LCAR
The ‘Laboratory for Civic Arts Research’ (LCAR) is a pilot for a future centre for researchers in any discipline interested in possible translations and interactions with society through art tools and methodologies. The principal objective of LCAR is to enhance the civic impact of academic research through bespoke modes of dissemination and circulation, drawing from practices in the arts. Across six months in 2023 we will be exploring and testing the parameters, principles, and possibilities of a ‘Laboratory for Civic Art Research’ within the University of Glasgow's Advanced Research Centre.
This pilot project is led by Dr Viviana Checchia, with founding members Casi Dylan and Dr Dominic Paterson, together with selected members. All members are based in the city of Glasgow or have links to the city.
LCAR is responsive and flexible to the needs and desires of everyone taking part, and will address local issues brought to light over the course of the pilot. The pilot centre started with a series of training events structured around topics concerned with civic art & engagement. Additional events will be open to the public.
All members meet as a group once a month.
LCAR collaborates with other partners and groups across Glasgow with a view to opening up new ways of seeing, making and participating in the cultural life of the city. LCAR will also act as a support structure for further development of deeper connections between academic research and civic life, delivered by a multitude of contributors and partners from around the world.
The overarching aims of LCAR are:
- To critically assess where, when and how research takes place, within and beyond institutions today. The group will take a particular focus on how LCAR can utilise research, and what form a mutual exchange with researchers might take.
- To act as a platform for profiling and giving visibility to researchers and their attendant research practices across the arts in Glasgow and Scotland, on an individual and collective basis. A page will be created on the University of Glasgow website with information on the meeting group, profiling individual members and their current research.
- To facilitate members to form pairings and clusters, to establish common ground (or antagonisms) between their research approaches and practices.
- To initiate collaborations and partnerships with other spaces throughout Glasgow for events and projects.