Network for Artistic Research (NfAR)
NfAR fosters artistic research across the arts, serving as a vibrant platform for sharing ideas, building community, and advancing knowledge within and beyond Uniarts Helsinki.
Who we are
NfAR is a dynamic network dedicated to the development and promotion of artistic research as a vital innovative practice. Over the past three decades, artistic research has evolved into a reflective discipline that critically examines its own methods and impact, deepening our conceptual, cultural, and practical understanding of the arts. Our mission is to support this growth by connecting researchers, facilitating dialogue, and highlighting the societal relevance of artistic inquiry.
Contact information
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Anita Seppä
Professor, Tutkimusinstituutti, Research Institute+358413135564anita.seppa@uniarts.fi
News and highlights
Past events
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Writing as Artistic Research seminar
What is writing as a form of artistic research and what could it be? How do the methods, criteria and objectives of written artistic research differ from creative writing? What about literary humanities research? What does literary artistic research have to offer to readers, writers and critics?
Our community and activities
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Research Pavilion
The sixth Uniarts Research Pavilion in Helsinki marks the 10th anniversary of the Research Pavilion project, an international and cross-institutional platform for artistic research. RP#6 presents a string of events during the summer and autumn of 2025 that highlight the rich variety of research activities in the field of arts. The sixth Research Pavilion is funded by Niilo Helanderin säätiö.
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What is artistic research?
Art offers a premise and an aim for research: a motive, a terrain, a context and a whole range of methods.
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Defining artistic research: Creating knowledge through art
Over the last three decades, artistic research has matured into a self-critical practice that also examines its own conditions of realization, contributing to deeper conceptual, cultural, and practical insights.
Publications and networks
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Summer Academy for Artistic research (SAAR)
SAAR provides a supportive setting where artist-researchers from all fields collaborate, present their on-going artistic work, and research and receive feedback from experienced tutors and peers from leading academic art institutions.
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Ruukku – Studies in Artistic Research
An international journal hosted by the Uniarts Helsinki, Aalto Arts, and the University of Lapland.
About our research
Here you’ll find some examples of our research projects.
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ExoSound
The research project investigates and develops artistic, technological and social prospects for participatory electronic sound arts that take place outdoors.
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Nordic-Baltic Transdisciplinary Research-Creation Network
An association of artists and researchers who foster cooperation between arts and academia in the Nordic-Baltic region by implementing a transdisciplinary research-creation cluster, and disseminating its practices through a series of events, workshops, and publications.
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Active Acoustic Augmented Instruments
The project aims to create a seamless integration of acoustic and electronic sound into a single instrumental entity.
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Active Acoustics – Smart Audio objects at the Interface of the Material and the Digital
Academy of Finland Key Project by Otso Lähdeoja, targets the development of pioneering audio applications combining structure-borne sound and sensor technology into a set of Active Acoustic Objects at the interface of the material and the digital.
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The Sense of Common Self
The project is an inquiry through aurally-informed aesthetic research practices into the collective emergence of sense.