In our work we distinguish between research and artistic search as two different entities.
Artistic search has a specific artistic result as a goal, where the process of creation is dependent on the artist's search for personal expression, renewal, or development.
Research, on the contrary, focuses on finding, understanding, and defining work principles in the creative process and is thus not bound to either specific artistic result or artistic choice.
Research follows an empirical process whereby principles are clarified through practical work. In this sense, research takes as its point of departure that which has already been experienced in practice.

The research on the art of the actor is based on a curiosity to explore the human condition. In this regard, the actor's art occupies a unique position among all the other art forms because both instrument and work are the same: the actor. This feature makes the art of the actor particularly suitable as a forum for investigating mechanisms of human creativity.

We distinguish between creativity as a human quality and art as just one of its manifestations. This distinction between art and creativity served as a base for xHCA (questioning Human Creativity as Acting), a research programme at the University of Malta led by Ingemar Lindh between 1995 and 1997. xHCA was a collaborative project with scientists (especially neuroscientists) engaged in investigating human creative capacity and using the experience of research on the art of the actor as reference.

The actor as autonomous artist, responsible for both work process and artistic result, stands at the core of our work. The Institutet's research focuses on identifying and clarifying work principles and procedures that give the actor more autonomy in the creative process, at the same time as facilitating a fruitful dialogue with the director/observer. Our research has been informed by questions such as the presence of the actor, conscious spontaneity, principles of collaboration, and the repetitive character of the art of the actor.