Ecologies of Dissemination: decolonial knowledge practice, feminist methodology and Open Access

Abstract

The aim of the artistic research Ecologies of Dissemination is to explore potential strategies of dissemination that acknowledge the tensions and overlaps between feminist methodologies, decolonial knowledge practices and principles of Open Access.

Invested in collective art and knowledge practices, we are concerned with how the current drive to openness in dissemination policies might overlook relational aspects. Open Access policies, for example, tend not to recognize that knowledge practices are situated in contingent social and historical conditions. How can we develop non-universalist policies, agreements, frameworks, licences that consider that there might be ethical reasons to refrain from release and re-use? The purpose is (i) to understand, describe and exhibit the intricacies and porosity of feminist decolonial knowledge practices, (ii) to investigate the defaults of openness and transparency that have different consequences in different contexts, (iii) to develop a framework, a licence, a code of practice that will foster new ways of sharing and disseminating research and which can be used for future research dissemination. The research is funded by the Swedish Research Council and will be conducted by Eva Weinmayr (lead researcher) and Femke Snelting (co-researcher) in cooperation with the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, Coventry University (UK) and Constant, a non-profit, artist-run organisation active in the fields of art, feminism, media and technology in Brussels (BE).