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).

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KEEP COMPANY

In archaic terms, the word conversation carries the meaning of the place where one lives or dwells, from conversari — to live, dwell, live with, to keep company with. Conversation as a practice then for dwelling or residing (in language). Conversation — to turn about with, from com- meaning with, together and versare, to turn or bend. Conversation increases the potential for twists and turns of thought, where the trajectory of one’s thinking might be thrown unexpectedly off course by the other’s interjection or response. Interject — to throw between, impel, to set in motion. Yet the sudden twist of thinking might also refer to more than a moment of turn. Twist has its origins in the act of dividing or separating (in two) as well as the combining of two into one, like when spinning two or more strands of yarn to make a single thread or rope. In conversation, the singular thread of one thinking-speaking subject becomes twisted with the yarn of the other’s turn of phrase and thought. Conversation might require the blending of subjectivities in hope of a shared language, the making of a shared world. Blend — to mix in such a way as to mingle, becoming inextinguishable. Here, conversation is not owned by one or the other speaking subject nor is it even produced between, rather it belongs to the event of conversation itself. Towards the building of mutual trust. To trust the other, trust the process, trust the practice. Trust — to rely on the veracity or integrity of someone or something. Yet this trust is less about having confidence in the capacity of one’s own words, self-assuredness on the part of the individual speaker. Rather it comes from one’s willingness to let go or become less guarded in one’s speech, to enjoy the confidence of another, the private intimacy of conversation held in confidence.

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

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