SUPPORTING MATERIALS (thinking aesthetic thinking through aesthetic research practices) by Emma Cocker

thinking aesthetic thinking through aesthetic research practices is an artistic research project by Alex Arteaga, Emma Cocker, Nicole Wendel (with Sabine Zahn during the first phase), focused on the ways in which aesthetic research practices realise a specific form of thinking: aesthetic thinking. This exposition shares the research process of this collaborative project tracing its key phases between June 2020 - October 2022 and the gradual evolution of an original research dispositive or apparatus called Ecologies in Action. This exposition is conceived as Supporting Materials for a parallel article published in ______________.

Ecology in Action: (07.07.2022)

* Format: Semi-structured exploration - moving from a structured exploration (with an agreed beginning with named practices) to an unstructured exploration within a 75-minute timeframe.

* We agreed to begin with 3 language-based practices: Practice of Exploratory Essay Writing (Live Writing); Practice of Observation (Voiced); Practice of Transcription. From there the invitation was to move spontaneously from and between practices as ‘called’ by the practice and unfolding Ecology in Action.

* Attend also to the relation of one's own practice as an 'ecology', an ecology within an ecology. The option of stopping or continuing within the Ecology in Action is also proposed which we now call the Practice of Stepping Back.

Additional Focus:

* In practising, exploring the relation between being-in-touch (being-with) other practices and being-apart (practising autonomously).

* Consider the compatibility and incompatibility of practices, and whether/how this compatibility or incompatibility enables or inhibits aesthetic thinking.

* Consider the relation of how aesthetic thinking is practised within an individual’s practice and how it is practised within the overall Ecology in Action – and if/how this relation is causal.

Practices in alphabetical order

- Practice of Conversation-as-Material

- Practice of Exploratory Essay Writing (Live Writing + Voiced)

- Practice of Explorative Drawing

- Practice of Material Encounter

- Practice of Observation (Live Writing + Voiced)

- Practice of Reading: Noticing Attraction and Distillation

- Practice of Stepping Back

- Practice of Transcription

- Practice of Very Slow Video Observation

- Practice of Video Observation from Physical Source

10 practices in total, practised as three parallel explorations (by 3 different persons) with points of connection. Some of these practices have defined variations e.g. Practice of Reading (Variations: Noticing Attraction + Distillation; Practice of Observation (Variations: Live Writing + Voiced).

Notes:

* The text source for the Practice of Reading: Noticing Attraction and Distillation is the transcript from the previous Ecology in Action (18.05.2022)

* Practice of Conversation (Focus/referent) - The experience of practising within the Ecology in Action (directly) and aesthetic thinking (indirectly).

* Practice of Observation (Voiced + Live Writing) (Focus/referent) - The experience of practising within the Ecology in Action (directly) and aesthetic thinking (indirectly).

* Practice of Exploratory Essay Writing (Focus/referent) - The experience of aesthetic thinking (directly) and practising within the Ecology in Action (indirectly).

* Practice of Transcription has multi sources as reference (including listening to the recording of the Ecology in Action from 18.05.2022, alongside listening to the unfolding live practices within the current Ecology).

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