• RESEARCH

Artist-led • Think Tank • Process • Action

Research has always been central to Robert’s creative practice, whether as a solo artist, company member or festival director. It provided an ongoing space in which ideas, processes, technologies and images could be explored, tested and developed, often without an immediate public outcome.

Over the years, research encompassed technical, conceptual and practical experimentation. Technical sessions explored both lo-tech approaches and emerging media applications; conceptual and theoretical sessions investigated political and cultural territories from which ideas and images could develop; and practical making sessions focused on the hands-on testing and refinement of work. The resulting material was archived, creating an evolving body of knowledge that could inform future projects.

Research sharing provided a space for artistic debate and critical exchange. Artists, presenters, technicians, academics, friends and audience members were brought into the process, with their responses to research and the work it generated becoming part of the investigation itself.

One example is Pacitti’s rolling investigation into death and dying, which began in the late 1990s and continued across three decades. A body of interconnected research and artworks explored both cellular and somatic processes, including the stages a body undergoes during and after death. This involved observational drawing at the Wellcome Museums of Anatomy and Pathology in London, conversations with clinicians and death professionals, and research into the flora and fauna that interact with the body, including forensic entomology.

The research generated a series of public works, including the solo performance Self-Elimination (1999), the large-scale public video work Flirt (1999), and Evidence of Life After Death (2000–2002), which encompassed a publication, film, audio CD and group performance featuring 35 women over the age of 70.

This accumulated research later provided a foundation for further investigations as changes in technology, law and public attitudes opened up new territories around death and dying. Together with Lucy Walker’s lifelong experience as an archaeologist of human remains, the existing body of research and data provided the starting point for a Think Tank research strand, The Art and Science of Living and Dying. Alongside salons, talks and other informal events where the pair introduced their research, public outcomes included the short film Thread (2014), the adult jigsaw puzzle Shared Frameworks (2018), and Zombie (2018), a beer designed to get folk talking about death and dying.

The materials shared here are a small, indicative sample of the research generated over the years. Now held in Robert’s possession, they form part of an accumulated body of knowledge and material that continues to provide a grounding for future work.