Artistic Research Does #7 - 'Tactics for Not Knowing' by Emma Cocker

This research exposition is conceived in conjunction with the publication, Artistic Research Does #7 (2023), which presents a translation of Emma Cocker’s essay ‘Tactics for Not Knowing: Preparing for the Unexpected’, originally published in Elizabeth Fisher and Rebecca Fortnum, (eds.) On Not Knowing: How Artists Think, (Black Dog Publishing, 2013). See https://i2ads.up.pt/publicacoes/artistic-research-does-7/ In addition to the translation and re-publication of the original text, the revised version of ‘Tactics for Not Knowing’ in Artistic Research Does #7 offers two further interventions in the form of annotations. In one column of margin notes, Cocker shares additional reflections, referring to some of her more recent artistic research projects and collaborations that continue to resonate with the concerns of the original text. In parallel, a second column of margin notes comprises the titles of additional pieces of contiguous writing drawn from two collections of Cocker’s writing, The Yes of the No (2016) and How Do You Do? (2023). Within this online version these margin notes include hyperlinks that enable the reader to access these different thought-fragments of writing. Artistic Research Does is edited by Catarina Almeida, André Alves. Artistic Research Does is published by i2ADS – Institute of Research in Art, Design and Society is a R&D unit based at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto (FBAUP), financed by the Portuguese agency Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

→

DELICATE DISOBEDIENCE

Refusal of the given — to cause to give, to break down, collapse, give way. Undo so that one might begin anew. Deviate intent. Swerve of function. Material misdirection of how things are. Cut a crooked path. Set off course. Imbalance. Unsettle. Delicate disobedience. Quiet refusal to fit the existing mould. Generate surplus. Operate in excess. Or wilfully fall short of the established standards. Fail to conform. Act with gentle impropriety. Instigate irregularity. Invite imperfection. Harness the (im)potency of the wrong or wry. Bend the rules, softly, with care. Yet the pledge of care can soon shift towards that of management, towards a taking-care of which can all too easily become control. Consider the proximity of care and cure. Thin is the line that differentiates the potency of the uncontrolled or uncontrollable from the impotency of that which lacks control or power.

From Emma Cocker, How Do You Do? (Nottingham: Beam Editions, 2023)

Tip

Tip