Practice vs praxis: modelling practitioner-based research

Abstract

This paper considers differing understandings about the role and praxis of practitioner-based research for the arts. Over more than a decade the nexus between theory and practice has been a point of debate within the contemporary art school both in Australia and overseas. This paper attempts to reveal ways of approaching this issue from within and across the disciplines. Discussions with colleagues representing the diversity of creative arts fields indicate that the research principles explored here, albeit briefly, have resonance for each of their disciplines. Within this widened context I will be exploring the different ways in which studio-based practitioners and academics conceptualise the processes and characteristics of research in the arts and professional practice. However, as this is still work in progress, my exemplars wil largely reflect my field of visual arts.