Exposition

The slippery trail: The mollusc as a metaphor for creative practice (2015)

Karen Savage
open exposition

About this exposition

This exposition documents several years of process-driven practice-as-research. The work explores themes of womanhood, embodiment, and autobiography. Throughout the exposition I argue that the embodiment of process is key to understanding practice-as-research. I propose that practice-as-research projects don't always begin with a ‘final output’ in mind. Instead, the practice of practice-as-research should be reconsidered throughout its development; it should use its potential for liminality. It is the demonstration of a ‘living process’ – living in process. However, what becomes key within the practice is a clear articulation of process, and how the research is recorded as part of that process. In this work, 'writing about practice' and performative practices are integrated, enabling a dialogue between various creative responses as well as offering access points to the research in a variety of forms. This exposition explores ways in which we live in process through a presentation of text, visual essays, and short film and video pieces. The work develops from creative artefacts and critical text into a piece of responsive writing, 'A Play of Characters'. This playtext reconsiders some of the influences in the work and explores the imagery of the whole project in a performative context. The notion of embodiment and a 'living body of work' is developed further through the use of metaphor, in particular the metaphor of the mollusc. I use this to consider how practice evolves alongside process, 'housing' both the work and the process in both material form (the shell) and trace (the snail trail). Different combinations of this work have been presented as performance installations, both at the University of Portsmouth, as part of my PhD examination in 2010, and at the University of Lincoln, as part of the Gnarlfest in 2014. However, by the very nature of 'living in process' this is a work that continues to evolve and 'live' in different forms. The purpose of this exposition is to explore the work in an accessible online form – one that offers alternative platforms and sequences, creating different possibilities and readings of the practice.
typeresearch exposition
keywordspractice, research, film, video, document, play, heritage, mollusc, metaphor, embodiment, living, body of work, women, motherhood, autobiography, practice as research, creative practice
date01/01/2015
published20/12/2015
last modified20/12/2015
statuspublished
share statusprivate
affiliationUniversity of Lincoln
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/131436/213902
doihttps://doi.org/10.22501/jar.131436
published inJournal for Artistic Research
portal issue9.


Simple Media

id name copyright license
224223 The mollusc leaves a trace of process - a play of characters, rev Karen Savage All rights reserved
214135 outline trace Karen Savage All rights reserved
214124 outline mollusc karen Savage All rights reserved
214120 outline mollusc karen savage All rights reserved
214119 outline mollusc Karen Savage All rights reserved
214066 verite mirror Karen Savage All rights reserved
214063 roof top plane trail Karen Savage All rights reserved
214058 Evey mirror Karen Savage All rights reserved
214039 mollusc trail--- copy Karen savage All rights reserved
214037 mollusc trail--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
214023 essay 1 Karen Savage All rights reserved
213985 tea drinking doc perf Karen savage All rights reserved
213972 The mollusc leaves a trace of process- a play of characters Karen Savage All rights reserved
213966 hammer and wall Karen savage All rights reserved
213965 rock and church trail Karen Savage All rights reserved
213964 V and evey mirror Karen Savage All rights reserved
213951 Um Er articulating - copy karen savage All rights reserved
213949 ve frame match - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213947 ve frame 8 - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213945 ve frame two - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213943 ve frame 2 - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213941 ve frame c - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213939 ve frame 9 - copy karen savage All rights reserved
213935 Toilet_Flushing-KevanGC-917782919 - copy www.soundbible.com (free sounds) All rights reserved
213933 clipped remembering bath - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213930 Kid_Laugh_Long-Mike_Koenig-463140645 - copy soundbible.com (free sounds) All rights reserved
213928 clipped remembering red arrows - copy karen Savage All rights reserved
213925 a play of characters--- - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213923 my metaphor for creative process--- - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213921 mollusc trail--- - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213919 Bodies living---in the fading gaps of film - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213914 fading feminism practice process video sequence 3 - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213909 fading feminism practice process video sequence 2 - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
213904 fading feminism practice process video sequence 1 - copy Karen Savage All rights reserved
140700 Introduction Karen Savage All rights reserved
140696 Karen sings Kate Bush Karen Savage (adapted from Kate Bush) All rights reserved
140694 Karen sings Carly Simon Karen Savage (singing Carly Simon) All rights reserved
140606 ve frame two karen Savage All rights reserved
140605 ve frame 8 karen Savage All rights reserved
140602 ve frame match karen Savage All rights reserved
140592 ve frame c karen Savage All rights reserved
140591 ve frame 2 karen Savage All rights reserved
140590 ve frame 9 karen savage All rights reserved
140584 Toilet_Flushing-KevanGC-917782919 www.soundbible.com (free sounds) All rights reserved
140579 clipped remembering bath karen Savage All rights reserved
140576 Um Er articulating karen savage All rights reserved
140572 Kid_Laugh_Long-Mike_Koenig-463140645 soundbible.com (free sounds) All rights reserved
140570 clipped remembering red arrows karen Savage All rights reserved
132761 Bodies living---in the fading gaps of film Karen Savage All rights reserved
132740 Bodies Living part 1--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
132406 fading feminism practice process video sequence 3 Karen Savage All rights reserved
132371 fading feminism practice process video sequence 2 Karen Savage All rights reserved
132280 fading feminism practice process video sequence 1 Karen Savage All rights reserved
131476 my metaphor for creative process--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
131475 a play of characters--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
131467 mollusc trail--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
131462 Bodies Living--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
131449 visual sequences--- Karen Savage All rights reserved
131445 visual essays--- Karen Savage All rights reserved

Comments are only available for registered users.