From Experience: The Arts PhD in Practice. In collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Gothenburg, the University of Warwick
For this conference, we ask artist-researchers to consider: what was/were the motivation(s) to pursue a PhD in the arts? How has the actual experience of doing doctoral studies affected or influenced their practice? Have specific academic requirements and protocols modified their work process and, if so, in what ways? What obstacles, opportunities, and/or unexpected turns have been generated by working at the conjunction of two domains: the professional worlds of arts practice and the academic worlds of higher arts education and doctoral training? In so doing, we hope to build an opportunity to exchange knowledge and insight in the navigation of environments that are still relatively new. We also believe that considerations rooted in the actual experience of doctoral studies in the arts by different practitioners is essential to breaking new ground in the debate about the arts PhD and artistic research.
Organised by Vrije Universiteit Brussel/ Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel/ RITCS School of Arts, University of Warwick, University of Stellenbosch, University of Gothenburg. All universities are part of the Eutopia network.
Are you interested in art- based research and do you want to broaden your network by getting to know artist - researchers from the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Gothenburg, the University of Warwick or VUB/Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel/ RITCS School of Arts? Join us on 5th and/or 6th March for a two- day conference.
Day 2, 6th March 2026, 10 am till 4 pm. At Campus Kanal, Slotstraat 28, 1000 Brussels.
The Imaginary Institute will facilitate play-driven sessions that invite participants to fabulate possible futures for academic research in and through the arts. These sessions explore creation as a systemic, collective process that challenges existing paradigms of knowledge production. Together, we will experiment with, and embody, how artistic research can unfold as a living ecology of practices, connecting art, science, play, and other ways of knowing. Each session will unfold through the collective imagination of the participants, structured by and through the co-creation of collective intelligence protocols.
The Imaginary Institute is an ongoing transdisciplinary project in artistic research, art-science, and collective imagination, curated by theatre director Orion Maxted and dramaturg Loretta Mesiti at the Centre Leo Apostel (VUB).
Register before 23th February(limited places available)