Hoi! Mijn naam is Veerle Spronck. Ik ben een onderzoeker op het grensvlak tussen kunst, wetenschap en technologie. Ik werk als Associate Lector ‘Waarde(n)vol Ondernemen in en door de Kunsten’ bij HKU. Daar doe ik onderzoek naar de maatschappelijke waarde(n) en impact van de kunsten. In de praktijk betekent dat dat ik transdisciplinaire artistiek onderzoeksprojecten doe en leid die zich richten op maatschappelijke kwesties zoals digitaal burgerschap, de rol van ecologie in design, of ‘goede’ zorg.
Voortbouwend op mijn interdisciplinaire achtergrond in kunstgeschiedenis, Science & Technology Studies en artistic research zorg ik ervoor dat de onderzoeksmethodes die ik gebruik meebewegen met en goed luisteren naar de praktijk in kwestie. Onderzoek hoeft niet altijd te resulteren in geschreven tekst – soms past een tentoonstelling, tekenen of etudes maken beter.
In aanvulling op mijn onderzoek doceer ik één dag in de week binnen de HKU Bachelor Design for Change and Innovation, waar ik de Minor Creative Research for Change ontwikkelde en coördineer. Daarnaast ben ik een van de makers van de podcast Kunstmatig over kunst en technologie waarin we alles bespreken van BioArt tot glitch breien.
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In my research I am concerned with the societal and epistemological value of the arts. How can the arts contribute to social change? What kinds of knowledge are created in and through the arts? And how can the research methods from the arts inspire the sciences?
I investigate what opaque themes such as ‘innovation’, ‘participation’, ‘digitalisation’, ‘impact’ and ‘transdisciplinary collaboration’ actually mean in practice and how they challenge existing ideas about artistic quality and knowledge.
I investigate what opaque themes such as ‘innovation’, ‘participation’, ‘digitalisation’, ‘impact’ and ‘transdisciplinary collaboration’ actually mean in practice and how they challenge existing ideas about artistic quality and knowledge.
A selection of projects︎︎︎
2023
ON the LINE - The art of digital citizenship
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An artistic research project on the (in)visible relations between human and digital technology in the Utrecht public library.
Read more ︎︎︎
2022
The Very Specific Guide to Anywhere![]()
A surrealist travel guide that can be used anywhere. It is a tool that challenges (artistic) researchers to question the role of their smartphone in conducting fieldwork.
2021
Knitting Technology
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What do knitting and computing have in common? Artists combine textiles and technology to challenge assumptions, gender bias, and to develop new ways of activism. Read more ︎︎︎
2016
Between Art and Academia
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Doing a PhD in and through the arts is becoming increasingly common in the Netherlands. How do artistic researchers create work that can be evaluated with regards to both academic and artistic criteria? Read more ︎︎︎
2023
ON the LINE - The art of digital citizenship
An artistic research project on the (in)visible relations between human and digital technology in the Utrecht public library.
Read more ︎︎︎
2022
The Very Specific Guide to Anywhere
A surrealist travel guide that can be used anywhere. It is a tool that challenges (artistic) researchers to question the role of their smartphone in conducting fieldwork.
2021
Knitting Technology
What do knitting and computing have in common? Artists combine textiles and technology to challenge assumptions, gender bias, and to develop new ways of activism. Read more ︎︎︎
2016
Between Art and Academia
Doing a PhD in and through the arts is becoming increasingly common in the Netherlands. How do artistic researchers create work that can be evaluated with regards to both academic and artistic criteria? Read more ︎︎︎
2017 - 2022
Listen Closely: Innovating Audience Participation in Symphonic Music
PhD research on how Dutch symphony orchestras innovate the role of their audience in their everyday practices and how this challenges existing (aesthetic) norms and values. Read more ︎︎︎
2017 - 2022
Artful Participation: Doing Artistic Research with Symphonic Music Audiences
Overarching NWO/SIA project in which a transdisciplinary team experimented with new artistically relevant forms of audience participation in orchestral practice. Read more ︎︎︎
2016 - 2017
Drawing Instruments, or how to calibrate an artist?
What do artistic researchers actually do? And how can we talk about their work in a productive way? To gain a perspective on this practice, in this project we used the metaphor of the research instrument. Read more ︎︎︎