Knotting Knots

What is creative practice to researchers and what is research to artists? How can art and academia inform each other without arranging themselves in a hierarchical structure? And what forms can research-creation take in the particular context of experimental film and trans* studies? Thinking beyond the separation of the fields of fine arts and academic study, this workshop will provide a succint overview of a few emerging methods and practices comprised under the term of research-creation. While definitions of research-creation are disputed, it can be loosely described as an engagement with the ontological and epistemological questions of what constitutes research, focusing on the materialities and processes of research-outcomes.

Raphaëlle Bessette-Viens, working at the intersections of trans* studies, critical disability studies, and experimental filmmaking, will provide examples of projects illustrative of key concepts of research-creation and present their work-in-progress, exploring the parallels and entanglements of trans* and experimental filmmaking.

Artists, researchers, students, and tinkerers of all kinds are warmly welcomed to participate. Text materials will be distributed to the participants in advance but are not mandatory. Participants are invited to join a conversation on what they have learned through their own entanglements with theory and creative practice and experiment with prototyping a research-creation project.

Participation in the workshop is limited; to register, please send a brief message to mail@diffrakt.space.

Workshop in collaboration with Air Berlin Alexanderplatz.