The absenting subject: research notes on PhDs in Fine Art

Abstract

This article draws on a research study of submitted PhDs and interviews with a small group of artists. Research processes adopted by this diverse group manifest an exacting scrutiny of what it means to undertake research, that is, how research process can conceive of a subject of enquiry and adequately approach that subject. We find a high level of questioning about the legitimacy of research methodological assumptions about how and in what ways research methods become valid. For instance, is research that pursues and reinforces a proposed subject more useful to a depth of practice than one that resists any resolved confirmation of its subject because that subject is porous to its prevailing conditions both internal and external? We propose that such accountability, in relation to more conventional approaches to research, is entirely relevant to the development of vital research cultures in Fine Art.

Notes on contributors

Katy Macleod is a Reader in Fine Art at Kingston University, London. She has extensive experience of supervision, examination and research into doctorates in Fine Art. She is particularly interested in doctorates where the art practice leads the research process.

Neil Chapman is an artist, writer and lecturer. He has a PhD in Fine Art (University of Reading, 2011), entitled ‘Protowork as Art's Expanded Writing Practice’. It considers the implications of writing as material in art. His book, Diagrams for Seriality, is published by Copy Press, London, 2014.

Notes

1. See Irit Rogoff's essay ‘What is a Theorist?’ (2008) for a concise account of this process of research, subject delineation and their relation to obtaining social conditions.

2. See, for instance, Michael Fried's often-cited essay ‘Art and Objecthood’, in which the higher accomplishment of art is defined similarly with an appeal to the theological.

Additional information

Funding

Funding: Research study funded by Kingston University, UK, conducted by Katy Macleod and Neil Chapman (2012-); highly selected PhDs in Fine Art, five completed and awarded; one pending award in 2014. See References for further details.