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Venturing out on the thread of a tune: the artist as improvisor in public life. (2018)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. 2018. Venturing out on the thread of a tune: the artist as improvisor in public life. In Oliver, J. (ed.) Creative practice and the art of association, trajectories of practice as research. Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press [online], chapter 6. https://www.mup.com.au/items/190001

In discussing the work of Wassily Kandinsky of some hundred years ago, Will Grohmann, an art historian, focuses on Kandinsky's effort to develop a new grammar for the visual arts. Kandinsky, Grohmann argues, undertakes a profound rethinking of visual... Read More about Venturing out on the thread of a tune: the artist as improvisor in public life..

Improvisation as experimentation in everyday life and beyond. (2017)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. and COESSENS, K. 2017. Improvisation as experimentation in everyday life and beyond. In Coessens, K. (ed.) Experimental encounters in music and beyond. Leuven: Leuven University Press [online], pages 159-176. Available from: http://lup.be/products/107961

In this chapter we analyse two interrelated projects across the fields of visual art and music, philosophy and anthropology. Calendar Variations (2010-11) is a visual activity initiated by Anne Douglas, visual artist and researcher. A Day in My Life... Read More about Improvisation as experimentation in everyday life and beyond..

Leading cultures of transition through arts practice. (2016)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. 2016. Leading cultures of transition through arts practice. Keynote presented at the Art and ecology seminar, 28-30 November 2016, Valencia, Spain.

In this third keynote I want to rise a little to the surface while rising to the challenge that both speakers have offered the arts. All three presentations share in common the importance of the stories we tell ourselves. These stories influence and... Read More about Leading cultures of transition through arts practice..

What poetry does best: the Harrisons' poetics of being and acting in the world. (2016)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. and FREMANTLE, C. 2016. What poetry does best: the Harrisons' poetics of being and acting in the world. In Harrison, H.M. and Harrison, N. (eds.) The time of the force majeure: after 45 years counterforce is on the horizon. Grantham: Prestel.

Simply paying attention guarantees the transformation from a nature supposedly asleep to the work that displays nature's strange vitality. Art is what attention makes with nature. This observation by Michel De Certeau, noted French philosopher of the... Read More about What poetry does best: the Harrisons' poetics of being and acting in the world..

What is it possible to know? (2016)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. 2016. What is it possible to know? Keynote presented at the Research practice practice research: Fine Art Research Network symposium, 15 July 2016, Lancaster, UK [online]. Available from: http://www.nafae.org.uk/sites/default/files/papers/research_practice_keynote_anne_douglas.pdf

In his 1978 movie Manhattan, Woody Allen's character, lying on a coach in his apartment after a break up of a relationship, records his thoughts on life: 'An idea for a short story about people in Manhattan who are constantly creating these neurotic... Read More about What is it possible to know?.

Ethical design: a foundation for visual communication. (2016)
Thesis
BUWERT, P. 2016. Ethical design: a foundation for visual communication. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis.

The central original contribution to knowledge proposed by this thesis is the setting forth of a conceptualisation of ethical theory specifically in relation to design, with a focus on visual communication design. Building on earlier work by design t... Read More about Ethical design: a foundation for visual communication..

Inconsistency and contradiction: lessons in improvisation in the work of Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison. (2016)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. and FREMANTLE, C. 2016. Inconsistency and contradiction: lessons in improvisation in the work of Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison. In Brady, J. (ed.) Elemental: an arts and ecology reader. Manchester: Gaia Project Press, [online]. Available from: https://www.cornerhousepublications.org/publications/elemental-an-arts-and-ecology-reader-gaia-project/

The essay draws out the learning from the authors' analysis of the practice of Helen Mayer Harrison (1927-2018) and Newton Harrison (b.1932), collectively known as 'the Harrisons'. Inconsistency and contradiction are conventionally eliminated in rese... Read More about Inconsistency and contradiction: lessons in improvisation in the work of Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton Harrison..

The discourse of cultural leadership. (2016)
Thesis
PRICE, J.F.R. 2016. The discourse of cultural leadership. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis.

Cultural leadership has been a key concept in cultural policy and training since 2002. Most closely associated with the UKs Clore Leadership Programme, it has been developed through various courses and initiatives domestically and internationally, in... Read More about The discourse of cultural leadership..

Practice-led research and improvisation in post modern culture. (2016)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. 2016. Practice-led research and improvisation in post modern culture. Orpheus lecture presented as part of the docARTES: crossing borders programme, 26 February 2016, Ghent, Belgium.

docARTES is an international inter-university doctoral programme for practice-based research in musical arts, designed for musician-researchers. This was an invited Orpheus lecture for the Crossing Borders programme in 2016.

Walking in unquiet landscapes: layers of human settlements in the hills of Aberdeenshire. (2016)
Other
DOUGLAS, A. and FREMANTLE, C. 2016. Walking in unquiet landscapes: layers of human settlements in the hills of Aberdeenshire. Tate etc., 36, pages 94-95.

Other traditions run through depictions of the British landscape, below and beyond romantic idealisations. Here, Anne Douglas and Chris Fremantle trace the layers of human settlements in the hills of Aberdeenshire.

