Artistic research opens up room for experimentation, produces knowledge, and questions established languages and categories. Yet whether it can exist at all depends on material, cultural and institutional conditions that are never neutral.
In a cultural system increasingly geared towards output, measurable results and proof of impact, what room is left for open, non-linear processes whose value cannot be set in advance? And who actually has the chance to take part in them?
On 1 and 2 December, DESIRE RESIDE returns to BASE Milano for its second edition, bringing together artists, curators, researchers, organisations and cultural institutions for an exchange that cuts across the different layers of artistic research: from the practices that produce it and the knowledge that helps define it, to the structures, resources and policies that allow it to develop.
Through keynotes, conversations, research practices and working sessions, DESIRE RESIDE brings these perspectives into dialogue, not to reach single answers but to surface shared questions, contradictions and possibilities for action. A space where those who do research and those who build its conditions can question, together, how research is recognised, supported and practised.
PROGRAM DAY #1
Knowledge, Practices and Access
2PM | Opening
Daydreaming as a Radical Practice
The opening of DESIRE RESIDE introduces DAYDREAMING, BASE’s new cycle of programming and artist residencies for 2027. Daydreaming not as an escape from reality, but as a critical and collective practice of imagination. Starting from one question: who has the time, space and freedom needed to imagine alternatives to the present? A reflection on the material and social conditions of imagination, on its transformative potential, and on the role cultural institutions play in making it a shared possibility.
2.30–3PM | Keynote
Simone Frangi
Drawing on the relationship between critical theory, artistic practice and curatorial research, Simone Frangi opens a reflection on art’s capacity to produce knowledge, challenge dominant narratives and open up new perspectives on the present. A contribution that questions the critical and political dimension of artistic research and the role of experimental practices in transforming the languages of art as well as the ways knowledge is built, shared and recognised.
3–4PM | Panel
WHAT COUNTS AS RESEARCH?
Artistic Practices, Knowledge and Curatorial Perspectives
Moderated by Simone Frangi, with Silvia Calderoni, Daniel Blanga Gubbay and Annalisa Sacchi.
What do we recognise as artistic research? What forms of knowledge emerge from artistic practices, and how do they relate to theoretical and curatorial thinking? Bringing together the perspectives of artists, researchers and curators, the panel compares different ways of understanding and practising research, questioning the methods, languages and criteria through which it is defined and recognised. A dialogue on the boundaries, and the possible cross-pollinations, between practice, theory and curating, exploring how these perspectives can enrich and challenge one another.
4–4.30PM | Coffee break
4.30–5.30H | Practice
RESEARCH-CREATION
Artistic Practice as a Mode of Knowledge Production
Curated by Lucia Di Pietro, with Ginevra Ghiaroni and Sara Tammone.
Artistic practice is more than an object of research: it can itself become a method of inquiry and a way of producing knowledge. Drawing on the experience of the three researchers, who all take part in PerLa – Performance Epistemologies Research Lab at Iuav University of Venice, the session introduces the field of research-creation, exploring how artistic experimentation and theoretical reflection can develop within a single research process. An opportunity to question the forms of knowledge that emerge through making, experience and experimentation, and the specific contribution artistic practices bring to new research methodologies.
5.30–6.30H | Round table
RESEARCH IS NOT NEUTRAL
Access, Inequality and the Conditions of Artistic Research
The opportunity to devote oneself to artistic research is not equally distributed. Economic conditions, social background, access to resources and systems of recognition all shape who can embark on a research path, with how much autonomy and at what cost. A conversation that brings together different experiences and perspectives to question the inequalities running through artistic work: which obstacles remain invisible? Which conditions of privilege do we take for granted? And what shared responsibilities might emerge from acknowledging these differences?
From 7PM | Aperitivo and FAROUT Live Arts Festival
The day continues with an informal gathering and FAROUT performances: another way to be together, engage with artistic practices and share the closing of the festival. At 8.30pm, Motus presents Io vomito Yuan.
PROGRAM DAY #2
Institutions, Infrastructures and Ecosystems
2PM | Opening keynote
Rethinking the Conditions for Artistic Research
Speakers to be announced.
The second day of DESIRE RESIDE shifts the focus from artistic practices to the organisational, economic and political conditions that allow them to develop. A reflection on the role of cultural institutions, on how resources are distributed, and on the need to build tools and models that can support research beyond the logic of immediate output.
2.30–3.30PM | Panel
RETHINKING CULTURAL POLICY
Artistic Research and the European Cultural Agenda
Speakers to be announced.
What place does artistic research hold in European cultural policy? And what tools are needed to sustain its continuity, autonomy and capacity for experimentation? The panel brings together perspectives on the role of public policy, funding programmes and international cooperation in shaping the conditions under which artistic research can develop. A conversation on the priorities of European cultural agendas and on the possibility of building support mechanisms that recognise the value of research processes, even when they do not lead to immediate or predetermined results.
3.30–4.30H | Panel
BEYOND DISCIPLINES
Residencies as Infrastructures for Artistic Research
With Oana Simionescu, Katharina Scriba, Irene Calderoni and more speakers to be announced.
What does it mean to design a residency as an infrastructure for artistic research, rather than simply as a space for hosting or production? Drawing on the experiences of international cultural organisations, the panel explores different approaches to building research and residency programmes: from the relationship between disciplines and languages to the ways artists are supported, through to connections with other forms of knowledge, contexts and communities. An exchange on the role of cultural organisations in creating conditions for experimentation, exchange and continuity, and on how research practices can help transform the institutional models that sustain them.
4.30–4.45PM | Coffee break
4.45–6PM | Working tables
FROM QUESTIONS TO COLLECTIVE ACTION
Policies, Artistic Needs and Residency Infrastructures
After two days of discussion, DESIRE RESIDE opens a space for collective work that connects three key dimensions of artistic research: cultural policy, the needs of those who practise it, and the organisations that build its conditions. Three thematic working groups bring together different perspectives and experiences to explore the issues raised during the programme, identify shared needs and challenges, and find possible common ground for collaboration. An opportunity to question the gaps between practices, institutions and cultural policy, and to begin building a shared language around the conditions needed to support artistic research.
From 6PM | Aperitivo and FAROUT Live Arts Festival
Closing the gathering, closing the festival. At 7PM, Motus with Io vomito Yuan and then at 9PM, Lucia Di Pietro with KaraOCHE.
Who’s missing? Bring one more voice
You read the programme and someone who should be there came to your mind? An artist, a space, a collective, an organisation we don’t know, yet. Invite them! DESIRE RESIDE is also about bringing together people who don’t meet often enough. Write to → residenze@base.milano.it