KHiB invites all practioners within art and design with this Call for participation for the sixth annual conference Sensuous Knowledge. This year’s conference is titled “Reflection, Relevance, Responsibility”.

With this we would like to invite practitioners from all art disciplines, including design and the performing arts, to submit requests for participation at the sixth Sensuous Knowledge Conference. Under the heading “Reflection, Relevance, Responsibility” this year’s conference will focus upon three important aspects of artistic research. How do we as artistic researchers, through critical reflection, address and engage with what we see around us? How can artistic research make a meaningful and relevant contribution outside of itself? And how can it acknowledge the responsibility of art and research towards the world outside the academy? Often critical reflection is put forward as one of the differences between artistic practice and artistic research, and promoted as an alternative to the scientific conventions of thinking and writing. However, very little investigation has been done by us on the notion of reflection – what is it expected to contain and convey? With the rapid and unforeseen global changes to our existence, surely we have to look up from our own, potentially narcissistic reflection where we only see ourselves mirrored.

The annual international Sensuous Knowledge conferences, arranged since 2003 by Bergen National Academy of the Arts (Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen, KHiB) and supported by the Research Council of Norway, are known for their distinctive format: About 70 artists and designers involved in higher art and design education meet for three days in the spectacular surroundings at Solstrand, close to Bergen.

The programme offers significant key note speeches, and first and foremost time for group discussions of selected examples of artistic research. The cases are presented by some of the group members – experienced researchers as well as newcomers to the field. One of the most significant characteristics of the conference is that the participants stay together in their designated groups during all three days, thereby enhancing the discussions to a deeper level of engagement. A preliminary conference program, including information about key note speakers and presenters, will be posted on our website at the beginning of June.

Download the Invitation to Sensuous Knowledge 6.