Cherrie, Nuala Gregory,
and the late Jonathan Mane-Wheoki at Elam and Jon Cattapan at VCA provided valuable
support. At both venues, Tania Cañas, Léuli Eshraghi, Jen Rae, Amy Spiers, Taarati Taiaroa,
Anna Gardner, Shannon Te Ao, Karena Way, John Ward-Knox, and Cat Auburn have been
fantastic co-teachers and fine artist-academics in their own right from whom I learned a
lot. Conversations with all the faculty and students have been important for this project.
Time teaching in the Department of Media Arts at Waikato Institute of Technology, and a
residency at the Centre for Media Research, University of Ulster organised by Ned Rossiter
were also important to the genesis of this project.
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Artistic Research in the Future Academy
An ongoing collaboration with Rachel O’Reilly has specifically shaped the argument in
the latter chapters, and from her engagement I am continually challenged to reassess my
own thinking and writing. Abbra Kotlarczyk worked with me on the developmental editing
of the text, and her sharp eye for what makes the historical relevant in the contemporary
was critical to the book achieving its final form. Thanks are also due to Jessica Mitchell and
Richard Kerr at Intellect for their care and support for the book.
Robert Hutchinson, my partner at Suma Media Consulting, and Claude-Yves Charron,
former Secretary-General of ORBICOM, have been central to my understanding of
institutional dynamics in ways that cannot be academically cited, but have been central to
the project.
Too many collaborators to mention here have shaped the intellectual work of this book.
Particular thanks are due to my MA thesis supervisors 2000–2005, McKenzie Wark and
Graham Meikle. The Fibreculture group provided my first home for critical writing as an
academic, and a schooling in collaborative work during this period. The members of the
Intranation residency at Banff Centre for the Arts, especially collaborators Hemi McGregor
and Natalie Robertson and advisors Ashok Mathur and Shirley Bear, provided an initial
insight into the potential for creative enquiry within the colonial frame. Leora Farber at the
University of Johannesburg invited me to Africa for the first time, where many threads in this
research were clarified. Conversations with Huhana Smith, Luke Willis Thompson, David
Haines, Joyce Hinterding, Sarah Waterson, Charlie Sofo and David Hatcher sharpened my
sense of the issues at stake later in the project. Along with fellow organisers Jon Bywater
and Nova Paul, participants in the Cultural Futures symposium (2005) at Hoani Waititi
deepened my understanding of and connection to the specific currents underlying artistic
practices in the Asia Pacific region: thanks go to Albert Refiti and Lemi Ponifasio; Amanda
McDonald Crowley; Cheryl L’Hirondelle; Charles Koroneho; Creative Combat; Fatima
Lasay; Jenny Fraser; Lisa Reihana; Rachael Rakena; and Raqs Media Collective. Raqs, along
with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, have provided both generous hospitality and inspirational
models for practice. Acknowledgements are also due to Lauren Berlant, Robert Nelson and
David Garcia for their generosity and example.
A number of people provided their homes and venues for writing – particular thanks are
due to Xavier and Carolyna Hart-Meade; Edwin and Ivy DeSouza; Bev and Ian Robertson;
Jim and Velda Berghan; and Mick and Coco Butt, who also introduced me to Pulau Banyak,
Aceh where much of this work was completed. Acknowledgements are also due to the Boon
Wurrung, Wurundjeri, Ngāti Whātua and Tainui peoples on whose lands I have lived while
undertaking this project. My parents, Les, Rhonda, Val, and Peter, have always provided
love, encouragement, and support.
The other members of the Local Time collective (Jon Bywater, Alex Monteith, Natalie
Robertson) have taught me that work is both more rewarding and more exacting with long-
term collaborators. The book is dedicated to them and the whole Omaewa whānau, in support
of a kaupapa that makes all institutional constraints seem available for transformation.
Finally, for Ruth DeSouza, without condition or reserve.
viii
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Acknowledgements
Parts of the Introduction have appeared in “The Art of the Exegesis”, Mute (2012) and
“Theses on Art and Knowledge”, un Magazine 7.1 (2013). Other sections of the book
have appeared in “Whose knowledge? Practice-led research after colonial science” in On
Making: Integrating Approaches to Practice-Led Research in Art and Design (2010) edited by
Leora Farber, and “Neo-liberal and future universities”, in the zine “We are the University”,
published to accompany the Nationwide Day of Student Action, University of Auckland,
26 September 2011.
ix
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