[iDC] Praxis-based Ph.D.s

[Henk Borgdorff]

Dear all,

Thanks everybody for the very interesting debate on this list on Practice-based PhD's.
I was not able to participate untill now for several reasons.

One on them was that I had to pay attention to a Belgium (Flemish) deligation of higher arts institutions vistiting our Amsterdam School of the Arts, to be informed about 'research' and practice-based doctoral studies (!) in the creative and performing arts at our school. In the same week I organized a few meetings in the Netherlands about he so called 'third cycle' in higher arts education, focusing on the Norwegian model: the Research Fellowships Progam in the Arts, with Johan Haarberg, director of the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen (Norway). All subjects directly related to the thread Pb PhD's....

Concerning the situation in Europe (and the Netherlands): I wrote an extensive article on "The Debate on Research in the Arts", addressing both philosophical (epistemological, methodological) issues, and issues relating to institutional politics.

Here is an abstract of the aricle:

"The current philosophical and political debate in Europe on practice-based research in the arts is sketched. After clarifying some terminological issues – especially the distinctions between research on, for, and in the arts – the question ‘when does art practice count as research?’ is addressed by looking into different aspects of art practice (i.e. product, process, context) and different definitions of research. A more elaborated discussion of the ontology, the epistemology and the methodology of practice-based research in the arts leads to a concise characterization of the intrinsic nature of research in the arts. Finally the questions of the legitimacy and PhD worthiness are addressed."

The article is published in November 2006 in the _Sensuous Knowledge_ serie: 
http://www.khib.no/index.php/khib/ku_fou/konferanser_seminarer/sensuous_knowledge/about_the_sk_series, 
and will also apear in February 2007 in the journal _DJMT_: http://www.djmt.nl.

You can find the article directly at:
http://www.ahk.nl/lectoraten/onderzoek/debate.pdf

I hope you find it useful.
I appreciate any comment, either via this list, but since a new thread is started, maybe better directly to me: h.borgdorff at ahk.nl

best wishes,
Henk Borgdorff

Henk Borgdorff
Amsterdam School of the Arts
http://www.ahk.nl

Jodenbreestraat 3, Amsterdam. PO Box 15079, 1001 MB Amsterdam. tel +31
(0)20 527 7805, fax +31 (0)20 527 7712
h.borgdorff at ahk.nl