February 2020 — Multi-Disciplinary

Dominique Lämmli is a practicing artist, philosopher, researcher and educator. She holds a professorship of Drawing & Painting at the Zurich University of the Arts, co-founded and co-runs the independent research FOA-FLUX, co-heads the independent studies Art & Society and writes on working with art in social contexts and art practitioner research.

In the eighties, Dominique spent a few months in Cape Town during the state of emergency in the leadup to the first democratic elections. Her experiences and encounters with diverse people during this heated time had a lasting impression and played a part in shaping her interest in multiplicity, multiperspectivity, and comparative approaches that continue to define her work today.

For more than ten years, Dominique has been working on Art in Action for her FOA-FLUX research, looking at artists’ working reality, and trans-regional co-creation and collaboration with colleagues in Malawi, Bhutan, Nepal, Hong Kong, Bangalore, Java, Tanzania, and Mongolia. Dominique explains: “The focus of my insider, practice-based, and participatory research has been on the current, paradigmatic changes in the arts. How we produce, discuss, and distribute art has changed essentially. And, more than ever, art is interlinking with social contexts and plays an important role in change processes to better living conditions.”

For her research trip in Johannesburg, Dominique intends to connect with local colleagues and extend and share her network, experience and knowledge. Her Art in Action work will focus on artist co-ops and social entrepreneurship, inclusive education, action & research, and sustainable and healthy living. The study aims at learning about perspectives, concepts, ideas, and goals informing socially engaged art in and around Johannesburg. The research will include a series of interviews and exchange sessions, with guest researcher Leung Mee Ping from the Hong Kong Baptist University joining for some of the activities. From this Dominique will develop research and art project ideas, possible texts and collaborations.