Call for Contributions - Thinking with the Body, Overcoming Methodological Boundaries 30_Jun_24

Organisers and Topics

The team systematically explores how implicit knowledge that lies in the bodily performance of instrumentalists can be analysed, extracted and expressed. While doing so, they additionally address corporeal, socially constructed and medial forms of embodiment in the field of instrumental performance and its reception. Methodologically, this raises questions that we reflect on using specially developed methods of artistic research on the one hand (including art works) and sociological practices on the other. The artistic-scholarly core method for researching embodiment - Re-enacting Embodiment - utilises three forms of knowledge that are available to the artists in the project: explicit and implicit body knowledge, which in extreme cases becomes tacit knowledge that is often difficult to grasp but can be fathomed using this method. Based on our research so far, we recognise the body a) as an instrument of thought and b) as a source of knowledge.

The international and interdisciplinary Research Network Implicit Knowledge (FORIM–Forschungsnetzwerk Implizites Wissen) is interested in the exchange of information on the phenomenon of human expertise from the perspective of implicit knowledge. FORIM was founded in 2009 by Fritz Böhle (Institut für sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung e. V., Munich), Jörg Markowitsch (3s research laboratory), Georg Hans Neuweg (Institute for Business and Vocational Education, JKU Linz) and Tasos Zembylas (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna). Since then, the network has met annually and is aimed at researchers who are interested in the study of human expertise that can be described as intuitive-improvisational, situational, flexible, artistic, creative and, as a result, non-formalisable.

Call for Contributions

The symposium will be open to contributions from each network on both days, with the first day focussing more on EmEGC and artistic research and the second day more on FORIM. We are looking forward to lectures, lecture recitals and the performance of artworks dealing with the topic "Thinking with the Body - Overcoming Methodological Boundaries" and the questions mentioned below.

The main questions of interest to both FORIM and EmEGC, and to which we welcome contributions, are the following:

• How do we use the body as a source of knowledge and/or as a way of thinking? How can we explore the connection between body and knowledge methodologically and artistically? How can we make body knowledge accessible and shareable?
• How can ‘embodiment’ be defined and represented conceptually, theoretically or artistically?
• In which way does embodiment research benefit from an interdisciplinary approach shared by practitioners in artistic research with their internal perspective and scholars looking at embodiment from an external perspective? How does a combination or juxtaposition of each perspective challenge methodological approaches of both disciplines?

Aspects that are of particular interest on the first day (EmEGC and artistic research):

When artistic researchers use their own creative process and artistic practice as a source for knowledge production, they work from an internal perspective to investigate their research questions. On this basis, we are interested in questions concerning:

Researching Practice

• How can artistic research use the body of performers and bodily knowledge as a means of thinking?
• How do performance artists/instrumental performers combine explicit, implicit, and tacit bodily knowledge to explore their practice?

Theory of Knowledge Production

• Is the clear distinction between explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge still tenable, or is it possibly a product of academic categorisation that is less relevant in the everyday practices of practitioners? Do artists dissolve the boundaries between explicit, implicit, and tacit knowledge and if yes, what does that look like? What is the potential of artistic research to challenge both the definition and handling of these types of knowledge?

Dissemination and Sharing of Research Findings

• How can the internal body knowledge of artists and practitioners be expressed and shared through academic writing, through artistic research documentation or through artworks that have the potential to create forms of knowledge dissemination that not only rely on intellectual thought but also emphasise aesthetic and sensual experience?

If you would like to make an active contribution to the EmEGC part of the symposium, please send a short abstract (max. 500 words) and a short biography (max. 200 words) by 30 June to Kai Ginkel. Lectures, lecture performances or art performances (live or as audio/video format) of up to 20 minutes in length plus subsequent discussion are possible formats. In the case of a live performance/lecture performance, we need the exact stage and technical requirements (tech rider) and the estimated time required for set-up and rehearsal. Additional audio or video material about the planned performance is welcome. You will receive notification of acceptance or rejection of your entry by July 14.