https://doi.org/10.1080/14702029.2025.2571810

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A Contest Around Value in Research in the Arts

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-10-2025

Abstract

This article focuses on common negotiations in the research of artists and draws upon a study of thirty-two PhDs completed by artists in the UK, and interviews with six of those artists. Historically, tacit studio pedagogy allows for the continuity of an ontology of art in art education, however its contact with research acts as a break that offers artists the opportunity to consider the ontology of art anew. In response to this break, some artists resort to an intrinsic defence of art, while others engage in axiology as research and question the way in which art is contrasted to science. Anxiety around the incompatibility of art and research is a perennial issue for artists conducting PhDs, and this article proposes that attention to the contest around value that occurs allows for artists’ ownership of research on fair terms.

Publication

Journal of Visual Art Practice

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Department

College of Arts and Sciences

Peer Reviewed

1

Publication History

Received 17 Jul 2023, Accepted 30 Sep 2025, Published online: 10 Nov 2025

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