University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2017 A Translocal Approach to Dialogue-based Art KNOWLES, RACHELLE MARIE VIADER http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/10269 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. A translocal approach to dialogue-based art by Rachelle Marie Viader Knowles A thesis submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2017 This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the author's prior consent. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr Sarah Bennett (Director of Studies) and Dr Geoff Cox (Second Supervisor). At every step of this journey, Sarah and Geoff have supported, provoked, challenged and pushed my thinking always a step further than I thought it or I could go. I am deeply grateful for the attention, diligence and commitment they have given to this process and the exceptional support they have given to me. Thank you. The experience of undertaking this PhD has been one of joyful collegiality and friendship with a group of peers beyond anything I could have hoped for. James Charlton, Lisa Osborn, ChrisDanowski (one word) and Steven Evans… Laurel Terlesky, Julia Robertson Hyde, Professor Valerie Walkerdine, Nethery Wylie and Linda Duvall, thank you. For exceptional learning experiences and invaluable input, thank you so much to Dr Michael Bowdidge, Dr Laura Gonzalez, Dr Hannah Drayson, Dr Wolfgang Sützl, Dr Herman Bashiron Mendolicchio, Dr Michael Schwab and Katy Macleod. Thank you also to my examination committee: Professor Beryl Graham (External Examiner), Mike Lawson-Smith (Internal Examiner) and Dr Karen Roulstone (Chair). I would like to acknowledge the support I have received from colleagues at the University of Regina in Canada and Coventry University in the UK. The provision of a salary, research funding and time to commit to this research are gratefully appreciated. I would also like to acknowledge the mentorship of Dr Kathleen Irwin, Dr Christine Ramsay and Professor Leesa Streifler. You have been exceptional role models in all areas of academic life; thank you for showing me how it’s done. I would like to thank all of the members of The Dialogic research group, and in particular Dr Simon Pope and Dr John Hammersley whose approach to creative research in dialogue-based art have greatly influenced my own. JH, thank you for your friendship and unwavering support in the final year. You set the bar high and I am better for it. I would like to thank my family, Elisabeth Randabel and Pierre Viader. This project would not have been possible without my collaborator Mkrtich Tonoyan who has contributed to this research every step of the way. Mkrtich, this thesis is dedicated to you. i Declaration At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreement of the Graduate Sub-Committee. Work submitted for this research degree at the Plymouth University has not formed part of any other degree either at Plymouth University or at another establishment. This study was financed with the aid of a Transart Community Support Scholarship and carried out in collaboration with the Transart Institute. A programme of advanced study was undertaken, including workshops and seminars at the Transart Institute Summer and Winter residencies in Berlin, Chicago and New York, a six-month period of residency at Plymouth University and the MARE 521: Research in the Arts and Humanities module undertaken through Plymouth University. Relevant conferences, exhibitions and research events were regularly attended at which work was often presented, and several papers and creative works were prepared for presentation and publication. Conference Presentations during the period of registration: ‘A Translocal Approach to Dialogue-based Art’. Royal Geographic Society annual conference, London UK. August 2016 ‘The Dialogic: art work as method’. Hammersley, J and Knowles R.V (with Simon Pope). National Association of Fine Art Education conference, University of Cumbria at Lancaster, UK. 15 July 2016. ‘Digital Practices – Call and Response’. Knowles, R.V. and Irwin, K. International Conference on Artist Research, The Hague, Netherlands. April, 2016. ‘Translocating Art Practice’. Urban Encounters Symposium, Dalhousie & NSCAD, Halifax, Canada. Nov 2013. ‘Translocating Art Practice’. Trans-what? Symposium, Berlin, Germany. August 2013. Papers, Publications and Creative Works during the period of registration: ‘VacZineNations!’ Knowles R. V., Tonoyan, M. and participants. As part of ImmuneNations exhibition, Galleri KiT, Trondheim Academy of Art, Norway. March 2017. ‘The Dialogic: art work as method’. Hammersley, J. and Knowles R.V. Exhibited as part of Simon Pope et al, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London, UK. October 2016. ‘#3CityLink: a translocal art/pedagogy exchange project: disrupting the learning’. Wimpenny, K., Bleetman, J., Knowles, R.V. and Ramsay, C. Preprint. ii ‘A response to “Provoking Failure: Unsettling a Research-Creation Framework” by Glenn Lowry”’. Knowles, R.V. Preprint. “QR Codes and Traditional Beadwork: Augmented Communities Improvising Together”. Caines, R; Anderson, J. and Knowles, R.V. MC Journal. 2013. ‘Berlin Project’. Intermezzo II MilaKunst Gallery, Berlin, Germany. 2014. ‘Veins: Translocal New Community Newspaper’ launched at the Supermarkt Alternative Art Fair, Sweden. 2014. ‘Neighbours News’ Urban Encounters Symposium Exhibition, Khyber Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. 2013. ‘QR Code Project’. Coming Into View. Slate Gallery, Regina, Canada. 2013. ‘The Neighbours Project’. Larroque Arts Festival, Tarn, France. 2013. ‘We Have A Situation: Unidentified Flying Food’. Participating artist – lead artist Helen Valery Jamieson. Hosted by Schaumbad in Graz, Austria. 2013 ‘Let Me Tell You The Story Of My Neighbours’, ‘Our Beds in Mallorca’ and ‘Our Beds at Home’, Mallorca Translocal Meeting (MTM), Can Gelabert Cultural Centre, Binissalem, Mallorca, Spain. 2013. ‘Neighbours Project”. The Synthetic Age, University of Regina Faculty Exhibition, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina. Curated by Jeff Nye. 2012. ‘Let Me Tell You The Story Of My Neighbours’. Gyumri Biennale of Contemporary Art, Armenia. 2012. Word count of main body of thesis: 50,694 Signed: Date: 22 August 2017 iii Abstract Rachelle Marie Viader Knowles A translocal approach to dialogue-based art This thesis is a practice-led investigation into a translocal approach to dialogue-based art. The research has been undertaken through the practice of the ‘artist/academic’, drawing on my professional experience in artistic research, academic leadership and teaching, each informing my methods and findings. The problem which emerged through the practice is how to devise an approach to dialogue-based art that is responsive to twenty-first century social relations and telecommunications and attendant to the politics of mobility that constrain and control human movement. The research develops and tests out the application of ideas from the interdisciplinary field of translocality to the practice of dialogue-based art through the production of three collaborative projects. I argue that the practice of dialogue-based art, when informed by translocality, is better placed to critically reflect and act upon the conditions of contemporary life within networked and globalised society. In Translocal Geographies: Spaces, Places and Connections (2011) Brickell and Datta argue for a multi-scalar understanding of translocality beyond the discourse of national borders and international migrations, deploying the term as an expression of “simultaneous situatedness across different locales” (2011: 4). Viewed this way, the theory and practice of translocality presents a framework to understand the activities and goals of artists and artist-led networks seeking to bridge difference towards shared spaces of meaning. As the translocal research perspective develops towards ideas of local-to-local connectivities and a discourse of circulations and transfers, so translocality as applied to dialogue-based art proposes an expanded understanding of dialogue-based art across spatial, temporal and cultural distance. Through three practice-based projects, QR Code Project, Let Me Tell You The Story Of My Neighbour and #3CityLink, presented within the thesis as case studies, the research reveals a set of characteristics that articulate a translocal approach to dialogue-based art. I argue that this approach enables the ‘translocal artist’ to draw on multiple modes of dialogue-based practice, contributing to understandings of ‘simultaneous situatedness’ within the translocal research perspective. iv Figures Figure 1 Visualising the ‘artist/academic’................................................................................ 24 Figure 2 Visualising the ‘methodology matrix’ ......................................................................