In which sense and to which extent does writing unfold as a relational process beyond traditional notions of individual authorship? What is the relevance and significance of writing pursued not as self-expression but as a practice engaging various modes of relating? These questions are at the core of the practice-based research pursued in this project. They are addressed from a transversal perspective at the crossroads of artistic research and cultural analysis.
This research investigates the practice of writing from a relational perspective. It approaches writing not as the self-expression of an autonomous individual, but as a multi-dimensional process engaging various modes of relating. In which sense and to which extent does writing unfold as a relational practice? What is the relevance and significance of such a practice of writing? A first line of investigation unfolds as an exploration of the kinds of relations and modes of relating involved in the process of writing. A second line concentrates on formats and modes of publication as they emerge from specific writing processes.
Building on my experience as a teacher, as an artist-writer, and as a translator, the investigation rests on the deconstruction of the traditional notion of individual authorship. It is resolutely transversal in that it intends to explore relational practices of writing which are positioned at the crossroads of a variety of fields such as (auto-)theoretical writing, (auto-)fictional writing, artistic writing, experimental writing and poetry, as well as writing practices from the fields of critical pedagogy, feminist and post-colonial theories.
By shifting the attention toward practices of writing, the research does not aim at setting rules, tips, and tools for writing texts whose quality shall be measured by pre-defined criteria coming from their fields of reception. It rather intends to pave the way for understanding, enacting, and enabling writing practices whose significance and relevance emerge from the various kinds of relations they activate, beyond the usual categories of genres and disciplines. A practice-based methodology of thinking-as-doing and doing-as-thinking shall be refined along the way and, as such, constitutes an integral part of the research.
1. Writing with texts and words by others, writing between languages and media, shifting persons, writing in situations involving practices of attention for non-human living, iterative processes intertwining individual with collective writing… the first line of inquiry is anchored in concrete writing situations, i.e. particular settings in which writing is performed as situated and situative, embodied and embedded, and it explores them in order to investigate the specific relationalities engaged. This examination shall lead to a refined understanding of writing as a relational process, and to an open-ended mapping of various writing practices bringing into light their shared characteristics and resonances, as well as their specificities and differences.
2. The second axis of the research centers on the wider significance and relevance of writing as a relational practice. It examines formats of publishing and modalities of sharing texts which are not pre-determined by their field of reception, but emerge from the singular processes, contexts, and practices involved in their making. Forms of exchange around writing processes, feedback sessions in transdisciplinary settings, formats for spreading texts and making them available to an audience and readership shall be explored, analyzed, and further developed along the values of sharing and connecting.
Understanding writing as a process of relating makes room for hybridizations and transformations which affect not only practices but also their practicioners. The further role and significance of writing for the emergence of modes of subjectivity based on relational singularities rather than self-contained individuals is accordingly at play here. To this extent, the project aims at bringing into light the etho-poïetical effects as well as the ethical impact of relational approaches to writing. This shall lead to assess the relevance of transversality for practice-based research at the crossroads of artistic research and cultural analysis.