reflexivity – Researching (in/as) Motion

Fiona Bannon Mind the GapSteps Towards Ethical Practice (stEP)

Fiona Bannon Mind the GapSteps Towards Ethical Practice (stEP)
To embark on any discussion of ethics; an idea with no fixed identity, offering no universal givens, and existing in complex relations between people can encourage our use of doctrinary constructs. As we embark upon research projects we need to learn ways to accommodate the constancy of change in relation with the context we work in, the ideas we explore and those we work alongside. Ethical relations are lively; they exist beyond any written and approved plan and any institutional protocol for research. This is where ethics become interesting, this is where we have research practice and behaviour to explore.
Franc Chamberlain Start SomewhereMemories, Sensations, Speculations, and Practice Research

Franc Chamberlain Start SomewhereMemories, Sensations, Speculations, and Practice Research
Starting ‘somewhere’ and modelling some of the things we might do at the beginning of a practice research project in order to put things in motion, this self-reflexive text draws on autobiographical memories to suggest ways in which these might be used in generating further lines of embodied inquiry.
Thomas Kampe Body-Soma-SelfRe-embodying Dance Research

Thomas Kampe Body-Soma-SelfRe-embodying Dance Research
This chapter discusses possibilities and workings of critical somatic arts research from a practitioner perspective. The author debates questions, processes and problems concerning his research towards the integration of somatic processes within performance- making and training contexts. The chapter gives an insight into issues arising from the application of Feldenkrais Method®, a key twentieth century somatic modality, as preparatory, enactive tuning and emancipatory ethical process within performing arts research.
Alys Longley Reflections on Smudge Skittlean inventory of resources entangling artistic practice and writing

Alys Longley Reflections on Smudge Skittlean inventory of resources entangling artistic practice and writing
In artistic research, the value of intuitive, playful and unpredictable studio methods is well accepted (Ellis 2016, Melrose 2007). In some circumstances, traditional academic forms of writing and the values underpinning them – of proof, explanation, analysis and rational linear argument, may constrain, rather than enable, creative research. This resource reflects on writing practices that could be particularly suited to practice-led researchers, emphasizing the vitality of language and interdisciplinary approaches merging writing with drawing, photography or page design which offer playful alternatives to the pre-set rules of thesis structure.

Smudge Skittle (Longley 2018), explores methods of writing that support studio practice through a series of writing tasks, based around 10 provocations for artist-researchers. In 2018, it has been published as 1) A deck of cards 2) A digital website/game 3) the present text in which I discuss this resource in relation to its critical context in the field of artistic research.
Josephine Machon Thinking through Theory

Josephine Machon Thinking through Theory
Drawing on my own experience as a doctoral researcher in contemporary performance as well as my practice as a doctoral supervisor, this article engages with reflections and provocations related to encountering, unpacking, selecting, and applying theoretical materials within the artistic PhD. It pays close attention to; how theory is fundamentally in a symbiotic relationship with practice; how one might inform and modulate the other; how both should be mutually inclusive in process and outcome when researching in the arts. Overall, the article aims to foreground for the artist-researcher the continuum that is thinking in-around through-and-about practice, offering ways to approach articulating those thoughts in writing.
Vida L Midgelow Practice EthicsModelling posthuman entanglements and care in artistic doctorates

Vida L Midgelow Practice EthicsModelling posthuman entanglements and care in artistic doctorates
Drawing together insights from somatic approaches to movement, improvisation, care, and posthumanism this writing proposes ‘Practice Ethics’ that are activated in and by artistic research. Four thematic territories give shape to intersecting and overlapping areas of attention in Practice Ethics, namely: ‘Self-care and Attentiveness’, ‘Other-relatedness and Agency’, ‘Meshwork and Nesting’, ‘Repairs and Eco-ethics’. Through a series of exercises/scores the writing seeks to enable the ‘modelling’ of ethical practices, foregrounding concerns and dilemmas that may arise in embodied research. These ‘modellings’ offer space for undertaking ‘thinking doings’ and might be thought of as training grounds, or as reflective practicums (after Schon), through which it is hoped ethical attentions may be honed as a posthuman matter of care and as a practical, entangled, ongoing activity.
Chrysa Parkinson Art Practice as Eco-System Questionnaire

Chrysa Parkinson Art Practice as Eco-System Questionnaire
A questionnaire designed to research and document the ecology of sense-making in an ongoing artistic practice.