Institution as Praxis is a research project that examines new modes of knowledge production and research in the field of visual culture, art, and the curatorial.

The project aims to identify and advocate for a multiplicity of practices taking place across the cultural sector that do not only engage with the quest to deliver cultural activities (e.g. exhibitions, events), but generate new modes of knowledge production and research in the field of visual culture, art, and the curatorial. The project acknowledges that universities are not the only sites where knowledge is produced—a fact that is as unavoidable as it is exciting. Although the development of these methods is not new in the cultural field, Institution as Praxis aims to articulate how these practices contribute to new modes of knowledge production and research methodologies in non-academic and academic contexts.

The project entails the Institution as Praxis – New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research publication with the collaboration of international practitioner researchers (Sternberg Press, 2020). It also includes an advocacy document shared with the AHRC DTP programme in the Midlands and Arts Council England Research Director, as well as a vast network of colleagues working on the cultural and HE sectors. Institution as Praxis also entails a working group on Collaborative Research founded and chaired by Carolina Rito; public events for specialised and non-specialised audience in the Midlands; and international dissemination events.

The advocacy document is based on research-based critical evidence gathered at the Collaborative Research Working Group, that indicates the direction to practice-based research funding. The recommendations are based on the participants experiences in designing and delivering collaborative research projects, feedback from practitioners and academics, and public discussions. The Advocacy Document was shared with ACE Director for Research, Dr Andrew Mowlah, and Midlands4Cities AHRC DTP Director Prof. Paul Grainge.

Project Outputs

Rito, Carolina, and Bill Balaskas, eds. 2020. Institution as Praxis: New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research. Berlin: Sternberg Press.
How are curatorial and artistic practices advancing new research methods? Institution as Praxis—New Curatorial Directions for Collaborative Research explores new curatorial and artistic practices that contribute to the expansion of institutional, practice-based, and collaborative research methods. This publication offers an overview of how creative practices are modifying the ways we think about knowledge production and research in the cultural sector and in academia. This exploration enquires the invention of manifold research methodologies and contributes to think of strategies to de-universalise and de-neutralise the rigid epistemic schemata of inherited disciplines. Designed as a platform of aesthetic and intellectual exchange, the speculative interface of cultural practices has radically changed the way we think of the development of research qualities in curatorial and artistic practices. Institution as Praxis aims to identify and advocate for a multiplicity of practices taking place across the cultural sector that do not only engage with the quest to deliver cultural activities (e.g. exhibitions, events), but generate new modes of knowledge production and research in the field of visual culture, art, and the curatorial.
Rito, C. & Balaskas, B., Advocacy Document on Collaborative Research, 29 Jan 2020, Midlands Higher Education Culture Forum.
Midlands Higher Education Culture Forum (Executive Board), Carolina Rito (Member), Geoff Willcocks (Chair), Jacqui O’Hanlon (Member)
Collaborative Research Working Group (MHECF), Carolina Rito (Chair)