Art and Documentation
Sztuka i Dokumentacja
The Art and Documentation journal came into existence in spring 2009 after the Art and Documentation Festival that took place each year in Lodz, Poland, between 2009 and 2014. The Art and Documentation Association was the publisher of the journal until 2017. Since 2018 the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk has been the publisher of this journal.
Our aim is to publish the results of studies in the field of art and to provide basic source materials for scholars, academic teachers, art critics and journalists. We publish artistic materials that come into existence at the edge of art practice and art theory, artists' statements, as well as all kinds of art documents concerning historical events and timelines of art institutions' activity.
We want the Art and Documentation journal to be an open archive that will enrich our understanding of art. Since its establishment the scholarly profile of this journal can be described by two key words: 'art' and 'documentation'. Their combination speaks of the dialectic relationship that links history and contemporary art. History here is subjected to constant reactualisation, recontextualization and reinterpretation. Thus contemporaneity is a subject of constant negotiation, conversation and redefinition.
Our research interests include not only art perceived through static objects, but also change. We are focusing on works of an ephemeral nature, i.e. conceptual or post-conceptual works and related issues. Such assumptions situate the journal in a broad field of performance studies. The journal's content reflects the performative character of the research subject. We include research on art within the broader field of performance studies. At the same time, we want to show the continuity of art, its history and present state, and to capture its image as completely as possible. We want the journal to become a platform aiming at shaping views, posing questions and initiating research.
A closer link between Art and Documentation and the Academy of Fine Arts strengthens the relationship between academic research on art and contemporary art practices, and combines theory and practice in a more direct way. This is reflected in the topics presented in the journal and the extended scope of research and methodologies that are becoming more diverse and interdisciplinary. In addition to those used in the humanities, the studies are based on art and research methodologies or art-based research. In this way the world of art and scholarship are continuously becoming closer to each other.
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