BVA303 Research-Led Industry Practice - Week One

BVA303 Research-Led Industry Practice: Practice-Based Research

Revision: Developing a practice-based research question

1. Explore a topic: What is the idea you would like to explore? Draft a list of key words associated with your idea. 

Architecture, Invercargill, Photography, Curation,Generative Adversarial Network, Dataset, Biases, Machine Learning, Features, Digital, Fresh Perspectives, Minimalism, Emerging Technology, Latent Space, Aesthetic.

2. Decide on a topic: Choose an area of exploration that interests you. This will make the task of researching your topic and creating your body of work fun, and when you are enjoying making your work, chances are, other people will enjoy engaging with it.

I am interested in local history and new technologies, with this in mind I have collated many photographs of Invercargill buildings currently slated for demolition. I shall expand this to cover all of the inner city and add residential houses that are historic classified. These images shall be then compiled into a dataset for manipulation by an AI computer. 

3. Gather research material: Use your key words to search for relevant references. These may or may not be related to your chosen medium. Areas of exploration could be relevant to the conceptual, aesthetic, contextual, technical, theoretical, historical, and methodological aspects of your project e.g.

Conceptual (the idea): Will the destruction of historic buildings change Invercargill's overall beauty?

Aesthetic (the look): Large photographic prints, real time video, recorded video.

Contextual (the circumstances that form the setting for an event): Will the removal of so many heritage buildings from the the inner city, will it alter Invercargill's architectural aesthetic?

Technical (techniques): Curation of a large photographic collection of digital images of Invercargill buildings. Then compiled into a dataset for further digital manipulation via an ai.

Theoretical (associated ideas):What is architectural beauty/aesthetic? 

Historical (relevant past practices): The Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, This is not a film, The Act of Killing.

Methodological (approach): Practice based research
Explore methodology: Methodology is the way in which you plan to approach your project. 

Practice-based re-search focuses on qualitative rather than quantitative research e.g. qualitative research focuses on the foundation of opinions and motivations providing insights into particular identified problems or issues and identifying, arguing and questioning a stance to formulate a theory or hypothesis. The data produced in the context of practice-based research in the creative industries is most commonly creative work.

Quantitative research generates numerical data that can be interpreted and analysed to create statistics. This often includes surveys, interviews, polls etc. Practice–based research is a methodology relevant to all creative practition-ers. “Research that takes the nature of practice as its central focus is called ‘practice-based’ or ‘practice-led’ re-search. It is carried out by practitioners, such as artists, designers, curators, writers, musicians, teachers and oth-ers...This kind of research has given rise to new concepts and methods in the generation of original knowledge.” (Candy, 2006)

Developing a practice-based research question

4. Draft questions: Draft a number of practice-based research questions using your key words. Think about what you want to find out and share with an audience about the topic/issue.

5. Refine question: Spend some time refining your question. Is it clear and focused? Remember your project must be achievable within the timeframe allocated.

6. Theorize: What will your argument be? How will you support your argument? Remember to leave room for the viewer to participate in the reading of the work e.g. work that poses questions for the viewer is more engaging than work that makes a statement. The work should contribute to the dialogue in your chosen area of focus.

7. Sample Research Question:
Unclear
Can film contribute to social change?
Clear
Can an exploration of the “long shot” explored via an i-phone contribute to the perceived realism and there-fore social impact of a short documentary film and how does this relate to the notion of non-cinema?

4. Draft questions: Draft a number of practice-based research questions using your key words. Think about what you want to find out and share with an audience about the topic/issue.

5. Refine question: Spend some time refining your question. Is it clear and focused? Remember your project must be achievable within the timeframe allocated.

6. Theorize: What will your argument be? How will you support your argument? Remember to leave room for the viewer to participate in the reading of the work e.g. work that poses questions for the viewer is more engaging than work that makes a statement. The work should contribute to the dialogue in your chosen area of focus.

7. Sample Research Question:
Unclear
Can film contribute to social change?
Clear
Can an exploration of the “long shot” explored via an i-phone contribute to the perceived realism and there-fore social impact of a short documentary film and how does this relate to the notion of non-cinema?

Project
Proposal, Project, Documentation

Proposal
10% Presentation Monday 6th August 5pm (PowerPoint due)
Project
30% Studio practice (installed, Southsure) Thursday 25th October 5pm
Documentation
25% Journal/Blog Friday 26th October 5pm
Week One, Semester Two: 9th—13th July 2018
Tutor: Kathryn McCully
Students will be introduced to practice-based research. Students will gain practical experience and a theoretical understanding of discipline specific practice-based methodologies. Students will also gain the academic research, writing and presentation skills to articulate the theoretical and contextual framing relevant to exploratory and develop-mental practice, and present findings to an audience.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this paper, students will be able to:
2.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the use of academic skills
2.2 Evaluate practice-based research, contexts and methodologies