The Faculty of Art and Design at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) will host the 2025 Annual Research Conference at the esteemed Capital Pearls Hotel in Umhlanga from 12 to 14 November 2025, the conference is themed ‘The obstacle becomes the way: Creative practice as pathfinding’.
According to Dr. Moodley the meaning behind the theme is that “In times of exhaustion, rupture, and uncertainty, creative practice becomes a method for navigating complexity not by bypassing the obstacle, but by moving with and through it”.
This conference is in accordance with DUT’s strategic commitment to the advancement of arts and culture, and it emphasizes sustainable, collaborative, and creative approaches that are rooted in context and care. “We are particularly interested in how research that is rooted in local contexts plays a pivotal role in valuing indigenous knowledge systems to address scalable, impactful societal challenges not only towards South Africa’s but also towards the continent’s socio-economic advancement. Rooted in artographic thinking, this year’s theme embraces creativity as a living, relational practice. Obstacles are not simply problems to be solved, but processes that shape how we learn, adapt and create meaning”, Dr. Moodley elaborates.
Day one of the conference will feature Prof. Alison Kearney who is Head of Art History and Theory, Department of Visual Art, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg. She is a Johannesburg based artist, researcher and arts educator with a multi-disciplinary research praxis focused on exploring epistemologies of art. Her keynote address is “Asking Better Questions: Strategies for enhancing our creative research practices”. Day one will cover presentations on the sub-theme ‘Being in Practice’.
On day two, the keynote speaker will be Prof Sharlene Khan who is a South African visual artist – whose multi-media artwork focus on the socio-political realities of a post-apartheid society and the intersectionality of race-gender-class. Her keynote address is: “Creative research as obstacle; Obstacle as creative research”. Sub-themes covered on this day include “Peace, Ethics and Human Rights’, “Creative Kinship and Care” and “(Re) Surfacing. A special feature on the programme for the day is a Young Scholars Forum, where postgraduate students will present and interrogate their research amongst peers.
The keynote speaker on day three is Prof. Sarahleigh Castelyn a performer, choreographer, and researcher; a dance nerd. She is an Associate Professor/ Reader in Performing Arts in the School of Arts and Creative Industries at the University of East London (UK) and is Research Degree Leader for the School too. Her research focuses on race, gender, sexuality, and nation in apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, the politics of hybridity, and the use of practice as a research methodology. Her keynote address is titled “You can’t go under it; You can’t go over it; You’ve just got to go through it: Using practice research to find the way”. The last day of the conference will include presentations covering the sub-themes “Learning Anew” and “Holding Culture”.
“The Faculty invites creators, educators, researchers and practitioners to reflect on how creative practice offers not only expression, but a way of navigating complexity. We invite exploration of how research — in and across disciplines — responds to and is reshaped by the challenges of our time. We aim to bring together the transformative power of scholars to share their creative engagement with global challenges and existential experience”, said Dr Moodley.
Pictured: Dr Dianna Moodley and conference attendees in 2024.
Image by Nondumiso Sibiya.
Isiphile Mathenjwa
