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Missä kulkevat elävää materiaalia hyödyntävän biotaiteen rajat? Millaista tietoa jää tieteellisen tutkimustyön ulkopuolelle? Miten biotaide voidaan muuttaa taidelähtöisten menetelmien kautta tiedoksi ja taiteelliseksi ajatteluksi? Esimerkiksi näihin kysymyksiin etsii vastausta Lapin yliopiston taiteiden tiedekuntaan vuonna 2021 perustettu BioARTech-laboratorio, joka tutkii biotaidetta ja sen yhtymäkohtia taiteeseen ja tutkimukseen. Laboratorio tukee biotaiteen, muodin, tekstiilitaiteen, luovan tutkimuksen (art-based method, art-based research), biotekniikan ja tieteen välistä tutkimustyötä. Keskeistä BioARTech-laboratorion toteuttamissa kenttätutkimuksissa ja laboratorion taiteilija-tutkijoiden käyttämissä taidelähtöisissä menetelmissä on poikkitieteellisyys ja pyrkimys kohti kestäviä prosesseja. Biotaiteen avulla voidaan kehittää innovatiivista suunnittelua luonnon ja ei-inhimillisen kanssa sekä saada aikaan uusia suunnitteluratkaisuja, prosesseja ja muutoksia yhteistyössä lappilaisten yritysten kanssa. BioARTech-laboratorion päätutkijat ovat tekstiilialan professori Heidi Pietarinen, palvelumuotoilun professori, dekaani Satu Miettinen ja dosentti Melanie Sarantou, jotka tarkastelevat biotaidetta eri näkökulmista taidelähtöisissä tutkimuksissaan.

The thematic number on Art(s) as Social Sculpture in the Research in Arts Education (RAE)journal focuses on socially engaged art practices and research for using arts to overcome societalchallenges. We present and discuss a variety of artistic and arts-based studies and innovativearts-based practices. While the RAE welcomes research papers on all arts disciplines (visualarts, music, dance and other performative arts, their theories, practices and education), thisnumber focuses on socio-political contemporary art and artistic interventions in communities,such as care institutions, villages and educational organisations and networks.The call for research articles, practise-based reports and visual essays was based on theproject Acting on the Margins: Arts as a social sculpture (AMASS) in 2020–2023. The projectseeks to analyse, synthesise and promote the role of arts in societal challenges. The Universityof Lapland, located in Lapland in Finland, leads the research consortium. Local, regional andnational research and development projects from different parts of Europe are brought intointernational discussion in the AMASS project and also in this number of the RAE journal.

Raphael Vella and Milosh Raykov from the University of Malta co-edited a special issue of MRER focusing on ‘Socially engaged art and global challenges’. This Special Issue of MRER brings together several scholars and artists from AMASS and aims to present arts-based research with persons affected by discrimination in daily life and/or educational contexts, as well as evaluations of cultural policies related to cultural inclusion and challenges of marginalised members of society. The first three articles discuss AMASS studies in three different contexts: Finland, Malta and Portugal. They describe and analyse the role of participants in arts-based research, artistic processes and evidence of research outcomes. The article by Mirja Hiltunen, Pieta Koskenniemi and Melanie Sarantou from the University of Lapland presents the work of researchers, artists and art educators involved in promoting different forms of dialogue and interaction amongst people living in Rovaniemi. The article by Isabelle Gatt, Milosh Raykov and Raphael Vella (University of Malta) presents some data emerging from the University of Malta's AMASS pilot study, which focused on misinformation and stigma affecting persons living with HIV. The article by Ângela Saldanha, Teresa Eça, Célia Ferreira and Raquel Balsa from APECV in Portugal asks how researchers in the arts and education can develop collaborative projects and other interventions with marginalised communities. Inspired by Freire's ideas about popular education, APECV's research develops new ways of understanding learning encounters. The fourth article by Zsófia Somogyi-Rohonczy and Andrea Kárpáti (Ludwig Museum Budapest and ELTE Doctoral School of Education, and Corvinus University Budapest, respectively) presents methods used to mentor art educators working with socially disadvantaged children and youth who rarely visit art exhibitions and cultural institutions. The last three articles present different perspectives on generating cultural policy recommendations, particularly during workshops with stakeholders involved in the field of culture, social work and the arts. Melanie Sarantou and Mira Alhonsuo (both from the University of Lapland) and Carolina Gutierrez Novoa, and Silvia Remotti (both members of PACO Design Collaborative in Italy) write about the generation of data about policymaking during stakeholder workshops that made use of participatory service design. Making use of online platforms, Raphael Vella and Karsten Xuereb first introduce Malta's new national cultural policy (2021) and underline references to inclusion and other challenges associated with discrimination within a broad theoretical framework informed by intersectionality. Their article then presents a bottom-up approach that engages stakeholders directly in online workshops in which opportunities for cultural inclusion and specific challenges are discussed. Finally, Karsten Xuereb's article also analyses Malta's cultural policy, focusing on issues of diversity, sustainable development and investments in research that can inform cultural policy.