By Jeremy Eaton and Kelly Fliedner
On 28 September, Currents, a new post-graduate arts research journal, was launched through the Centre of Visual Art (CoVA) at the University of Melbourne by editors Kelly Fliedner and Jeremy Eaton. This new initiative, established between CoVA and the School of Design, University of Western Australia, draws on a broad range of arts-based research to form an interdisciplinary, supportive and valuable platform, which highlights the rigorous inquiries being undertaken by emerging scholars. The journal has been developed by an editorial that is either undertaking, or has recently completed, post graduate research, which has necessarily shaped and formed the initiative and its unique publishing processes.
Early in the journal’s development many on the editorial had identified a gap in possible outlets for experimental research being done by ECR’s across the two universities, and also, a lack of exchange occurring between discrete disciplines and institutions. This was an opportunity to break down some of these barriers and connect people and places through practice, language and ideas. As an initial step towards forming these conversations and as preamble to Currents, theatre student Jonathan Graffam published VIBE: Southbank Arts Review. VIBE provided an overview of the experimental, inquisitive research that was occurring across the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, at the University of Melbourne, and demonstrated the capacity for interdisciplinary platforms to break open the ‘silos’ that we can often find ourselves in the arts.
Whilst VIBE provided a valuable overview, Currents expands on specific research outcomes and capitalizes on the possibilities pointed at through VIBE, by reimagining the traditional academic publication processes in-line with the experimentation of the disciplines we find ourselves in. As Currents developed throughout 2020 we found that the potential of a digital publishing platform, the difficulties presented by new (and no doubt ongoing) social, economic and health issues and the role peer-review processes can play in experimental spaces necessarily shape this initiative.
Given the diversity of submissions that we have received under the interdisciplinary remit of Currents we have moved towards a model that approaches the peer-review process as a more collaborative, conversational and open ended process, shifting the hierarchies of standard double-blind peer-review that is derived from the sciences. This openness of approach has allowed us to cater to the diverse approaches, voices and understanding of research that occurs in contemporary creative, theoretical and historiographic practice, generating important dialogues between ECR’s and professionals in the field. Taken further, Currents looks to the malleable approaches of publishing afforded by a digital space. As each annual issue is serialised by the cessation of a calendar year. Working on other research initiatives, we have witnessed the negative impact hard publishing deadlines can have on the quality of the review process, as well as the rigour of the authors responses, and thus an open ended publishing approach allows us to work closely with authors, their writing and circumstances, to see their contributions to completion at the highest possible standard.
As Currents further develops, we look to incorporate reviews, interviews and even more creative submissions and experimental approaches to research from emerging scholars. Navigating the relatively emerging terrain of the diverse approaches we anticipate receiving will further prompt and develop our editorial approach to arts-based inquiries into the new social, political and creative conditions we find ourselves in.
The website for the journal is currentsjournal.net and an online version of Vibe: Southbank Arts Review can be found here: https://issuu.com/jonathan.graffam/docs/vibe_magazine
Jeremy Eaton is an artist and writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. Jeremy is the co-editor of Currents, gallery coordinator of KINGS Artist-Run, the editorial coordinator of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art and an editorial committee member of un Magazine. Jeremy has exhibited throughout Australia participating in exhibitions at Sarah Scout Presents, Dominik Mersch Gallery, West Space, BUS Projects, CAVES, Margaret Lawrence Gallery and the Centre for Contemporary Photography. Jeremy has also written extensively for artists, galleries and publications including: the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Art + Australia, un Projects and Gertrude Contemporary.
Kelly Fliedner is a Perth-based writer and curator who is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Western Australia in the School of Design. Her research is, in a broad sense, interested in the discourses of postcolonialism and decolonisation as they manifest in, and are related to, contemporary art of South Asia. She is also the editor of Semaphore, a publication about art from Western Australia and convenes the Perth Festival’s Visual Art Writing Group. Kelly has worked for a broad range of organisations as a writer, artist, curator and editor including the Perth Festival, Tura New Music, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Sydney Biennale, Next Wave Festival and West Space.