Documentation as Research: A LAHRI Speculative Conversation

Are you interested in documentation in relation to practice based research? Are you a Practice Centred Researcher?

The emergence of Practice Research as a loose methodology has not generally allowed for the development of skills and experiences of documenting that research as it happens.

At undergraduate and masters level we speak regularly with our students about the role documentation plays within the art or work and the status of various instances and objects. We are also passionate advocates for the way ‘the work’ can develop further through critique and recontextualization of the documentary material; a knights move in the development of the project.  

In academia however, we rarely talk about documentation in terms of articulating research, not even in terms of the REF portfolios and/or submission. Moreover, documentation is rarely thought about in terms of the research itself.

The conveners, Sam Belinfante (School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies) and Scott Mclaughlin (School of Music), wish to draw together academics from all disciplines working in Practice Centred Research methodologies.

The aim of the session will be to explore more critically the potential for documentation in research.  They will use the session to discuss what happens to (the) research, when documentation of the rehearsal, workshop, work-in-progress, is presented as the ‘output’ or final event. It is hoped that a network of researchers interested in developing this underexplored facet of Practice Centred Research will emerge as a result of this meeting.

This is an event hosted by the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute as part of the 2020-21 Speculative Conversations Series.

To register to attend this event please email LAHRI@Leeds.ac.uk.

Places are limited to 10 and are allocated on a first come first served basis. After the maximum has been reached, a waiting list will be opened.

Image: Accordion, 2012, work in progress, Sam Belinfante, Mark Knoop and Neil Luck