THE MATERIAL
The research presented here employed processes that were dialogical and material. Cartographic actions employed physical maps and three-dimensional pictograms; dialogues were supported by printed concept maps; and for The Laboratory of Common Interest I created a set of ‘choreographic objects’ in the sense of William Forsyth's designation of choreography as ‘a categorising tool that can help identify sites within which to locate the understanding of potential organisation and instigation of action-based knowledge’ (Forsyth, n.d.).
The choreographic objects included 6 free-standing, double-sided backboards; one hexagonal backboard table that could also stand vertically as an object in the space; a small hexagonal blackboard table with a shelf of specially commissioned pamphlets; a clear-topped display table; a wall-based paper scroll that captured each day’s actions (which later formed the basis of an audio score); and a wall-based diary, an assemblage of materials and traces from each of the 13 days. These objects were arranged in the space prior to each event as tools and mechanisms of action, interaction and intra-action. In many cases the objects moved around in the space to accommodate changing aspects of an event. The purpose of these choreographic objects was to make manifest a potency, to invite a collective materialisation of the coproduction that unfolded each day.
Diagram showing overlapping notations of movements in each of the aesthetic actions of The Laboratory of Common Interest, shaped by the chorographic objects. Their usage in the different actions is recorded as a number next to each of the objects.
Forsythe, W., n.d., Choreographic Objects, at William Forsyth,
Available at https://www.williamforsythe.com/essay.html [Accessed July 2020].