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Arts & Communication A perspective on art-based and academic research

Academic researchers using digital tools and methods You cannot take the researcher out of the research or the
can create wordless images and performative models to be actor out of the acting, as philosopher Maurice Merleau-
interpreted. The art-based researchers, in turn, can utilize Ponty suggests. However, by employing relevant tools and
digital tools to contextualize and articulate the influences and theories, the curiosity of the practitioner-researcher can
traditions underlying their art. When digital scholarships transcend the narcissist in the actor. By unwrapping and
can be seen as live and performative, the differences between combining the two fields of research, new insights can be
academic and art-based research can be wiped out. gained, shared, and developed.
Tom Sheinfeldt, director of the Center for History and New Acknowledgments
Media at George Mason, argues that scholars are increasingly
turning toward digital modes of research in which scholarship is None.
“as much an event as a product or project.” 37(p349) This is another
argument proving that digital humanities are more such as art or Funding
art-based research. Sarah Bay-Cheng underlines this perspective None.
by arguing that digital humanities are becoming increasingly
performative. In other words, the fusion of performance Conflict of interest
38
elements with academic research through the digital humanities The author declares no conflict of interest.
allows both fields to develop, mingle, and enrich each other. By
acknowledging the performative elements in digital humanities, Author contributions
more of the differences between art-based studies and academic
studies are wiped out. The examples above illustrate how the two This is a single-authored article.
fields of research are more united than divided. It could also be Ethics approval and consent to participate
an interesting forewarning of how the two fields of research are
starting to merge into one future field. Not applicable.

10. Conclusion Consent for publication
Art-based and academic researchers are both on the Not applicable.
frontlines, both embedded and situated within specific Availability of data
contexts. However, perhaps the lack of cooperation lies in
the brutal saying that actors are never better than their next Not applicable.
part. The time to reflect is limited when your work is to
keep on working. This underlines the validity of developing Further disclosure
Ph.D. programs within both art based and academic Agnete G. Haaland is an actress, artistic director, and guest
research. It would reveal new insights if researchers from researcher at the Centre for Ibsen Studies, University of
both fields would cooperate more since research is sharing, Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
disagreeing, and keeping the exchange and dialog running.
The main challenge in sharing findings lies in the form of References
communication. In an academic paper, you can read the claims, 1. Veselá L. Artistic research as academic borderlands. J Artistic
arguments, and conclusions, whereas, in art-based research, there Res. 2021.
are no standard methods. 28(133) Since the main conclusion could doi: 10.22501/jarnet.0043
be anything from an art piece to a live performance, the thinking
and reflection are not visible in print. However, this does not 2. Nelson R. Practice as Research in the Arts (and Beyond).
2 ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan; 2022.
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diminish the value of the research; rather, it represents a different
mode of storytelling. Both thinking in print and thinking in and 3. Booth WC, Colomb GG, Bizup J, Williams JM, Fitzgerald
through art are research methods that may enrich each other, WT. The Craft of Research. Chicago: University of Chicago
leading to new insights for researchers and their peers. Hopefully, Press; 2016.
this collaboration may result in performances and concepts that 4. Haaland AG. My Nora in Wu Xiaojiang’s A Doll’s house
illuminate both the world and the theater. (1998): Aesthetic transmission and political context. Ibsen
Stud. 2022b;22(2):138-170.
I argue that the two fields have more in common than
what separates them. Researchers in both fields need to doi: 10.1080/15021866.2022.2125213
elucidate their methods and processes, engage in critical 5. Bergdorff H. The production of knowledge in artistic research.
thinking, and contextualize their work in a dynamic dialog. In: Biggs M, Karlsson H, editors. The Routledge Companion to

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 8 doi: 10.36922/ac.1807