Co-Creation on Location

Through its network of cooperation-partners that offer spaces for residencies and offer field work opportunities, JUST ART is able to place artistic research projects in urban and rural localities where the impact of the climate crisis is acutely felt, thus situating art squarely in society. But even if artistic research takes place in such locations, how can we ensure that stakeholders who may not have declared affinities with the arts, deny climate change, or are non-human communities or entities and as such do not easily come into view, are nonetheless reached and included in co-creation? The postdoctoral researcher studies the various ways in which artistic PhDs and resident artists connect, co-design, and co-create with human and non-human stakeholders and communities. Through observations, interviews, and the conceptualization of the artist residency as specific cultural format (Richardson, Strandvad 2022), the PD collects and analyzes different modes of working and identifies patterns of in- and ex-clusion as well as good practices, testing these for adaptability and scalability in other contexts. Like the researchers who produce the JUST ART Framework (I), the PD fulfills an important role in facilitating productive interaction within the WPs and across their residency partners (EKWC European Ceramic Work Center, Oisterwijk; ‘t Gagel, Lochem; Instituto Buena Bista, Willemstad; Kunstcentrum de Ploeg, Wehe-den-Hoorn; VHDG Leeuwarden; Veenweide Atelier Friesland; Voedselpark Amsterdam). In this capacity and in close relation with the residency coordinator, the PD also monitors and evaluates the residencies as an integral dimension of JUST ART, allowing for critical self-reflection and adaptation where necessary (see 4.3). The results feed into the JUST ART Framework. The Rijksakademie Amsterdam, a knowledge hub for residency-research, will disseminate good practices for residencies with a view to climate-just co-creation to art institutions and artists.