FIRST SIGNS OF LIFE
Poiesis — to make, to bring into existence that which did not exist before. Artistic process often begins before knowing what it will become, striving to bring forth that which is not yet known. Its first signs of life might well seem opaque and formless. Take care in the making visible of artistic process in its first unfolding, for too much light can scorch and burn. The artist’s residency can provide a space of incubation, creating the dual conditions of open-endedness and pressure. The presence of an audience, of witnesses, can intensify the artist’s own engagement, calling for a commitment not always possible to sustain when working alone. Alternatively, an onlooker can distract or hinder, forcing the performance of practice in lieu of its practising, the re-presentation of artistic exploration that is absent of corresponding vivacity or life. Avoid the desire (in self and others) to understand, if this means to comprehend too eagerly, to seize or grasp at meaning before its time. Rather, deepen under-standing by dwelling in the proximity of practice as it is practised, in the midst, before, beneath, among.
From Emma Cocker, How Do You Do? (Nottingham: Beam Editions, 2023)