SAR International Conference on Artistic Research
About
SAR hosts an annual international conference dedicated to exploring, advancing, and celebrating artistic research in all its forms. Bringing together artists, researchers, scholars, and practitioners from across disciplines, it is the largest international conference on artistic research and serves as a vibrant meeting point for sharing innovative practices, critical reflections, and new methodologies that emerge when art and research intersect.
Each year’s conference is shaped around a central theme, offering a dynamic platform for dialogue and experimentation that challenges conventional boundaries and expands the possibilities of artistic inquiry.
Save the date: 2026 Conference
Each year, the conference is organised in collaboration with a partner institution, ensuring the event is firmly rooted in the local context and enriched by the partner's insights and areas of specific expertise. These collaborations bring a variety of knowledge, research methods and artistic practices to the event, reflecting the host institution's unique contribution to the field.
The 2026 International Forum on Artistic Research addresses the theme of 'Endangered Conceptual Worlds'. As the 17th conference of the Society for Artistic Research, it will be hosted by the University of Galway from 23 to 26 June 2026. The call for contributions will be published soon! Keep an eye out for more details and subscribe to the newsletter to stay updated.
Previous Conferences
SHARING EXPERIENCES FACE-TO-FACE
SAR's annual international events provide opportunities for mutual exchange, constructive dialogue and critical debate. They convene practitioners, scholars and professionals to showcase exemplary artistic research projects while focusing on key issues facing the international artistic research community.
ARTICULATING INTERESTS AND NEEDS
SAR conferences and forums allow to articulate the needs and represent the interests of artistic researchers and their institutions. As the largest conference on practice-based research through the arts, they also enable engagement with policy makers at local, regional and international levels.
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IN PERSON AND REMOTE ACCESS
The annual conference provides opportunities for exchange, dialogue and debate, in person and remotely. Bringing together leading practitioners, early career researchers, established scholars, distinguished academics, institutional representatives, funding bodies and policy makers.
PARTICIPATION FEES
The SAR Conference is an academic event, but the registration fees are relatively low compared to other academic conferences. We want to make sure that we do not exclude people who do not have a permanent academic position or an institutional affiliation that would cover the cost of the conference fees, so the SAR conference has a reduced fee for participants who are individual SAR members without an institutional affiliation or employment.
SAR CONFERENCE IN NUMBERS
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Existing since 2013 with more than 15 conferences.
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Among others, hosted at the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague), University of the Arts Helsinki (Helsinki), University of Bergen - Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (Bergen), mdw - University of Music and Performing Arts (Vienna), Bauhaus-Universität Weimar (Weimar).
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More than 1500 participants over the years, 35 keynotes by leading practitioners, scholars and policymakers.
MAY 2025 CONFERENCE
BUY A TICKET
The SAR conference offers a reduced fee for participants who are individual SAR members without institutional affiliation or employment. In order to maintain this model, we need the help of people working in institutions to support those who don't have an institutional affiliation, in addition to the financial commitment of the host university.
Registration deadline: April 10th, 2025. Past this date, it is no longer possible to buy a ticket for the 2025 conference edition.
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