i2ADS is a leading R&D Unit in Art and Design hosted at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Porto (FBAUP). It is an institutional member of SAR – Society of Artistic Research and a co-convenor of NW29 at EERA – European Educational Research Association. It was recognised as Very Good by the 2018 FCT international evaluation.
In the last two decades, Artistic Research (AR) emerged as a knowledge pillar in Higher Education Institutions (HEI), encompassing practice-based and practice-led research in art and design. Within R&D ecosystems, AR is increasingly called upon to enable inter and transdisciplinary research to address pressing societal challenges in collaborative ways.
Aware of the importance of AR and arts education in transdisciplinary settings, i2ADS’s mission is to promote research across art and design to tackle educational, cultural and societal challenges. Its work is grounded on a shared research culture between fine arts, design and performing art disciplines, intersecting views to achieve the following goals:
- Foster new forms of artistic expression to enhance cultural diversity;
- Advance AR as a culturally, socially and scientifically engaged approach;
- Improve AR outreach and impact within cultural, social and technological frames;
- Support art and design research careers.
To address these goals, i2ADS’s structure is organised around the following R&D programs:
- Art Education, Critique and Society – foster critical readings and challenge hegemonic narratives on public practices and policies in arts education;
- Artistic Practice, Politics and Social Engagement – empower AR involving people and communities to generate narratives of change, remove barriers and promote free access to art resources;
- Artistic Production, Processes and Technological Studies – promote the study of art and design material cultures and advance creative and technological applications in art production and performance;
- Computation, Hybrid Practices and Culture – address the challenges of emerging computational techniques in AR and connect the digital shift with tangible and intangible heritage;
- Drawing Between Disciplines – empower drawing as a democratic medium to challenge disciplinary strictures across divergent areas of knowledge in education and research;
- Interculturality and Society – foster intercultural cooperation through transnational and decolonial artistic and educational practices.
i2ADS’s capacity to address evolving societal challenges is enhanced by autonomous and bottom-up Special Interest Groups (SIGs):
- LABEA – Laboratory of Research in Arts Education;
- ID_CAI – action-research collective on intercultural cooperation across Portuguese Speaking Countries and Latin America;
- iLUDENS – research on playfulness in a post-digital culture to reimagine other ways of living;
- PURE PRINT Archeology – revitalise traditional skills and enhance technological advancements in printmaking.
This research culture interacts with academia, public policy, civil society and creative sectors through mission-oriented R&D projects with competitive funding, seed-projects and art-based labs via the Research-Catalogue and cultural institutions. i2ADS supports two PhDs at FBAUP – Arts Education and Fine Arts – and the enrollment of PhD, master and undergraduate students through R&D grants. An editorial line responsible for 3 peer-reviewed journals and over 54 books enhances the dissemination of outputs.
Collaboration is boosted by 43 integrated researchers from the Faculties of Fine Arts and Architecture (U.Porto) and the School of Music and Performing Arts (ESMAE/P.Porto), 4 junior researchers, 58 FCT doctoral grants and 74 collaborative researchers from various HEIs. With this multidisciplinary team in arts education, fine arts, performing arts, design and drawing, i2ADS leverages expertise in the practice and teaching of art and design, socially engaged practices, digital creativity, media archaeology and technological innovation.