I am a research-based practitioner, not a practice-based researcher: A laudation of the everyday and the in-between

Abstract

This essay addresses multimodal researchers thinking of working with practitioners or artists/researchers looking to use prototypes for research and identifies the struggles of positioning such research, as well as highlighting principles and benefits of practice when treated as main methodology. While the importance of practice in research areas related to artistic creation is acknowledged, I observe a culture where practice is analysed and narrated to underpin it as research. I studied Fashion (BA) and Design Interactions (MA) and have worked commercially in both fields before starting my own studio. Today, my work aligns to what commonly is considered design practice, but it also caters to the scientific analysis and data gathering of research. Rather than resulting in either products or new conclusions however, the work explores, tinkers, dares and tries, and sometimes fails. This sitting in between applied practice and more formal forms of research has great advantages, some of which I will discuss in the following. The dualism established between practice and research when treated as separate processes however sits uncomfortably with me. It feels like a return to the mind-body dualism. This text is a reflection and an account of the commonalities I detect throughout working with other practitioners and in my own rites and patterns of creating, directing, or producing. I identify underlying principles and concerns of practice that the discussion around practice would benefit from engaging with.