Working group 1

The arts-based research methods workshop is devoted to hands-on engagement
with the substance crude oil through artistic experiments conducted
in the University’s laboratories.

Workshop leader: Ernst Logar (AT)
Participants: Marina Fraga (BR), Patrick Jasek (AT), Karez Abdulhameed (IQ), Herwig Steiner (AT), Herwig Turk (AT), Andrei Molodkin (FR), 

The participants worked individually as well as collectively on artistic works with crude oil and other cultural substances. Andrei Molodkin continued his critical work on Russia entitled “Putin” in the form of screen prints with blood and crude oil.

Mari Fraga and Karez Abdulhameed worked with salt and crude oil, documenting the flow behaviour of oil through the medium of video. Mari Fraga also worked on microscopic images of microorganisms and crude oil. Karez Abdulhameed worked on image-text collages with crude oil and bitumen. Patrick Jasek created collages and experimented with various substances and materials, such as honey, shredded money, crude oil, and bitumen. The visibility of crude oil was a central topic of Herwig Steiner’s entertaining silkscreen work, “Hello, my name is Peter Lumo”. Herwig Turk dealt with the laboratory process and documented traces of the working process. Together with Patrick Jasek, he created a “primordial soup” from a wide variety of solids and substances and tracked its progress over time.

The experiments of the participants dealt with different content and aesthetic levels of the substance crude oil, which will be further pursued and published in the project publication (2023).