IMAGE: Studies on the Ecology of Drama 1 (2014), Eija-Liisa Ahtila. Photo: Malla Hukkanen

During the Academy of Fine Arts second Research Days 2016 we moved in the shadow regions of our familiar world in the framework of four independent thematic sections.

Regarding artistic research, art, creativity and benefit are often connected in a very straightforward fashion. The ultimate goal of creative action is thought to be a product of some kind – a work.

On this basis, art and research are more than prone to be seen as part of the market economy and of the utility point of view of creative economy. What goes unnoticed in so doing is the fact that, actually, there are predetermined criteria neither for art nor for research. Their value resides specifically in their ability to provide more profound views beyond apparent foundations and justifications on things yet to come. Inquiry-based art creates prerequisites for a rich future.

The question is, however, not about relative richness, the establishment of which would imply poverty somewhere else. Art research finds elements of richness in the shadow regions of our world that exist even among the most familiar of things. Steering clear from the logic of utility thinking, these resources of creativity cannot be compared with the yet unharnessed natural resources or market areas.

An artist-researcher does not mold materials and topics for utilitarian use but combines them in ways that create new experiences, mental pictures, models of action and insights, often in rather unforeseen ways.

PROGRAM 2016 in short:

MAANANTAI 12.12.2016 MONDAY

Images, Rituals and Notions of Life and Death