The Impossible Constellation: Practice as Research as a Viable Alternative

Abstract

This chapter draws attention to the features, values and debates of Practice as Research, arguingfor its approaches, methods and outputs to be considered as equivalent to those used by more traditional humanities scholars, i.e. the ‘academic book’. Indeed, it asks us to rethink our fetishisation of the physical book artefact as the pre-eminent model of publication in academic terms, and suggests we explore and support the development of other forms that might be more relevant to the digital age, and that attempt to break down the walls between theory and practice. It ends with a focus on the video essay form, which has the potential to reshape the subjects of Media and Film Studies in particular.

Practice as Research is also known as Practice-led research and/or as Artistic research. These terms are not exactly interchangeable but are perhaps joined in that they share the overarching mission of the ‘production of knowledge or philosophy in action’. See E. Barrett and B. Bolt (eds) (2007) Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry (London: I.B. Tauris), p. 5, where creative practice is situated within broader theoretical and research paradigms.