Inter / Trans Disciplinary

Artistic Research and the Lingering Gaze of Thought [SAR2026 Keynote Published]

Artistic Research and the Lingering Gaze of Thought by Henk Borgdorff

Artistic Research and the Lingering Gaze of Thought, by Henk Borgdorff, is the text of a talk delivered at the 17th Conference of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) in Galway. Borgdorff argues that artistic research should be understood not as opposed to academia but as a cutting-edge form of it, pointing to Australia’s recent recommendation to retire the term “Non-Traditional Research Output.” He surveys what distinguishes artistic research—its engagement with practices and material things, its grounding in experimentation, participation and interpretation next to its methodological pluralism, and its relation to 4E-cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive)—while sharing common ground with fields like visual anthropology and science and technology studies. The heart of the piece is a proposal to rethink “discursivity” beyond language, treating material configurations of sound, image, movement and gesture as forms of rigorous, non-propositional reasoning. 

The text can be found on the Journal for Artistic Research website: https://www.jar-online.net/en/artistic-research-and-lingering-gaze-thought

Henk Borgdorff is emeritus professor of Research in the Arts at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA), Leiden University and the Royal Conservatoire, University of the Arts, The Hague. Borgdorff has published widely on the theoretical and political rationale of research in the arts.

The Journal for Artistic Research (JAR) is an international, online, open-access and peer-reviewed journal that disseminates artistic research from all disciplines. Its Network space provides a forum for JAR readers to share unreviewed contributions including reflections and book reviews, while also housing the JAR network channels.

JAR is published by the Society for Artistic Research (SAR), an independent, non-profit association.

Research Fellows (x2) [Mica lab, UK]

The mica lab is currently hiring two 24-month UKRI-funded postdocs

Both roles will be based in The Bridge Studios at UWE Bristol, in partnership with MiMU Gloves, x-io Technologies, Watershed, and Drake Music.

Role 1: Research Fellow in Digital Musical Instrument Design
Planning and facilitating musical instrument co-design activities with disabled and non-disabled participants, and exploring a range of methods for prototyping surfaces, objects, and mechanisms for music interaction. People with expertise in music, product design, HCI, and/or disability studies are encouraged to apply.
See: https://go.uwe.ac.uk/dmiDesign

Role 2: Research Fellow in Algorithmic Sensing for Music
Creating algorithms for detecting nuanced musical interactions in real time using hand-worn wearable technology. People with expertise in signal processing and/or machine learning are encouraged to apply.
See: https://go.uwe.ac.uk/algoSense

For more details on the roles, and to apply, please visit https://micalab.org. Applications close 6th August 2026, with interviews expected to take place in the week commencing 31st August 2026.

MeCCSA Postgraduate Conference – Media and Sustainability [Calls closes May 25th]

MeCCSA Postgraduate Network Conference

We are pleased to say that due to exceptional demand, we are extending the deadline to submit an abstract for the 2026 MeCCSA Postgraduate Network Conference, which will take place on 9th September 2026 in the Minghella Studios, University of Reading. The new deadline is Monday 25th May 2026.

This year’s theme is Media and Sustainability and invites postgraduate researchers to explore how media industries, forms, cultures, and research practices endure, adapt, resist or reimagine themselves within unstable or emerging environments. We also encourage reflection on the sustainability of academic and creative labour, and the infrastructures that support media work.  

Participants are encouraged to interpret the conference theme broadly and creatively. Submissions from interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives are warmly welcomed, including practice-based work.  

Possible areas of interest include, but are not limited to:  

  • Sustainable media industries: policy, production cultures, funding, and independent practice. 
  • Sustainable creative and research methodologies: slow scholarship, decolonial and feminist methods, ethics of care, collaboration and community partnership. 
  • Environmental sustainability and media: climate communication, ecocinema, eco-media, green production, and environmental representation.  
  • Sustainable archives and preservation: memory, heritage, obsolescence, and care for audiovisual materials.  
  • Sustainable digital technologies and infrastructures: platforms, AI, media infrastructure, resource extraction, and the environmental costs of data.  
  • Sustainable identities and communities: queer, Indigenous, diasporic, and disabled media-making. Visibility, survival, and continuity.  
  • Sustaining the self: wellbeing, burnout, emotional labour, and the lived realities of postgraduate research.   

In recognition of the diverse ways postgraduate researchers work and communicate research, we invite proposals in a range of formats, including:  

  • Paper presentations (15 minutes) 
  • Panel proposals (typically 3-5 named contributors) 
  • Practice-based or creative contributions, including film, audiovisual work, performance or artistic practice 

We particularly welcome work-in-progress and contributions from early-stage postgraduate researchers.  

Submission deadline: Monday 25th May 2026 at midday (GMT)

Submission link: Microsoft Form

Further details can be found here. Alternatively, feel free to email us with any questions.