Research Cell Journalism
The research cell on journalism is led by Gabrielle Kennedy and functions as an in-house journalism hub and will catalyze, document, and disseminate discussion on topics and issues defined from the work of students and alumni of both Rietveld Academie and Sandberg Instituut. In continuation to the approach of the book IN/Search RE/Search, topics are connected to the discourse challenging and directing the way art and design is made, used, and interpreted.
In art and design it is advantageous to consider research more as an attitude than a function. Research does not necessarily have to be a high-end, or specialist pursuit. Nor is it only for trained experts working in the fields of education, science or R&D. It does not have to be linear or even logical - attributes rarely, if ever, associated with art. Research in art and design entails exposing yourself, embracing change, and asking uncomfortable questions.
Yet, similar to more academic research it should be rigorous and tight. It should begin with a disciplined investigation and end in knowledge—knowledge that strives to interpret twenty-first century realities. Economically, environmentally, politically, and socially so much is failing. No single discipline can possibly pretend to have an adequate explanation or solution any more. Understanding can only come about from networked knowledge stemming from a more collective fraternity, which is why research being carried out by artists and designers—although woefully underfunded and rarely recognized— must play a role. Designers and artists think radically which is needed in the face of the massive global challenges like economic rationalism, neoliberalism, climate change, migration, and poverty we all face.
It is time art and design research be more broadly recognised and incorporated in academic discourse and thinking. In culture we want the conversation to move away from what is research to how acceptance for subjective stances can be established. So while design often claims to be in search of solutions, and art exists to provide perspectives, how can research in art academies find a wider context? This will impact on how students select their topics, their processes and results, but also how nuance in what's called knowledge is positioned and fêted.
IN/ Search RE/ Search
The publication IN/Search RE/Search, edited by Gabrielle Kennedy, explores how artists and designers can contribute viable and alternative ways of thinking to counter the dangerous and pervasive neoliberal forces influencing the globe. It considers how research in art academies can find a wider context; how to select topics, build up processes, reflect on the work and how to relate to the wider world.
The team
Gabrielle Kennedy, an Amsterdam-based design journalist. She is currently editor-in-chief of DAMN° Magazine and has contributed to many publications on design, and education.
Márk Redele is project coordinator at Sandberg Research where they contribute to the development and operation of postgraduate research activities in the academy. They studied architecture in their origin country, Hungary, and received a master's degree from Studio for Immediate Spaces in 2016. Since then, they have been a practicing artist pursuing self-initiated and commission-based works with a strong emphasis on material discovery. In their practice materials become the protagonists of stories personal and public, factual and fictive. These stories interrogate the subversive potential of simple material qualities such as porosity, softness and fluidity as well as the possibility of kinship, love and reconciliation in vibrant matter, under repressive conditions.
