AestPra – a meta-methodology for Art and Craft positioning of aesthetic practice in academic scientific research

Abstract

A vast number of research methods have been developed in recent decades to strengthen the creative arts as disciplinary fields. There is an obvious need for specific methods for the creative arts that established academic scientific methods do not cover. Aside from developing and proposing new research methods, there is a need to map and position specific methods for the creative arts in ways that demonstrate how these methods are connected to other established methods within the academic scientific landscape. In this article that is based on my PhD research in ceramic art processes, I introduce AestPra, a meta-methodology used as a tool in aesthetic practice-based research, where knowledge from explorative processes is emphasised. The AestPra methodology includes a network of approaches, various methodologies, methods and strategies. The concept of aesthetic awareness is central and can be defined as an open attitude and sensitivity towards the interaction between the form and body through the material. Examples from the thesis ‘Grip, to get a grip of form: Concrete and abstract comprehension of form’ are used to shed light on the various aspects of the mode involving reflexive, materialised and data-oriented research processes. AestPra supports the combination of various methods that bring aesthetic, and embodied knowledge into play and that generate links between concrete experiences and theories.