The idea(l) of research

This article discusses institutionalized research in the context of the Performing Arts and the Humanities today. It argues that the term “research” is used frequently for profiling institutions but is rarely reflected upon for providing an understanding of what it is, which contributes to homogenizing and canonizing what (artistic) research means and how it can function in the neoliberal context. As a result, the expression of force and desire of research to search and invent are compromised. Against this background, the article claims that the gap between research as an idea(l), a process and force, and research as an institutional undertaking or as product, should be persevered, in order for research to invent, interrogate and play a role within the political and public sphere it is part of.