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Transdisciplinary co-creation
Following on the conclusion of the professorship Performative Making Processes, Nirav Christophe launched a new research group that puts a sharper focus on transdisciplinary co-creation: Expanding Artistic Practices (In Dutch: Grensverleggende Artistieke Praktijken). In the coming years, this initiative will explore how co-creation can be made cross-disciplinary and equitable for all participants.The goal is to eventually use these research results for developing tools, methods, and approaches that benefit young artists and designers in their increasingly hybrid creative practice. By teaching them to collaborate with unexpected partners in diverse contexts, their art can make a meaningful contribution to tackling major societal challenges.
Internships and research lounges
The professorship had its official kick-off on 23 November 2023, at the symposium Mind the GAP. Scientists, artists, designers, culture creators, and education professionals worked together here on real-world case studies. In the coming period, the limits of transdisciplinary co-creation will be further explored. For this purpose, collaborations are formed within thematic research groups - comprising around twenty lecturing researchers from various HKU schools. Five of them are conducting their practice-based research as part of a doctoral (PD/PhD) programme. Research internships have also been set up for students from different schools.Moreover, research lounges are being organised, where students and lecturers not yet involved in the research group are explicitly invited to participate. The professorship is open to everyone who studies or works at HKU. All their experiences will eventually be used to better align arts education to the professional practice where HKU alumni will end up.
Enhancement of pilot projects
Several successful pilot projects from the previous research period are continued within the new research group. Examples include Performing Working, Prikkel, Robotstories (henceforth: Expanding Narratives), and In Search of Stories. In the latter project, the medical centre UMC Amsterdam collaborated for several years on an exploration of how experiencing and creating art can support terminally ill patients during the final stage of life. Nine artists were trained and guided to co-create artworks with four spiritual caregivers and twenty-three terminally ill patients. This process proved valuable for all involved - patients, artists, and researchers alike. It gained, for example, a new form of support for coping with an incurable illness, artistic interpretations of complex themes, and the development of new training methods for transdisciplinary co-creation.After the final exhibition, on display at the hospital until February 2024, the work will proceed on a publication to document the project and interpret its significance for the professional and educational field.