Living through the Covid-19 global pandemic has changed the way that we experience our lives, the way that we relate to one-another, and the way that we engage with the world. Focusing contextually on the initial lockdowns of the pandemic in 2020, this book proposes that art-based research has a central, illuminative role to play in our understanding of unfolding crises.
The changes brought on by the global event may not be readily accessible or expressible through traditional academic research. Art-based research offers the opportunity to explore, document, and reflect on the emerging and often ineffable qualities of transformed lives by drawing on emotional, bodily, and interactive aspects of experience. Such an approach allows for meaning-making that makes room for reflexive, interpersonal, and dialogical engagement. The contributions aim to capture and explore lived experiences of the pandemic, as well as begin a discussion about how meaning-making is changing through and beyond the pandemic. This book further explores how the nature and practice of art-based research in itself has been challenged and transformed.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art education, art psychotherapy, consumer research, visual studies, cultural studies, and sociology.
Author(s): Usva Seregina, Astrid Van den Bossche
Series: Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 257
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Editors
Contributors
Introduction
Taking Stock of a Global Pandemic
1 Isolation
2 Economic Impact
3 Renewed Civic Consciousness
4 Health Crisis
Turning to the Arts for Reflection, Consolation, and Connection
Art-Based Research as Methodology
Art-Based Research in a Context of Global Crisis
The Structure of the Book
References
Part I: Connection
1. Wandering with Wonder: From Social Practices to Artistic Practices and Back
Introduction
Practical Illustrations
Soy Mandala
Equity Platform, Girls'n Pearls Soap Sculpture, and Button Soap
Self-Portraits in August
Discussion
Conclusion
Note
References
2. Drawing the Group: A Visual Exploration of a Therapeutic Space Online
Introduction
Art Therapy Literature: A Framework for Understanding
Method
Background to the Group
The Pandemic Arrives
Drawing in Fragmentation: Disconnection and the Unknown
Account of Drawing in Group 1
Account of Not Drawing in Group 2
Drawing as Relationship: Negotiating Self and Other
Accounts of Drawing in Groups 3 and 4
Drawing the Group: A Visual Language
Account of Drawing in Groups 5 to 9
Connection and Disconnection
Account of Drawing in Groups 10 and 11
Account of Drawing in Groups 12 to 14
Conclusion
References
3. Collaging Covid Holidays: Using Collage as a Communal Method for Reflection and Research
Introduction
Collage Workshops
Experiences of Winter Holidays Under Covid-19 Restrictions
Reflections on the Workshops
The Lack of Shared Physical Space
Uncertainty and Vulnerability of the Process
Discovering, Verbalising, and Clarifying Experiences
Giving Back to the Community
Practicalities of Collage-Making as Part of Research
Setting Up
Managing Facilitators and Participants
Debriefing
Conclusions
Notes
References
4. Performing Forgiveness in the Age of Covid-19: Creating a Hybrid Space for Dialogue and Peacebuilding
Introduction
Overview of Project
Theatre, Performance, and Peace
Creating Intimacy and Safe Spaces for Dialogue Online, In-person, and In-between
Ambiguity and the Recorded Performance
Hybrid Approaches - Beyond a Buzzword
Immersive Telepresence in Theatre: Finding the Right Tool for the Right Job
Conclusion
Note
References
Part II: Change
5. Living Aesthetics in a (Post) Pandemic World
Introduction
Delineating Aesthetics and Aesthetic Experience
A Brief Overview of My Aesthetic Research Journey
ABR Approach and Methodology
Whistler's Peacock Room
Introspecting Aesthetic Experiences at Whistler's Peacock Room
Pre-Pandemic Experiences
Pandemic Experiences
Insights and Inspiration from Aesthetic Experiences of the Peacock Room
Final Thoughts and Questions
Notes
References
6. Encounters of Nothingness: Dilemmas of the Uncanny Self
Preserving Covid-19
Encounters of Nothingness: Brushes with the Void Manifest
The Uncanny, the Lockdown, and "I"
Dimensions of Covid-19 Malaise
Dearth Futurism
Potentialities: Pasts and Projections
Inertia of the Real: Imposing Irreality
Other-less-ness
Capitalism as Claustrum, Consumerism as Claustrum
Won from the Void: The Transition of Self During Covid-19
Unsatisfying Incompleteness(es)
References
7. Hollowed Out: Creative Coding and the Pandemic Urban Imaginary
Notes
References
8. "Can You Hear Me Now?": Listening and Living in Disruptive (Post)Pandemic Soundworlds
Thinking In and With Sound
The Sonic Imagination
Conceptual Tools: Sound Studies
Doing Art-Based Research in a Sound Studies Perspective
Going Beyond Music
Going Beyond Linguistic Perspectives and Representation
Going Beyond Art Versus Science
Listening to the Pandemic
Mimetic Approaches to Pandemic Sounds
Acoustic Pictures of the Pandemic
Making the Pandemic Heard
Listening to the Pandemic
Poetic Approaches to Pandemic Sounds
Creating Sounds in the Pandemic
Creating Music in the Pandemic
Creating Pandemic Sound Reflections in/as Art
A Critical Remix
Localised Deafness
Socio-spatial Deafness
Global Deafness
References
Part III: Confrontation
9. Poetic Reflection (PR): Voices in Pandemic Periods
Introduction
Past Pandemic Particles
Poetic Reflection: Present Pandemic Particles
Medicalization of Covid
Reflecting on Present Pandemic Particles: Part II
Myopic Masking
Reflecting on Present Pandemic Particles: Part III
A Unique Silence
The Who of Past, Present Pandemic Particles
Reflecting on ... PR
References
10. Faces of Self-Isolation
Introduction
Art-Based Research and Portraiture
Preparing for Portraiture
Painting Portraits in Self-Isolation
Experiencing Portraiture in Self-Isolation
Seeing Yourself in a New Way
Gaining and Relinquishing Control
Nonverbal, Bodily Expression
Connecting Painter and Sitter
Connecting Sitters and Connecting Audience Members
Concluding Thoughts
Notes
References
11. Everyone's a Photographer: Reflections on Photography as Creative Expression through Lockdown
Art and Coping
Photography and Social Engagement
Photography as Accessible Artistic Expression
Artistic Gatekeeping
The Creativity Divide during a Pandemic
Discussion
References
12. "Public School Teachers, You All Completely Disgust Me!": How My Fake Trump Fought the Revolt of the Elites in Pandemic-era Ann Arbor
"Reasonable Return" in A University Town
Public Servants for Love
Trumpian Hyperbole and Demagogic Rhetoric, Through the Lips of Democrats
This Highly Intelligent Community is Very Very Disappointed
A "Third Tier [sic] Artist All Out of Ideas" and Other School Yard Taunts
Complicated Symbols to Challenge Consumers
References
Afterword
Index
