Making Things that Change: EMPIRICA Research Group—Research in Art and Education

Vega, Luis; Valle-Noronha, Julia; Markle, Gary; Latva-Somppi, Riikka; Hulkkonen, Sara; Falin, Priska; Korolainen, Hanna-Kaisa; Suomi, Maiju; & Giabardo, Gianluca (2024). Making things that change: Reconsidering the fluid nature of creative productions in research through art, design, and craft. Research in Arts and Education, 2024(1), 152–65.

Creative productions are integral to research conducted through practices of art, design, and craft. While their significance to the generation of knowledge is increasingly recognized, productions of this kind remain deemed discretized research components. This paper illustrates how they can be better understood as fluid assemblages that enact and are enacted by change. Through a diffractive reading of nine examples of research conducted by ourselves, the paper shifts from a perspective of neatly defined outputs to one of systemic affect. We conclude by interrogating the continuity of these productions beyond academia and urging a reassessment of their broader societal value.