Morning with MAR

"Perhaps the research really starts
with the joy and interest in experiencing
the here and now, and now and here
Since cooperation never waits, always comes right away
Like UvH and HKU have shown today"

With these words, albeit in Dutch, Nirav Christophe concluded the Morning with MAR event. They joy of research and the interest in experiencing could indeed clearly be felt throughout the morning. Even though Meaningful Artistic Research (MAR) had formally already started, it really began this Friday 12 April 2024, at least for all participants who are busy with art and research.

'Organisms die; but not life itself'

We further explored the collaboration between HKU University of the Arts and the University of Humanistic Studies with, in the words of Nirav: “a community breakfast, at an un-Chirstian time.” Louis van den Hengel opened the morning with a nice personal story about what ‘beginning’ actually means to Louis, after having been hospitalised due to an extreme case of COVID: “The gratitude for the fact that each new breath can mean a new start of life, as well as the knowledge that my last breath won’t mean the end of life itself…‘It’s the organisms that are dying’, said the philosopher Gilles Deleuze once, ‘not life itself’.”

Research as intermediate space

Merel Visse and Nirav Christophe went on with a conversation with executives Edwin Jacobs (HKU) and Joke van Saane (UvH). MAR is creating, according to Edwin, a moment to pass on a sense of meaning to others. This contributes to a richer mind and a more valuable interaction with each other. With the word ‘beginning’, Edwin is reminded to the song ‘Liefde van Later’ by the famous Dutch stage artist Herman van Veen, which translates as: ‘And after all we learned somehow / You can start with a new now’. You can always see past a barrier to the future. For Joke as well, ‘beginning’ represents hope. Something is about to happen, something is unfolding, and there are countless possibilities. She regards research as an intermediate space, where new methods of knowledge open up and emerge. Creation is, in her eyes, always done in connection with others.

Project Wave

In his lecture, Dr. Gustaaf Bos spoke about Project Wave, which is centred on exactly this connection. Project Wave explores the question how outsider researchers can broaden or enhance perspectives in complex healthcare practices that get stalled. These ‘outsiders’ can be, for example, a drummer, animator, ex-military, or a social designer. They are brought in touch with clients who have a mental impairment and/or show confusing behaviour, as well as with their family members and friends, and healthcare workers. All these people, with their different realms of experience, are sharing knowledge and lessons. And their contact is expressed in a collective artistic work, such as an animated movie, a poem collection, or musical afternoon. Research, in this project, takes the form of an ‘experimental-relational meeting space’, which always departs from personal contact as the starting point.

On 'beginning'

The practice sessions by Tom Maassen, Shirley Niemans and Laura Mudde also cover the concept of ‘beginning’: How to get acquainted? Where does knowledge begin, and how to initiate a research or creative process? With Shirley, we work with organic materials and learn from the natural processes. Laura scrutinises multiple forms of knowledge, which stem from our various actions and disciplines. Tom lets us explore how we see our bodies reflected in our work.

Hope

The main thread throughout the morning is not only the joy of researching and the interest in experiencing, but mainly: hope. The hope of always being able to start again, hope for new perspectives by collaborating, and the hope of getting to the new knowledge that is needed for getting to a richer, more meaningful and humane society.

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Photos by: Thomas de Wit