This first session of the AREA Lunch Talks series focused on the current state of artistic research in the Department of Design under the theme "Status Quo." The discussion aimed to open a broader conversation about how artistic research is practiced and understood at Aalto University. The first of four sessions designed to map artistic research practices and support a strategic direction across the School of Arts, Design and Architecture.

The talk was introduced by AREA doctoral school director Maarit Mäkelä. Her introduction reflected on the institutional history of artistic research at Aalto, tracing developments from the early doctoral initiatives of the 1990s to the establishment of the AREA doctoral school in 2023. Referring to the recent SAAB report, Mäkelä emphasized the need for shared terminology and frameworks that could strengthen collaboration across the School while highlighting diverse research practices.

Doctoral researcher Riikka Latva-Somppi presented her research "Working with Soil: Reconsidering the Role of Craft in Environmental Discourse," as well as the work of fellow researcher Leonardo Hidalgo Uribe's project entitled "Colours from Living Lands: A Multi-sited Ethnography of Human-Environment Relationships in Bio-based Dyeing Practices," to demonstrate a range of artistic research within the Design Department. Leonardo Hidalgo Uribe's research explored situated practices through ethnographic and sensory methodologies, including fieldwork, audio and video recordings, and investigations into temporality and natural dyes from the environment. Riikka Latva-Somppi presented research that is grounded in material and craft-based practices, human-soil relations with craft, ceramics, glass, and collective fieldwork in Finland and Italy.

The session then moved into a panel discussion moderated by Juuso Tervo with Riikka Latva-Somppi, Design professors Kirsi Niinimäki and Julia Lohmann. Each panelist framed the discussion through a guiding question that also reflected their position within the field.

Riikka Latva-Somppi asked, "Can embracing artistic research help foster a more profoundly inclusive research culture to support also other experimental and nontraditional creative approaches in design?" Reflecting on her own position within design research, she discussed the permeability of disciplinary boundaries and described artistic research as existing within a "membrane" around the field of design, emphasizing reflexivity and situated knowledges.

Professor Kirsi Niinimäki focused on the role of creativity in different forms of inquiry, asking, "How do we use creativity in different inquiries and in different contexts?" Drawing from her background in fashion design and research through design, she discussed how design research often prioritizes the development of tools, methods, and processes, with creativity emerging throughout the research process rather than in the final outcome or artefact.

Professor Julia Lohmann's contribution centered on terminology and identity, asking, "Which terminology could represent our diverse mindsets and virtuosity of methods?" She reflected on distinctions between artistic research and practice-led research, noting that terminology often shifts depending on institutional and disciplinary contexts. Lohmann emphasized the need for language that can acknowledge both commonality and methodological diversity while connecting artistic research to broader systems of knowledge production.

Audience participants questioned whether artistic research should function as an umbrella term or whether alternative concepts would better reflect the field. Several speakers noted the strategic importance of shared terminology for institutional visibility and the future development of the field.

The audience contributed perspectives from disciplines such as humanities, social sciences, and computer science; these questions circled around accessibility, public engagement, and the relationship between artistic research and other fields of knowledge production. Discussions also touched on the importance of tangible and public forms of output, transdisciplinary forms of knowing, and the role of uncertainty and experimentation within research practices.

The session highlighted the complexity of artistic research within Design at Aalto University while simultaneously reinforcing the importance of continuing dialogue around terminology and methodology. It was also widely acknowledged that the exploratory qualities of artistic research are central to the field itself.