激发研究所试图通过与策展人、艺术家、研究员、学者、我们的驻地艺术家以及非艺术领域人士的合作与共构产生相互激发的工作网络和方法。一方面，激发研究所从机构实践的角度开展研究、写作、策展和出版等工作；另一方面，我们在协助驻地艺术家及策展人完成个人驻地研究的同时，主动地将机构项目与他们交流并共享资源。我们相信这两项工作会相辅相成，增加对彼此的刺激和启发。这两条工作脉络会在机构的整体运作下产生多个交汇点和更多层的意义，也描绘出了更加多样的文化地图。
激发研究所提供一个针对在地的和国际的当代艺术讨论、交流、展览的平台，打开具有持续性的在艺术的、策展的、和社会研究领域的讨论以及多种方式的知识生产的可能性。我们侧重于具有流动性的合作和以过程为主导的艺术生产并把项目空间看做艺术家和策展人对美学、空间、社会政治理论的思辨和实现的载体之一。激发研究所在与不同领域的人一起工作的同时，会把国际艺术家介绍到北京并将他们与我们在当地的其它人脉网络相连接。自2009年开展驻地项目以来，我们已为多个国家的艺术工作者提供知识和帮助，长期地积累了学术研究和活动策划的相关经验。
IFP tries to produce inter-provocative working network and methods throughout the cooperation with curators, artists, researchers, its residency artists as well as the people who may work in non-artistic field. Firstly, the IFP organizes research, writing, workshop, curatorial and publication activities based on an institutional perspective; Secondly, while assisting residency artists and curators to complete individual projects during their stays, the IFP shall initiatively exchange the concepts of our institutional practice and share the network with them. We reckon that our trajectories would supplement, inspire and irritate each other. Through these collaborations, we aspire to create plenty of meaningful crossings and drawing a more diverse cultural landscape under the operation of the institute as a whole.
IFP provides a platform for local and international contemporary art discourses, exchanges and exhibitions, opening up possibilities for sustaining dialogues between artistic, curatorial, social research and other modes of knowledge production. We also put emphasis on the fluidness in collaborations. Regarding the exhibition space as being one of the carriers of aesthetic, spatial and sociopolitical speculations explored by artists, we aiming towards a process-driven art making. As the IFP works with people from different backgrounds, we would like to introduce international artists to Beijing and link them to other individuals and organizations within our networks. Since the first year IFP started its residency program in 2009, we have provided knowledge and assistance for artists from all over the world and continuously shared experiences of doing artistic research and curating events and exhibitions.
