Methods in Artistic Research

The THRESHOLD of CO-CREATION

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Within artistic research, the artist-researcher often oscillates between autonomy and entanglement. Conducting research therefore, can be itself an adaptive organism which ponders within these two poles, through continuous acts of making, sensing, and reflecting. Autopoiesis (self-creation) and symbiosis (mutual becoming) provide frameworks to rethink how creation emerges through reciprocal exchange rather than isolated expression.

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How do these notions reshape the understanding of the artist-researcher, both as a self-sustaining entity and a node in a larger ecology of relations? In short, within the spectrum of autopoiesis towards symbiosis, where does the threshold of co-creation lie? When can we really speak of co-creation?

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In ecological and social systems, symbiosis refers to relationships built on exchange and mutual transformation. When translated into artistic research, such models challenge hierarchies of authorship and expertise, as well as the power dynamics between polyphonic voices. Knowledge and skills emerge through negotiation, dialogue, and relational becoming among co-actors.

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In this scope, we ask what are the conditions needed for these relationships (biological, ecological, social, and/or technological) to sustain co-creative frameworks of artistic knowledge production:

• How can co-creation be structured while the other-than-human is working with the human?

• What are the challenges of transdisciplinary co-creation and the flux of agency?

• How can mutual dependency, rather than exclusive mastery, shape both research processes and outcomes?

• How can we practice co-creation with ethical awareness?