This exposition presents a workshop format designed to facilitate experimentation with sense-making as a process elicited by and anchored in sensing, rather than based on pre-existing conceptual categories.
The iterative process alternates writing and sensing practices in different constellations. It is conceived as a process of collective thinking-in-the-making, and addresses the following questions: What senses arise from sensing? How does sensing affect and effect sense-making processes? How can a density of senses be navigated through writing?
The following score is based on previous implementations in various contexts of higher education and research in the arts.* It is conceived as an invitation to further adopt and adapt the format in specific settings and according to your specific goals. In doing so, it aims to contribute to the fostering of communities of practitioners engaged in sensing and writing as aesthetic practices of research across disciplinary boundaries.
The texts read aloud by the facilitator demonstrate the sensitive approach to writing to be explored. They will have been selected and gathered in advance of the workshop. Examples of texts I have been working with in such occasions include Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein (1914); a selection of somatic poems by CA Conrad – e.g. from Hidden in the Cave We Forge of One Another (Pântano Books, 2023); selected poems from Blood Snow by D. G. Okpik Nanouk (Wave Books, 2022); selected poems by Alice Notley, for example from The Speak Angels Series (Fonograf Editions, 2023); selected poems by Etel Adnan, for example from Seasons (The Post-Apollo Press, 2008)… From this list, I picked one book per round of reading aloud each time.
The following sequence intends to encourage a situative approach to writing that embraces the materiality of language and its poetic potential. It alternates three rounds composed of two moments each: (1) the facilitator reads aloud from selected texts while the participants listen and then (2) write in resonance with the texts and words they have just heard. So that the listening can merge into writing with no interruption, participants are invited
to arrange their writing tools, pens and paper, at the beginning of the sequence.
In a brief introduction to the sequence, participants are invited to move away from the usual syntactic and grammatical constraints of 'correctness', and to set aside ingrained expectations of 'writing correctly/adequately/in the right way'. Rather, they are encouraged to experiment with writing in resonance with the present situation and embrace the density of sensing in and through writing. The texts that will be generated during the sequence won’t have to be shared with others – the participants can try out and explore freely.
Writing in resonance is directly affected by the quality the situation in which it is effectuated. Careful attention shall be given to the different aspects of this situation. In particular:
– the lighting – I prioritise natural light and/or dimmed lighting;
– the spatial arrangement – I have had positive experiences with tables arranged in a U-shape, with participants seated inside the U with their backs to the centre. I stand in the middle of the U so that they can hear my voice from behind while I read.
- the tone of voice and the pace while reading – I privilege a clearly articulated, soft and intimate tone, with regular lengthy pauses.
Overview
The sequence consists of the following steps:
1. expanding writing
2. opening senses
3. writing senses
4. collective sharing and reflection.
...out of a desire to be accurate in sensation
rather than accurate in the rules of language...1
This step focuses on a practice dedicated to awakening bodily perception and sensory awareness. A bodyscan script can be implemented at this point. On different occasions, I have played a recording of Ulrike Scholtes's 'blurring boundaries' exercise.2 As well as the intrinsic quality of the exercise itself, it has been interesting to introduce another voice and presence at this stage of the process.
At the end of the practice, the participants are invited to notate on a card the quality of the sensing they have experienced – they can draw one aspect of the sensing, and chose a word or a short combination of words to describe it.
The whole sequence ends with a moment dedicated to sharing and reflecting the experience of the participants during the different phases of the process.
The discussion is invited by the facilitator at the end of the writing sequence. Their role is primarily to hold the space so that the discussion can evolve organically at its own pace, which might include pauses and silences. They might invite further sharing, reflections, and reactions after a time of silence, without forcing anyone to take part in the discussion. Finally, they might point to resonances, echos, and noticeable singularities which have been mentioned and manifested during the collective reflection.
Duration
Depending on the context, purpose, and time available, the score can be implemented on its own or as part of a wider series of scores. Minimum duration is 1,5 hour – it might be extended to two hours by giving more time to each step, especially step 3 and 4.
Participants are now invited to experience a sequence in which sensing merges with writing according to the following score:
Move around the room and allow yourself to enter a state of concentrated, floating attention. Direct your attention not at, but with and towards, in and around...
… in this state of presence, allow your attention to be pulled and let it be affected by a place, position, event, object or sound. Let your attention be triggered without answering the question of what triggered it…
… once you have encountered your pull of attention, centre on it and engage with it using the sensing modality recorded on your card from the 'Opening Senses' stage. In other words, use this card as a sensing score…
… observe what emerges and allow the sensing to merge into single words, and then into writing.