Thinking Through Art

Book excerpt: Focusing on a unique arena, Thinking Through Art takes an innovative look at artists’ experiences of undertaking doctorates and asks: If the making of art is not simply the formulation of an object but is also the formation of complex ideas then what effect does academic enquiry have on art practice? Using twenty-eight pictures, never before seen outside the artists’ universities, Thinking Through Art focuses on art produced in higher educational environments and considers how the material product comes about through a process of conceiving and giving form to abstract thought. It further examines how this form, which is research art sits uneasily within academic circles, and yet is uniquely situated outside the gallery system. The journal articles, from eminent scholars, artists, philosophers, art historians and cultural theorists, demonstrate the complexity of interpreting art as research, and provide students and scholars with an invaluable resource for their art and cultural studies courses.