Publication of the proceedings of the international conference "Indisciplines" from the Campus de les Arts

During the conference, scholars and creators from eight countries presented thirty conferences in ten sessions. More than 150 people, among academics, creators and academic and cultural managers attended the sessions, held in the Historical Building of the UB and the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). Among the keynote speakers were distinguished people such as the researcher and artist Mika Elo (University of the Arts Helsinki) and the artist Alexandra Murray-Leslie (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), performer and co-founder of the electropop band Chicks on Speed.

Some of the sessions had a performative, musical or exhibition-like format, in line with the proposal of the conference to approach the concept and sense of the research based on creative practices. This diversity in formats is reflected in the content of the proceedings. The conferences appear in the original language (Catalan, Spanish, and English), and the abstract in the three official languages of the conference. The publication includes an institutional presentation and a theoretical introduction in the three languages.

The presentation was signed by the vice-rector for Arts, Culture and Heritage of the UB, Salvador García, and the director of ESMUC, Núria Sempere, who notes that “sought to initiate the trajectory of Campus de les Artsʼ public activity, with a proposal that would be shared by and useful for all participating centres in the network, sending out a clear message concerning the projectʼs ambition, as reflected for example in its international character”.

The president of the scientific committee and lecturer at ESMUC, Ruben López-Cano, goes over the last years of the consolidation of studies and support structures for artistic research. According to López-Cano, “yet artistic research does not limit its aims to the study of creative processes. Under its umbrella, novel discussions on certain undertreated subjects have taken place on techniques, aesthetics and poetics, as well as the ethical, social and political dimensions of art”.

Campus de les arts: artistic training and research

Led by the UB, Campus de les Arts is a collaboration project between the nineteen art higher education centers in Catalonia, dedicated to the fields of music, theatre, dance, cinema, audiovisual creation, conservation and restoration, visual arts, design and fashion. The project contributes to make a framework for debate and action shared by these centers, with artistic research and related resources as one of the links, together with higher degrees, pedagogy and knowledge transfer.

Campus de les Arts includes the nineteen high education centers dedicated to the arts in Catalonia. These institutions -a total of 8,000 students-, are: the Faculty of Fine Arts of the UB, the Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC, Cinema and Audiovisual School of Catalonia)-UB affiliated centre-, Eina and Massana schools (UAB), Elisava (UPF), ESDi (URL), ERAM (UdG), BAU (UVic-UCC), Arts and Humanities studies from UOC, Institut del Teatre (Diputació de Barcelona) and the School of Conservation and Restoration of the Cultural Heritage of Catalonia (ESCRBCC), Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), and the School of Design and Visual Arts of Catalonia (ESDAP), from the Catalan Government. Other affiliated centres by the Catalan Government and AQU are Conservatori del Liceu, the Taller de Músics, Music School Jam Session, School of Dramatic Arts Eòlia, LCI Barcelona; and the Design School Barcelona (IED). Hangar, center for production and research of visual arts, collaborates in this initiative as well.

The creation of Campus de les Arts follows the line of the proposals by the National Council for Culture and Arts (CoNCA), in which the Catalan Government and the Barcelona City Hall take part.