The Swedish Research Council’s Annual Conference on Artistic Research

Piteå, 14-15 November 2018

Collaborative Learning Through the Making of Glass Masks

This contribution presents the work of the artistic research collective Det dolda. Focusing on masks considered complex artefacts, Det dolda sets out to engage critically and creatively with the discursive and socio-material histories of masks as well as with the collaborative making of masks, and the performativity masks open up to. It is our contention that such engagement with a specific artefact will allow us to broach a series of broader questions regarding the complexity and multi-dimensionality of sustainability.

In its current instantiation, Det dolda works specifically with the material glass, attempting to make masks of glass. Using auto-ethnographic reflection and collaborative writing to document and reflect on this process, Det dolda seeks to explore the interconnectedness of material- and making-based knowledge and the development of creative and critical perspectives and concepts relevant to our understanding and practice of sustainability. The contribution proposed here consists of a presentation of this research process alongside a reflection situating the project within the specific context of artistic research.