'Context is half the work': developing doctoral research through arts practice in culture. (2015)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. 2016. 'Context is half the work': developing doctoral research through arts practice in culture. In Cartiere, C. and Zebracki, M. (eds.) The everyday practice of public art: art, space and social inclusion. Abingdon: Routledge [online], chapter 8. Available at: https://www.routledge.com/The-Everyday-Practice-of-Public-Art-Art-Space-and-Social-Inclusion/Cartiere-Zebracki/p/book/9781138829213

In 2001-4, a small research team of post doctoral and doctoral artist researchers, working with five cultural partners drew together two apparently incommensurable issues: remote rural culture and contemporary art. The thrust of their questions was s... Read More about 'Context is half the work': developing doctoral research through arts practice in culture..

Understanding experimentation as improvisation in arts research. (2015)
Journal Article
DOUGLAS, A. and GULARI, M.N. 2015. Understanding experimentation as improvisation in arts research. Qualitative research journal [online], 15(4), pages 392-403. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-06-2015-0035

The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: in what sense does experimentation as improvisation lead to methodological innovation? What are the implications of artistic experimentation as improvisation for education and learning?... Read More about Understanding experimentation as improvisation in arts research..

Making maps and exploring territory. (2015)
Book Chapter
DOUGLAS, A. and HOPE, M. 2015. Making maps and exploring territory. In Newling, J. The last islands. Banchory: Woodend Barn Publishing, pages 55-59.

This essay co-authored with Mark Hope, co-founder of the Barn, Banchory, forms a chapter in the book, The last islands published on the occasion on the opening of The Map Room of the Last Islands, new work by John Newling at Woodend Barn, Banchory, A... Read More about Making maps and exploring territory..

Artist as navigator: understanding how the social qualities of art influence organizational change; a methodology for art as a social practice. (2015)
Thesis
SMITH, H. 2015. Artist as navigator: understanding how the social qualities of art influence organizational change; a methodology for art as a social practice. Robert Gordon University, PhD thesis.

What insights can art reveal in the context of organizational change? How do artistic practices influence the way communities address change? In what ways can an individual artistic practice, concerned with the role of art in society, add new insight... Read More about Artist as navigator: understanding how the social qualities of art influence organizational change; a methodology for art as a social practice..

Drawing paper 8. (2015)
Other
DOUGLAS, A., GENEVER, K. and RAVETZ, A. (eds.) 2015. Drawing paper [online], 8. Available from: http://www.mikesstudio.co.uk/project/drawing-paper-8/

Drawing Paper, the free newspaper based gallery concerned with contemporary drawing practice returns. Our 8th issue was curated and produced in collaboration with Anne Douglas, Kate Genever and Amanda Ravetz.

The graphic line: an event in its own material. (2014)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. and RAVETZ, A. 2014. The graphic line: an event in its own material. Presented at the Making traces symposium, 19-22 November 2014, Odense, Denmark.

Amanda Ravetz is a film maker and anthropologist. Anne Douglas is a visual artist with a background in sculpture. For the past couple of years, they have been collaborating together as associates in Tim Ingold's research project, exploring drawing in... Read More about The graphic line: an event in its own material..

Why drawing, now? (2014)
Journal Article
DOUGLAS, A., RAVETZ, A., GENEVER, K. and SIEBERS, J. 2014. Why drawing, now? Journal of arts and communities [online], 6(2-3), pages 119-131. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1386/jaac.6.2-3.119_1

This article takes the question 'why drawing, now?' as a speculative way to enter the debate on the relationship of art to different understandings of community. Drawing offers a paradox around the place of art in society. Drawing can be thought abou... Read More about Why drawing, now?.

Does the world draw? (2014)
Presentation / Conference
RAVETZ, A. and DOUGLAS, A. 2014. Does the world draw? Workshop facilitated during the 13th European Association of Social Anthropologists biennial conference of collaboration intemacy and revolution (EASA 2014): innovation and continuity in an interconnected world, 31st July-3rd August 2014, Tallinn, Estonia.

Drawing can be explained in at least two ways: exemplifying trace, an inherent capacity or collection of characteristics in an individual (Nancy 2013) e.g. Rembrandt's drawing versus Van Gogh's drawing, the drawing of a particular thing in the world... Read More about Does the world draw?.

Your thought will find the contours. (2014)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. and RAVETZ, A. 2014. Your thought will find the contours. Presented at Sewing lines, growing surfaces, breathing atmospheres: towards an ontogeny of things workshop, 2-3 July 2014, Weimar, Germany.

Our aim in this presentation is to report on research we have been doing around drawing and filming. As associates of Knowing from Inside, we are interested in discovering in what sense drawing and filming can be considered experiential ways of 'know... Read More about Your thought will find the contours..

Encounter in art. (2014)
Presentation / Conference
DOUGLAS, A. 2014. Encounter in art. Presented at the 2014 Art and encounter seminar: beyond audience development: why do artists engage publics in participation? 14-30 March 2014, Melbourne, Australia.

This presentation explores how 'encounter' is different from 'event' and making this differentiation has important implications on how we imagine the relationship of art to audience. The author introduces some theoretical foundations to the notion of... Read More about Encounter in art..