Doing research by means of art

• Published in: Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies pp. 183 - 197
• Main Author: Burri, Regula Valérie
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2022
• Edition: 1
• Subjects: Critical Art Ensemble; CRISPR; Multiple Social Realities; Art Research Project; STS Perspective; IBA; Vice Versa; Henk Borgdorff; General Studies Program; Art Research; Heterogeneous Knowledges; Smart Phone; IGS; Self-driving Cars; MIT’s Center; STS Research; Conventional Scientific Research; HCU; Science Communication Project; Including Art Practice; Unintended Side Effects; STS Theory; STS Communication
• ISBN: 1138347302; 9781138347304; 9780367564926; 0367564920
• DOI: 10.4324/9780429437069-14

Building on Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars who have suggested inventing new methods to grasp the multiple social realities, this chapter understands art practices as ways of doing research in STS. This chapter introduces artLAB – a research and teaching format dedicated to the exploration of the science/art nexus. Inspired by STS concepts and debates on “artistic research,” participants in this format develop artistic research projects that are shown and debated in public. These projects explore subjects that are at the core of STS: the production and social life of artifacts, and the emergence of sociomaterial worlds with their unintended side effects. Drawing on a sample of such projects, this chapter shows how the artistic exploration of our complex and hybrid sociomaterial realities adds to conventional ways of doing research in STS and offers a more comprehensive understanding of the worlds we live in.