About SAR 2

ABOUT US

The Society for Artistic Research (SAR) is an international nonprofit, artistic and scientific society devoted to developing, linking and disseminating internationally artistic research as a specific practice of producing knowledge. SAR also aims to facilitate co-operation and communication among those interested in the study and practices of artistic research.

SAR promotes the practices of artistic research done in and outside of academic institutions.
SAR facilitates co-operation and communication among those interested in artistic research.
SAR organises and participates in conferences and meetings for the communication of artistic based knowledge, artistic research practices and results.

SAR was founded in 2010 in Bern, Switzerland by 80 artists, researchers and academics from around the globe (as an initiative of artists Florian Dombois and Michael Schwab together with Henk Borgdorff).

OUR MEMBERS

WHAT WE DO

SAR promotes practices of artistic research as undertaken both in and outside academic institutions. We facilitate co-operation and communication through conferences and meetings, and disseminate knowledge on artistic research practices and results.

We encourage risk-taking, quality research.

SAR publishes the Journal for Artistic Research (JAR), an online, open access and peer-reviewed journal for the identification, publication and dissemination of artistic research and its methodologies, from all artistic disciplines.

SAR runs the Research Catalogue (RC), a searchable repository of artistic research, to which anyone can contribute once they have registered (cost free). This is a powerful resource for artistic research and education.

SAR hosts the annual International Conference on Artistic Research bringing together leading practitioners, scholars and policy makers, showcasing exemplary artistic research projects, while focussing key issues through critical debate.

PERFECT DESIGN INTERFACE
HUGE COMMUNITY
SUPPORT FOR EVERYONE

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The Research Catalogue

The Research Catalogue (RC) is a non-commercial, collaboration and publishing platform for artistic research provided by SAR. The RC is free to use for artists and researchers. It serves also as a backbone for teaching purposes, student assessment, peer review workflows and research funding administration. It strives to be an open space for experimentation and exchange.

Register

The RC offers researchers an online platform in which sound, images, video and text can be combined in an integrated format for presentation, and in which the visual disposition and the focus on different media formats can be decided by the author herself/himself. The RC has more than 14,000 registered users and facilitates both individual research outcomes in the form of expositions, as well as a range of portal solutions. To register, head to this page.

Journal for Artistic Research

The Journal for Artistic Research (JAR) is an international, online, Open Access and peer-reviewed journal that disseminates artistic research from all disciplines. JAR invites the ever-increasing number of artistic researchers to develop what for the sciences and humanities are standard academic publication procedures. It serves as a meeting point of diverse practices and methodologies in a field that has become a worldwide movement with many local activities.

Current Issue JAR 34

Since our inaugural issue 0, most editorials have addressed in one way or another what expositions of practice as research are, and what they can be. In many of these editorials, ontological, institutional and also political concerns stood in the foreground, as JAR has worked to navigate and contribute to a field... Head over here to read the full issue.

16th. SAR Conference 2025 in Porto

The 16th International Conference on Artistic Research is hosted by i2ADS, University of Porto in collaboration with SAR and is the largest conference on practice-based research through the arts. The conference brings together leading practitioners, scholars and policymakers to showcase exemplary artistic research projects while focusing on key issues through critical debate. To learn more, head to this page.

Resonance

The past decade witnessed the appearance of new debating spaces within artistic research. At a time when art and culture, local and global policies and events are haunted by societal challenges as vast as they are unpredictable, what can artistic researchers offer in response to these concerns? How can artistic research resonate beyond its specific contexts and disciplinary borders?