Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

NO ART

EDITED BY JESSICA CARMODY, EMMA LIVESEY-GREEN AND SARAH MOULD — Since the publication of our call for submissions in 2025, the debate around art-making and arts research in Australia has only grown louder. As a guest editorial team made up of Higher Degree Researchers and creative practitioners in the arts and humanities, this was not surprising for us. The writing was on the metaphoric gallery wall even as we titled our edition: No Art. Here, we took the trajectory we are on to its obvious final conclusion, even as this future was difficult to contemplate. 

In order for this edition to reach its full potential, we had to demystify the editorial process and let readers of the journal see that ‘an active site of contestation’ (O’Connor 2024, p. 21) is not done in isolation. Instead, arts research is a ‘slow, rigorous and open-ended’ (Macdonald 2025) discussion, during which we must have a ‘tolerance for ambiguity’(Macdonald 2025). It is from this ambiguity that new art is created, and new knowledge about the making of art is created, too.

It was the contributors’ openness to this process that has emboldened us, and given us hope – to be part of an experiment into what it means to make art and be an arts researcher in a world that is continuously creating conditions for No Art is a brave choice. 

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