Epistemologies of prototyping: knowing in artistic research

ABSTRACT

Increasingly material artefacts are attributed a key role in research in the arts and design. Issues of dissemination and legitimacy of knowledge are however heavily disputed, often through redefinitions of the concept of knowledge itself. This article contributes to these debates by focusing on artistic prototypes, identified here as one of the prevailing outcomes in technologically engaged art research projects. In contrast with a common conceptualisation of knowledge emerging from inside the world of artistic research as subjective, ineffable and emotional, I discuss four examples to highlight how artistic prototypes can support transferable and generative contributions to knowledge, grounded in ad hoc but innovative methodologies. Furthermore, the examples offer insightful considerations that help to identify artistic research when conducted outside official institutions, as opposed to simply process-oriented art practices.

KEYWORDS:

• Prototyping
• practice-based research
• transdisciplinarity
• knowledge
• methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Note on contributor

Gabriella Arrigoni is AHRC-funded PhD candidate in Digital Media at Culture Lab (Newcastle University) where she is researching the notion of artistic prototype and exploring the relationship between art practice and labs. Former editor in chief on UnDo.net, the first Italian network for contemporary art, she has published articles and essays on a number of magazines, catalogues and web-platforms. She has curated exhibitions, workshops and talks in galleries and not-for-profit spaces with a special focus on topics such as science, science-fiction and co-creation. Her research has been featured internationally in a number of conferences on new media art, design and heritage.

Notes

1 Devices proposed as a response to hypothetical future or alternative contexts, as in Design Fiction or Critical Design.

Additional information

Funding

This research was undertaken as part of the AHRC-funded CDA ‘Living Laboratories: Enhancing Audience Engagement through Making and Curating Digital Art’.