RECOGNISABLE ONLY WHEN FOUND
The artist works from her experience of not knowing to create something not known. Artistic experimentation differs from those pursuits that are intent on the expansion of knowledge, on moving from a state of not knowing to that of knowing more. Rather, for the artist, the aim might be to summon into being something unbounded or even wild, resistant to easy assimilation by existing categories or names. The artist nurtures the liminal conditions of between-ness, where things remain suspended — no longer and not yet. The artist has a job to do, a role to perform. Her task is to keep the situation alive, endlessly bringing into being while disallowing the telos of an end. An attempt is made to resist resolution, not to allow the work to become too quickly fixed into definitive form. This is not to privilege the process above the product but rather to dispense of these categories altogether, since here they no longer serve. The work of art is the work of art. What is encountered is the endeavour of practice, where the means are not separable from the end. The working of the work (its moments of epiphany and revelation) can be unpredictable, unforeseeable in advance. Known only when seen, recognisable only when found. Necessarily then, the artist proceeds somewhat blindly, in the absence of a clear plan. Purposefully beginning without clear aim, or else purpose is accidentally found, discovered only in the process of its becoming. This is not to say that artistic work is vague or imprecise, is unthinking or impulsive. Rather, because she does not yet know what she is searching for, the artist remains vigilant and alert, attentive and receptive to the possibilities within every instant. Too strong her intent, she misses the kairos.
From Emma Cocker, How Do You Do? (Nottingham: Beam Editions, 2023)