Universities increasingly ask artists-in-residence and creative faculty to demonstrate "impact" alongside scientists and social scientists. But the tools built for measuring impact — citation counts, journal rankings, grant income — were designed for disciplines that publish in indexed journals. Applying them directly to a solo exhibition or a new dance work produces, at best, a partial picture.
Beyond the Citation Index
Some institutions have developed parallel frameworks that track exhibition history, critical reviews, acquisitions by public collections, and invitations to present at international venues. These are imperfect proxies, but they at least acknowledge that a body of curators, critics and collectors performs a peer-review function of its own — just on a different timescale and through different channels than academic publishing.
Peer Review in Practice-Based Work
Practice-based PhDs typically pair the artwork with a written exegesis, and examiners assess both together. This dual structure allows assessors to evaluate the rigour of the underlying inquiry even where the artwork itself resists conventional description. Increasingly, examiners are also asked to consider documentation — photographs, recordings, audience responses — as part of the submitted "text".
Audience, Reception and Reach
Qualitative impact also includes how audiences respond: attendance figures, but also testimonials, media coverage, and evidence that a work shifted public conversation on its subject. Surveys and post-show discussions are increasingly built into exhibition design specifically to generate this kind of evidence.
Toward a Shared Framework
No single metric will ever capture what a major artwork contributes to a field or to public life. The most promising approaches combine several strands — scholarly, curatorial, and public — into a portfolio-style case, allowing assessors to weigh evidence in context rather than reducing creative impact to a single number.
About Dr. Mira Solheim
Dr. Mira Solheim is an art historian and writer focused on artistic research, Nordic visual culture and the intersection of art with technology and film. She writes for Artistic-Research.no on methodology, institutions and practice.