AR@K 2025, 17-18 March
“Artistic Research at Kristiania” – AR@K – is an annual, cross-disciplinary symposium for artistic research hosted by Kristiania University College in Oslo. The international, open symposium spans two days and in 2025 AR@K will be held for the seventh time.
“The true is something we make.” Eleftheria Thanouli
The tension between art and reality has been a topic of intense debate ever since Plato and Aristotle’s famous dispute on the subject. The former warned citizens against the inherent falsity of all representations of reality; the latter stated that humans have an innate need for them, introducing the concept of mimesis as an essential condition for our wellbeing.
By necessity, art feeds off reality; yet artistic invention is at the heart of all creative work. In transforming reality through craft and imagination, artistic expressions may offer diverse forms of truths, be they affective, poetic, or metaphorical. While the imagination is a central tool for any artist, it is also in its nature a potential instrument of deception.
How does the tension between truth, reality and artistic invention manifest itself in present-day artistic practices in film, performing arts, literature, visual arts and music? In our current ‘post-truth’ condition, manipulated facts and invented truths compete with the arts in the formation of imagined realities artists once held exclusive ownership to, generating a perplexing new paradigm.
AR@K 25 is informed by recent cultural and political developments and for the upcoming symposium we encourage participants to reflect upon how reality, truth and art collide, interact and feed off each other in their work. We invite artists, artistic researchers and academics from the fields of film, theatre, music, dance, literature, visual arts, media arts, design, and cultural studies to explore topics such as (but not limited to):
– methods of approaching reality in various artistic disciplines
– the role of reality in various artistic disciplines
– art, reality and the nature of perception
– factual versus metaphoric truth
– the real versus realism
– truth-seeking in artmaking
– ethical considerations in art´s usage of reality
– ethics and poetic invention
– specific methods and phenomena, such as “devising” in the dramatic arts – exploring realities in performance practices
– the interplay between imagination, reality and art – connections and processes
– the authenticity of representation
– ethics of representation
– the arts as a laboratory for ethical exploration
– art and reality in the age of generative AI
We welcome abstracts for possible contributions to AR@K 25. Abstracts must have a title and be limited to 200 words. Please include your name, affiliation, contact information and a mini-CV (max 100 words), summarizing your artistic and research practice, in the same PDF document as the abstract. Title the document with your last name and artistic field, for example “Surname_Film.pdf”
In addition to traditional paper presentations, we encourage a variation of formats, such as performances, workshops, posters, screenings, and installations (technical equipment and stage facilities, such as black boxes, are available). Presentations are requested in English or any Scandinavian language. Regardless of format, presentations at the symposium should be a maximum of 20 minutes in length + additional 10 mins for questions and comments. If the standard time allotment is insufficient, please state your needs clearly in the abstract.
Please note: Although exceptions can be made, we intend to conduct the symposium as an onsite physical event without digital or online presentations.
Submit your abstracts to arak@kristiania.no. The deadline for abstracts is November 25th, 2024. Response can be expected by December 15th.
Consult our website for previous contributors and program schedules.
https://www.kristiania.no/en/school-of-arts-design-and-media/artistic-research group/