Agnieszka Karasch

Introduction

Agnieszka Karasch is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Research Institute, Uniarts Helsinki. She holds a PhD from Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, and an MA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Her artistic research is rooted in performance drawing and phenomenology, with her main work being Reciprocal Drawing (RD), a collaborative method that integrates contact-based performative strategies with Laban Movement Analysis, diagrams, and structured scores. The method enables the co-creation of large-format embodied drawings that finely reflect the complexities of social-relational dynamics. In her solo practice, Agnieszka creates life-size drawings based on the body's geometry, actions, and gestures. Her research interests include postconsensual collaboration, agonism, reciprocity, and play-related strategies of conflict and control. Drawing from the philosophies of M. Merleau-Ponty, J.- L. Nancy, and E. Levinas, she currently explores RD in broader social-educational contexts, focusing on triadic touch and its ethical implications in artist education. In her research, she also examines the diverse pedagogies of performance drawing, specifically performance art-based methodologies in higher arts education and drawing instruction, including their educational and ethical implications. Her research is a part of the Artist Pedagogy project at Uniarts Helsinki.

Agnieszka is a trained LMA/LBMS movement analyst. Her daily physical practice is rooted in Ashtanga and Iyengar yoga, Contact Improvisation, and Grotowski actor's training. With over 20 years of pedagogical experience, she has taught internationally and founded Designo – Foundation for Visual Arts. Agnieszka has lectured at the Academy of Specialized Pedagogy in Warsaw and the German-Polish Willy-Brandt School. She is affiliated with the Society of Artistic Research in Germany and the Draw-to-Perform international community of artists.

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6633-2436