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An 17ú Comhdháil de chuid Chumann na Taighde Ealaíonta (SAR)

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Submission Number: 194
Submission ID: 249
Submission UUID: a71dc1a3-0484-4bcc-b943-f154e0e9d1a7

Cruthaithe: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 - 19:41
Déanta: Thu, 26 Feb 2026 - 20:06
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:32

Remote IP address: 91.102.85.117
Submitted by: Anonymous
Teanga: English

Is draft: Níl
Current page: webform_confirmation

Flagged:
Given name Fiona
Surname Woods
Email woods.fiona@gmail.com
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Title Epistemologies in a Minor Key: Theorizing Creative Artefacts as Knowledge Entities
Format Other format
Main language English
Abstract This paper examines creative artefacts as knowledge entities in practice-centred research, exploring their ontological status and epistemological function within academia. It investigates how theoretical frameworks of material agency, performative research, embodied cognition and visual thinking enable analysis of these artefacts as knowledge carriers and epistemological interventions. The paper addresses a critical problem: the distinctive knowledge forms embedded in creative artefacts (material, visual, embodied, performative) communicate not only intellectually but also bodily, engaging kinaesthetic, spatial and sensory understanding; however, these epistemological languages are minoritized in academic discourse and policy. Within academia, the artefact must exist simultaneously in multiple registers - material, conceptual, social, temporal, performative - generating epistemological complexity that exceeds textual representation. While existing scholarship addresses methodological challenges in practice-based research, a gap remains in theorizing the creative artefact as a conjunction of minor epistemologies. The paper addresses this by positioning creative artefacts' ontological and epistemological frameworks as distinct conceptual languages, and framing practice-based knowledge systems as epistemologies in a minor key. The material examined emerges from the design of a postgraduate course, ‘The Creative Artefact in Practice-Centred Research.’ This course explores how creative artefacts can become legible to academic institutions while maintaining an apartness from interpretive structures, and how their knowledge modes, irreducible to textual forms, can be elucidated without epistemological distortion or aesthetic over-determination. The paper contributes to the argument that critical thinking necessarily includes multiple, incommensurable ways of knowing that cannot be subordinated to any single epistemological paradigm.
Image Fiona Woods, I Have Doubts.jpg
Short biographies of the presenter(s)
  • Dr Fiona Woods is an artist, researcher and lecturer at Limerick School of Art & Design. Her PhD from TU Dublin (2021) examined art and the commons through a socially engaged practice. Woods' research explores the epistemology of creative artefacts, materiality and publicness; her work has been published in various outlets, and has been presented at many international conferences. Woods was a core researcher on the EU-funded projects ‘City (Re)Searches’ (2012-14) and ‘Rurban’ (2009 – 11). Her practice-based research bridges art, critical theory and pedagogy, investigating how creative work functions as knowledge production and epistemological intervention. She lectures in several institutions, and is a postgraduate research supervisor.
Previous presentations or iterations of the research
Additional information I propose a standard paper presentation format, with slides.
Spatial and technical requirements As above.
Potential risks or ethical concerns No foreseen risks.
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An 17ú Comhdháil de chuid Chumann na Taighde Ealaíonta (SAR)

Welcome to SAR 2026

Endangered Conceptual Worlds

The 2026 International Forum on Artistic Research takes place from 23 to 26 June 2026. Hosted by the University of Galway on the Atlantic coast of Ireland, the Forum addresses the challenges of Endangered Conceptual Worlds. As the 17th annual conference of the Society for Artistic Research it is the largest conference on practice-based research within and through the arts, bringing together more than 300 international participants: leading practitioners, scholars and policymakers from the entire range of arts-based disciplines.

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Slightly extended deadline for submissions

The 2026 Forum on Artistic Research website has been inaccessible for several hours on Friday night and Saturday morning. Unfortunately, an update to the web server was scheduled to take place, which automatically activated maintenance mode and prevented any work on the submissions during the night and the next morning. We have therefore decided to slightly extend the deadline for submissions to Monday 2 March 2026 at 23:59 GMT. Feel free to work on your proposals until then.