Bohr Archive - research proposal

This proposal is for a period of research and development in which I will investigate observation theory – and how it may have thematic resonance with identity formation - through my visual arts practice. I will undertake a period of research-through-practice at the Bohr Archive in Copenhagen from 17th to 21st December 2018.

Meeting with Dr Christian Joas, Copenhagen, August 2018

The artist sits at Bohr's desk, Copenhagen, August 2018

In August 2018 I met with Dr Christian Joas, Director and Robert James Sunderland, Archivist at the Niels Bohr archive in Copenhagen. We discussed access to the archive for me to undertake some research and the potential to develop a project with them. This proposal is for the initial, week-long research trip from Monday 17th – Friday 21st December 2018.
​
The Niels Bohr Archive is located at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. It holds extensive archival material documenting the life and work of Niels Bohr who was fundamental in founding modern quantum physics.
​
During my visit I will undertake a number of research activities:

1. Draw some of the artefacts. My first research methodology is to apply the practical act of drawing - which is commonly theorised as a way of understanding and knowing the world and its contents - to the apparatus that Bohr and his students used. This is also a way of building my own sense of Bohr as a person and to further build my own sense of self as an artist.
2. Undertake audio recordings of interviews and conversations. My second research activity is to observe the people and their relationship to the archive through audio interviews about their own personal histories and begin to build my place amount the archive’s users.
   
3. Photograph places of interest (including Niels Bohr's study). The third strand of investigation will be photographing other places of significance to Bohr (in Copenhagen) - and perhaps placing myself within those images - playing with ideas of performance and documentation.