For Geneviève Boucher and Marc Charron, this question is central to “research-creation.” At the University of Ottawa Faculty of Arts, creation doesn’t just serve to transmit knowledge — it can also help produce it.
This reality has now been recognized in a new position title, “vice dean of research and creation.”
We spoke to Geneviève Boucher, who holds this vice-deanship, and Marc Charron, dean, about the meaning of research-creation and its importance for the future of research.
Why add “creation” to the name of the vice-deanship?
MC: This change reflects a reality that already exists in the Faculty. Creation holds a key place in research activities in several of our disciplines, be it visual arts, theatre, creative writing or translation.
GB: Research-creation has existed for a long time in Canadian universities and has been recognized by granting agencies for two decades. So it’s not introducing something new but, rather, formally recognizing a practice that’s already contributing to advancing knowledge.
MC: Adding the word “creation” allows, above all, for consideration of the diverse ways knowledge is created in the Faculty of Arts.
How does-research-creation produce knowledge?
GB: Through artistic practice, new ways of thinking about complex issues can emerge. Emerita Professor Catherine Richards’ work This Isn't All the Hearts That I Have is a good illustration of research-creation. A collaboration at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital brought Richards together with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, cardiologists, philosophers and others to explore the many dimensions of heart transplantation. Since then, her work has continually raises questions of identity, memory, and the profound experience of giving, receiving, and sharing life through transplant.
GB: Research-creation allows her to bring together many forms of knowledge related to the same question. She creates a dialogue between art, science, philosophy and the human experience based on artistic installations.
MC: In research, it’s easy to understand how theory nurtures practice. Research creation reminds us that practice also nurtures theory. The creative process can bring out new questions, new ideas and new ways of understanding a phenomenon.
It also leads us to work at the crossroads of several disciplines. Research-creation encourages dialogue among disciplines and helps to address complex issues from different perspectives.
“In research, it’s easy to understand how theory nurtures practice. Research creation reminds us that practice also nurtures theory.”
Marc Charron
— Dean, Faculty of Arts
What’s the connection between creation and innovation?
MC: We frequently associate innovation with technology. Yet innovation is more than just technological progress. It also starts with an idea, intuition or new way of understanding the world.
In an environment where technology is evolving rapidly and we speak a lot about artificial intelligence, creation reminds us of the importance of human intelligence. It allows us to take a step back and reflect on what these changes mean for the human experience.
GB: The creative process allows us to question these changes and make sense of them. It helps us reflect on their human and social reach.
Creation and innovation are both based on exploration, imagination and the search for new perspectives. We seek to understand, to push boundaries and to make something new emerge.
“Creation and innovation are both based on exploration, imagination and the search for new perspectives. We seek to understand, to push boundaries and to make something new emerge.”
Geneviève Boucher
— Vice-Dean, Research and Creation
What does the next generation of researchers and creators look like?
GB: We’re seeing increasing interest in approaches that combine research and creation. Today’s students want to think, experiment and create at the same time. Research-creation gives them new ways of exploring the world.
They arrive very curious and wishing to take on current challenges. They’re looking for ways to bring about a dialogue among reflection, research and creative practice to better understand the issues around them.
MC: What I find striking is their ease in moving between disciplines. They don’t always ask themselves if an idea belongs to the arts, to the humanities or to another field. They’re more interested in the question they’re trying to explore.
The major challenges of our era are complex and require that we approach them from multiple perspectives. The new generation understands this very well. It’s less attached to borders between disciplines and considers it natural for creation to be a way to produce, understand and share knowledge.
