Creation as experiment – A pragmatic approach to being in the world
„Philosophers until now have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” (Karl Marx)
Abstract
There is a lack of personal experiences and knowledge beyond books in parts of musicology and other art and media studies. Theoretical discourses about theoretical discourses and waves of quotations reign. Strictly analytical thinking is favored over combining it with making. Sealed off from experiments and actions, tacit knowledge, that is equally relevant to the subjects of study, is neglected. Contrasting this, I will explore the possibilities and chances of experimental making processes as an additional form of research, just having a go, not knowing what the outcome might be, and even more important acting oneself. This will be achieved through creating artifacts, systems and situations, utilizing practice research and participant observation, while drawing my main examples from visual arts, musical instrument building, experimental music and teaching.
keywords – aesthetics, experiment, making, participant observation, practice research, pragmatism, tacit knowledge
| birth – death | Learning new things |
- aesthetics
- organology
- making
- experimentation
- practise research
- philosophical pragmatism
- fictive art
- teaching music
- meta matter(s) no. 5 at ZKM: next generation 9.0 – june-22-2022 (talk)
- experiments and/as improvisations at KHM: Artistic research – in the wild – may-27-2022 (seminar)
- hidden sounds at KHM: ground zero – winter semester 2021/22 (workshop series)
- soon to be updated…
Christian Rust
c.rust@khm.de