Practice-led Research: Transversal Ways of Sensing/Knowing

Abstract

What are possible research methods in performance that move transversally between the classroom, the studio, and public space? This chapter discusses practice-led research, focusing on transversal ways of knowing and sensing that swerve through artistic, social, and theoretical spaces. Doing research by means of affective, embodied, and politicised methods is approached in this chapter through the conceptual frameworks of ‘fugitive knowledge’ (Moten and Harney; Akomolafe), ‘practice-as-research’ (Melrose; Nelson), ‘performative research’ (Haseman), ‘attending laterally’ (Georgelou and Protopapa), and ‘decolonial pedagogy’ (Vázquez). To illustrate this method, the chapter first discusses Dramaturgy at Work, a three-year collaborative research project on dramaturgy, which is then followed by a shorter reflection on an interdisciplinary bachelor course on Engaged Citizenship designed and developed with colleagues. Both examples emphasise the entwined interpersonal, politicised, and artistic methods practiced and transmitted in practice-led research. These methods can lead to interventionist and affective ways of doing research, the chapter argues, fostering social imagination and embedded action in performance and beyond.