Practice-as-research in performance: A response to reflective judgement

Abstract

This article examines ‘reflective schema’ within the context of its original study by Kant and Umberto Eco, and from the perspective of my own performance making as a recent practice-as-research (P-a-R) PhD candidate. This is in response to an article by Susan Melrose, where she suggests that it is through a ‘reflective schema’ that we can view performance in order to judge its value as P-a-R (2002). Melrose claims that in using such a schema we no longer need to rely on the ‘traditional thesis’ as the ‘material support’ of performance. I argue that if we include the ‘traditional thesis’ under this model of thought, then it is not simply a material support; it is seen to be essential to the creative process. Therefore, while both acknowledging it as only one possible method and pointing towards its limitations, I also argue that it is useful to understand P-a-R following a ‘reflective schema’ as it demonstrates an alternate relation between the traditional written thesis and the performance.