New publication: Drawing Instruments

The publication Drawing Instruments is the result of a research studio and a symposium. it is published by the Research Centre for Arts, Autonomy and Public Sphere (Zuyd University) in collaboration with Dear Hunter’s Institute of Calibration.

Sidestepping the fundamental debate about whether art can be research, the research studio and symposium focussed on artistic research practice. Making use of the metaphor of the research instrument, it describes the artistic practice of Dear Hunter, a spatial-anthropological research practice, as a research instrument. This enables asking specific questions: How is an artist-as-instrument made sensitive? What kinds of embodied, aesthetic, intimate, sensory ways of knowing are developed? How does the artist-as-instrument become attuned or calibrated? What does it probe and find out? How can we know whether it is working well? What kind of standards emerge along the way?

The publication thoroughly describes the designed instrument, the S.M.m.m.R.I (Sea Monster Map Making Research Instrument), through images and descriptions. Being a metaphor for the practice of Dear Hunter, it reveals the functioning of this practice in a clear-cut and even merciless way, and as such, the slightly ‘forced’ translation into the metaphor enables reflecting on the practice and its process in a radical and fruitful way. Furthermore, texts reflecting on both the instrument itself as on the research studio and the symposium add to the understanding of the instrument but also reveal the potential value this kind of research has for educational and artistic purposes.

The book is available through our Research Centre, the Institute of Calibration, or send an email to info[at]dearhunter.eu.