A Space in a Place It Is Not – A 12-hour (Performative) Reflection on Artistic Research

The fourth edition of the AVU 12h (Performative) Reflection on Artistic Research explores the zones of absence that emerge when travelling between different fields. Starting from the assumption that the investigative demands of research always lead one, to a certain extent, to venturing out of the familiar towards unknown routes, the conference asks what spaces remain hollow in interdisciplinary dialogues, and how artistic investigations can navigate these spaces. It brings into question the possible exchanges between art and other disciplines, as well as the unfinished dialogues between various artistic traditions, asking how understandings of performance shift between visual art, dance, theatre and music; how drawing unfolds between object, notation or scientific exploration, and how the same idea might inhabit different areas of research in sometimes divergent ways.

artist Vladimír Kokolia (CZ), artist and performer Gernot Wieland (A), artist and musician Mel E. Logan (US/DE), theatre director Jiri Adámek Austerlitz (CZ) with a group of students from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU), choreographer and performer Mădălina Dan (RO), artist Slavomíra Ondrušová (SK/CZ), performer Ran Jiao (CN/CZ), artist Peter Kolárčik (SK/CZ), artist and AVU PhD candidate Patrik Pelikán (CZ), theoretical astro-physicists Oldřich Semerák and Jakub Podgorný (CZ), filmmaker Réka Bucsi (HU), philosophers Anne-Françoise Schmid (FR) and Ben Woodard (US), as well as artist and editor in chief of Arte Acta journal Markéta Magidová (CZ).

Every year, a sculptural and performative intervention realised by a group of fine art students from one of the academy’s studios, under the guidance of their pedagogue, transforms the practical need for food catering into a large-scale artistic gesture. In 2025, a group of students from the Intermedia 2 Studio, under the guidance of their pedagogues Roman Štětina, Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Zahoranský, are developing a concept for an edible event.

The 12-hour (Performative) Reflection on Artistic Research proposes an experimental format at the intersection between a conference, a performance marathon and a sculptural engagement with space, unfolding over the course of a full day. It explores what it means to investigate not about art but through art: how this investigation can be carried out, how it can be presented, how it can produce knowledge and in what relationship this knowledge finds itself to other disciplines, and to a broader social context.

• Dislocated Practices and Epistemic Drift: Panel discussion with theoretical astro-phycisits Oldřich Semerák and Jakub Podgorný, philosopher Ben Woodard, artist and editor-in-chief of Arte Acta journal Markéta Magidová and artist Mel E. Logan, moderated by Irina Gheorghe

• How Many Artists Does It Take to Grow a Cucumber? How Many Cucumbers Does It Take to Grow an Artist? Students from the Intermedia 2 Studio with pedagogues Roman Štětina, Pavla Sceranková and Dušan Zahoranský

Between 18:00 and 00:00 Conference Vocalisations will be presented intermittently by Jiri Adámek Austerlitz (CZ) in collaboration with Fedir Kis (CZ) and DAMU students Eliška Čadová, Barbora Chrpová, Cyril Janeček, Adéla Kulhavá, Alexander Moberg, Šimon Ludvíček, Adam Trčka and Lucie Trilčová.More info about the conference participants here.

The conference will be held in English and will be streamed live.— The conference is organised by LARGE, the Artistic Research department at AVU.— The research of the students from the Intermedia II studio has been funded with the support of VGS, the AVU Research Grant for 2025.— With the kind support of the Romanian Cultural Institute and the Austrian Cultural Forum.The conference happens in conjunction with the AVU Doctoral Symposium, which takes place on the 4th of December 2025, from 16 pm to 22 pm, at AVU Veletržní.