Whither the aesthetic alibi: Ethics and the challenge of art as research in the academy

Abstract

Bolt assesses the question: What are the ethical and aesthetic stakes involved in participatory and performance artwork when art becomes research? The chapter addresses some of the vexed issues that arise when art is framed as artistic research and becomes subject to the ethics process. These include questions of what is the "research" and "data" in artistic research and when should art become subject to ethical review; what happens when audiences become participants and what responsibilities does an audience member have in an artistic performance; how do we deal with the conflict between competing notions beneficence; and finally how do we encourage artistic researchers not to self-censor i..