Assemble Granby Four Streets, Street 3, 2015.
Photo : courtesy of the artists

Toward an Ecology of Practices: The Research Group as Artist

In line with the principle of epistemological de-hierarchization, the concept of an ecology of practices developed by philosopher Isabelle Stengers builds on the permeability among disciplines understood as “collective human practices.”¹ 1 - Isabelle Stengers, “Discipline et interdiscipline: La philosophe de ‘l’écologie des pratiques’ interrogée,” interview by Nicole Mathieu, Nature, sciences et sociétés,vol. 8, no. 3 (2000): 52 (our translation). This appeal to the nexuses among disciplines and the rich potential of applied interdisciplinarity, or even transdisciplinarity, to generate new spaces of knowledge is particularly resonant in the art world given the increasing presence of research groups.

For more than a decade, new connections have developed between art and science according to the different declensions of the research group (lab, studio, agency, and so on), which is understood no longer as an entity operating in parallel to art production but more directly as an artistic figure participating in a broad range of exhibitions or events.

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