Fóram Idirnáisiúnta ar Thaighde Ealaíonta 2026
An 17ú Comhdháil de chuid Chumann na Taighde Ealaíonta (SAR)
Submission Number: 256
Submission ID: 317
Submission UUID: c4d3525b-9247-4e96-801d-5e9da9146db5

Cruthaithe: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 - 14:37
Déanta: Sat, 28 Feb 2026 - 19:38
Changed: Wed, 13 May 2026 - 08:59

Remote IP address: 204.141.62.193
Submitted by: Anonymous
Teanga: English

Is draft: Níl
Current page: webform_confirmation

Flagged: Tá
Given name Merel
Surname Visse
Email mvisse@drew.edu
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Title A not-quite round table: apophatic artistic research at risk
Format Roundtable contribution
Main language English
Abstract In a time when complex, nuanced human experiences are increasingly reduced to data points, categories, and optimized outputs, we consider this an urgent gathering for artistic researchers. Like no other, they know how to mediate liminal, precarious knowing that may counter the aesthetic harm we're witnessing in the news, in schools, at work. Artistic research has unique capabilities for preventing the erasure of ineffable human experiences from everyday life — those profound, unsayable dimensions of meaning, embodied knowledge, and consciousness that resist codification.
This not-quite round table provides a platform for all who engage with the ineffable through apophatic artistic research. We respond to contemporary crises by discussing artistic research in the context of a field that has studied the ineffable for decades: apophatic studies. We explore apophatic artistic research that honors, rather than colonizes or erases, the ineffable. Apophatic approaches have shaped artistic practices for centuries, yet contemporary artistic researchers rarely invoke apophatic thought as a lens. Apophatic studies thus occupies a precarious, minoritized position, its rich conceptual knowledge at risk of being lost — and with it, a valuable resource for artistic researchers. Participants will engage with unique apophatic concepts such as excess, propensity, indirectness and maturation through artistic research.
This not-quite Round Table sits with an ongoing project that tries to do the impossible — bring apophatic artistic research into view. A multimodal, curated publication and exhibition, we circle an ongoing project — a multimodal, curated publication and exhibition on apophatic artistic research, spanning visual art, performance, media and time-based art, and hybrid practices including bioart, land art, and conceptual art; spaces where naming often falls short.
Discussants are contributors and members of the www.apophatic.art initiative.
Image apophatic_visse_woodring.png
Short biographies of the presenter(s)
  • Merel Visse (www.merelvisse.com) is a scholar, visual artist, editor, and educator whose interdisciplinary work is grounded in apophatic thought, artistic research, and political care ethics. She serves as faculty at Drew University, where she chairs a Graduate Program, and worked at the University of Humanistic Studies for over a decade. Merel is the co-editor of Visual Arts Research and co-founded the Meaningful Artistic Research Ph.D. Program in the Netherlands, and co-chairs the Art & Care Platform Series. Merel is one of the initiators of the apophatic.art initiative.
  • Ryan Woodring (ryanwoodring.com) is compelled by a bilateral relationship with invisibility wrought by chronic illness and a decade+ of visual effects experience making things disappear. Woodring (he/they) serves as Assistant Teaching Professor of Digital Media at Drew University. He has exhibited and spoken internationally in various contexts such as The Museum of the Moving Image, New York, Rochester Art Center, Minnesota, Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts and elsewhere. He founded the Soft Data/Base curatorial project and is a member of Blockbusters New Media and Video Collective. Ryan is one of the initiators of the apophatic.art initiative.
Previous presentations or iterations of the research We haven’t delivered previous versions of this contribution.
Additional information
Spatial and technical requirements We would need an internet connection and audio in the room, as well as a projector or screen, as we plan to show visual work.
Potential risks or ethical concerns We are not aware of any risks or ethical concerns.
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Fóram Idirnáisiúnta ar Thaighde Ealaíonta 2026
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.