ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses the basis for a research culture for the creative and media arts, a composite field of practice within which lens and screen-based work has become central. It explores the troubled relationship between critical theory and contemporary creative arts practice. The book focuses how practicing artists go about the business of research. It also explores the work of artists who have engaged with history in their work and, subsequently, the relation between anthropology and the creative arts. Artists increasingly seek to integrate various research-led approaches into their work, often collapsing the barriers between research, project development, art process and exhibition practice and combining these within various forms of social engagement.