Photography’s modern day quest was the reason for the research group Image in Context to start up a centre of expertise in which the insights ofphotographers and artists concerning this problematic status of photography can be brought together and studied. This centre of expertise PRICCAPractice (PhotographicResearch in Cross-disciplinary and Cross-cultural Artistic Practices) conducts researchinto the way in which professional photography is reinventing itself. It is aimed at theartistic research practices of artists, designers and photographers into the status ofphotography in our society. The focus lies on newly developed methods concerningphotography as part of an interdisciplinary artistic (and critical) research practice;photography as a means of research to make reality visible again. For this reason it makes sense that photography should allow itself to be nourished and inspired by other reality seeking disciplines, such as sociology and anthropology. Based on her interest in processes which are socially meaningful, photography moreover connects itself with fields of study such as semiotics, cultural studies, art theory and philosophy. And in her forms of expression she learns from literature, theatre, and journalism as forms of representation. In other words, the centre of expertise researches how dimensions of reality in photography are made into problems in images which are not merely representations, but also a commentary on photography itself and which explore the narrative and communicative possibilities and limitations of the photographic image at the same time. We are looking for artistic research practices in which a new, authentic relationship between the photographic image and reality will be researched.In this paper I would like to present a few of these practices.
PRICCAPractice (Photographic Research in Cross-disciplinary and Cross-cultural Artistic Practices) is an online platform aimed at the artistic research practices of artists, designers and photographers into the status of photography in our society. The focus lies on newly developed methods concerning photography as part of an interdisciplinary artistic (and critical) research practice. PRICCAPractice’s objective is to examine how photography as a means of research can make reality visible again, and wants to investigate various photographic dimensions of reality in images that are not merely representations but also a commentary on photography itself and that, at the same time, explore the narrative and communicative possibilities and limitations of the photographic image. We are looking for artistic research practices in which a new, authentic relationship between the photographic image and reality will be researched. Our aim is to give photography a new position within art education and the artistic practice. Next to photography’s representational power we want to focus on its numerous research possibilities.
In this project I conduct a combination of both artistic and design research that produces an intervention in the domains of Photography and BioArt. BioArt is an art practice where artists work and/or collaborate with living organisms and life processes to create works of art and/or artistic processes. This research connects to the description of the ‘Arts + Creative PD programme’ on the basis that this – again: both artistic as well as design – research responds to a question arisen from the very centre of my own creative practice, but that its relevance focuses on an intervention in specific social-political contexts. Further detail on this can be found in the ‘Praktijkprobleem’-section and in the ‘Domeinspecifieke onderdelen’- section of this proposal. The research is grounded in a combining of artistic, design and scientific (microbiological) methodologies, resulting in an intervention not only into the practice, but also in the ethical foundations of the domains of Photography and BioArt.
