Research

The TSAH is accepted as a leader in the definition and application of studio-based research in fine art, having convened the first national conference on this topic in 1992, and being at the forefront of the national debate since then. Academic staff all engage in individual and/or group research as an integral part of their professional activity, attracting substantial external research funding. To date the TSA has earned five large Australian Research Council grants (a significant achievement among Australian schools of art).

The position of the visual arts in the creative intellectual activity which is defined as research, has been eloquently defined by art historian Sir Ernest Gombrich, drawing on the propositions of the philosopher of science, Sir Karl Popper. Just as there are parallels between the laboratory and the studio as work places where hypotheses are tested, Gombrich has drawn an equivalence for Poppers notions of conjecture and refutation with his own terminology schema and correction or making and matching. Advancement in any given subject is thus made through criticism and reflection. Both the artist and the scientist are seen to be testing the visual and material worlds in which they find themselves, and the artists methods are no less demanding or rigorous than are the scientists.

Particular areas of strength are in wilderness values and representation, the historical human environment, the history theory and practice of landscape art across media. Centres of note in research exist in Furniture Design, Limited-edition Ceramics and the Digital Art Research Facility.

The Plimsoll Gallery in the Centre for the Arts is a major contemporary art space, second to none in Tasmania. Staff and students are regularly involved, together with guest curators, in the research, development and curation of a wide variety of exhibitions of contemporary Australian art. The department also maintains a weekly Art Forum lecture program, open to members of the public as well as the University community, and involving invited artists, theoreticians, performers and writers of national and international note. The stimulus provided by both the Gallery and Forum programs is crucial in keeping the research awareness and orientation of staff and students relevant to current international debate and practice.