My extended idea of a/r/tography - Reflecting on the contemporary art theories

Abstract

A/r/tography is a unique research methodology used in educational research, typically located in the arts-based research paradigm. In this presentation, I discuss the value of a/r/tography and how I am attempting to both expand how it might be conceptualised and its use beyond education in other disciplines such as nursing, psychology, and medical anthropology. Although the a/r/t privileges the identities of artist, researcher and teacher, many artists and educators have questioned the limits of focusing on only these identities. I present my expanded idea of a/r/tography, which employs the theoretical concepts of Nicholas Bourriaud’s relational aesthetics and Joseph Beuys’ conceptual aesthetic – expanding the idea of art, conceptualizing everyone as an artist, and integrating social sculpture – to justify method that I use in my PhD research, which involves creatively and artistically telling the stories of the people who have decided to donate their brains to research. I use a/r/tography as a method through which the donors and I collaborate to combat the existing invisibility of the ‘real people’ whose brains will be used to advance medical and scientific knowledge and treatments.