Who's afraid of instrumentalisation?
Presenters
Abstract
The climate and environmental crises demand unprecedented societal transformation. In response, research programs like Horizon Europe have realigned around thematic missions, emphasizing societal impact alongside scientific excellence. There is growing recognition of knowledge creation methods that complement traditional research—collaborative, practice-based approaches that engage diverse stakeholders, from citizens and artists to institutions, NGOs, and even non-human beings and entities, such as places, environments and landscapes.
However, artistic researchers often face challenges in such transdisciplinary collaborations. Key tensions include differing ethics of co-creation, methodological disparities, divergent purposes, and conflicting evaluation criteria. A persistent concern is the risk of instrumentalisation: How can artistic researchers maintain agency in collaborative settings? Might we need to rethink the very concept of instrumentalisation in the context of climate crisis and surveillance capitalism?
However, artistic researchers often face challenges in such transdisciplinary collaborations. Key tensions include differing ethics of co-creation, methodological disparities, divergent purposes, and conflicting evaluation criteria. A persistent concern is the risk of instrumentalisation: How can artistic researchers maintain agency in collaborative settings? Might we need to rethink the very concept of instrumentalisation in the context of climate crisis and surveillance capitalism?
Biography
Mari Sanden is an artist and researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) where she is exploring how international research frameworks and programmes can challenge and change the conditions for cross-disciplinary research in ways that opens up for artistic forms of knowledge production. Since 2024 she is project manager of the Horizon Europe-funded research project PACESETTERS. PACESETTERS explores how arts and culture, creativity and cultural heritage can adapt to, contribute to and ultimately push the pace of the climate transition. Sanden has been investigating the challenges and opportunities for artistic research in various contexts, such as CYANOTYPES a skills alliance for the Cultural and Creative Industries, as guest associate editor of the European Journal of Cultural Management and Policy, and as Young and Early Career Researcher Coordinator for the COST Action Artistic Intelligence.
