Version bêta
31 October - 14 December 2008

Wednesday 3 December at 6 PM

In his artistic oeuvre Florian Dombois focuses on the study of tectonic and related phenomena, and on their various representational and media formats. From this experience and by his educational background, that is both scientific (geophysics) and literary (philosophy), he has developed the concept of "Art as Research". He is also director of 'Institute Y' at Berne University of the Arts for transdisciplinary exchange between the arts in research and teaching.

The Exhibition as Experience or Experiment Researching art, talking about art. Researching through art, talking through art. We call the first activity the science of art, while the second is currently evolving under the banner of 'artistic research' or 'art as research'. This slight reformulation via a prepositional shift is not a mere trifle. It is a way of affirming that the arts produce knowledge, and that they have the right to lay claim to being an alternative form of knowledge and research on a par with other sciences.
This postulate not only challenges the way that we perceive artistic production, but also other expectations of the art market: if the exhibits are the results of research, what are the tasks of an exhibition? And what is exhibited to whom, how, and why? How does such a demonstrative organ of publication, in which knowledge is shown rather than named, function? How should exhibits be interpreted, and what do visitors to exhibitions expect? Aesthetic experiences or aesthetic experiments? In English.Geneva University of Art and Design — Geneva.