2np EDITION INQUIRY IN VISUAL ARTS GRAEME SULLIVAN ®CHAPTER Visualizing Practices The protogue of Lev Manovich's The Language of New Media (2001) is presented in the form of a visual index. To introduce the main idea of the text, Manovich uses a device that is very much in keeping with the issues he explores. He selects quotes from throughout the text that describe key concepts, and these are placed next to a series of black and white stills taken from the groundbreaking 1929 film Man With a Movie Camera by the Russian direc- tor Dziga Vertov. The stills resemble the written descriptions where there is a close connec- tion between the content of the image and the information in the written text, The visual clips and verbal quips work in tandem to communicate meaning, yet the correspondence is not neat and symmetrical where one textual form merely illustrates the other. The list of visual and verbal forms offers different possibilities as meaning is decoded by prompts of association that bring concepts to mind.’ ‘There is another intriguing element to the device used by Manovich in that the form of the visual index also embodies the content of the book. The 22 pages of visual and verbal quotes form their own nonlinear narrative. By including visual images to introduce his ideas, Manovich creates something that is more than an index, for he not only matches meanings, but this interface also opens up many other interpretive options. Itis this sense of possibil- ity in the way that visual forms can contribute to our understanding that makes visual arts practice so critically important in the uncertain age of today. ‘We live in an era of hybridity, whether in the arts, education, business, technology, or cul- tural exchange. Complex contexts are ever present, and a significant challenge for today finding pathways along, through, and around boundaries, both real and perceived. The long- term reliance on logical reasoning and rational analysis has been shaken to its core as a method to explain the volatile realities communities and cultures have to deal with in the changing face of globalization. When considered as both a form of research and a form of cultural production, visual arts has the capacity to contribute in a significant way to our understanding of the uncertain time in which we live. Whether working in the studio, in the museum, in the classroom, or on the Internet, particular approaches prevail such as visu- alizing, sensing, intuiting, focusing, reasoning, questioning, grounding, comparing, and interpreting. These are the kind of capacities that characterize the way artists work and are also the attributes needed for conducting effective research in the field. Considering 189190 PART IIT _Visuan Ants Reseanch Practice research problems and questions within wider project requirements such as theoretical frameworks, literature reviews, and methodologies requires an inclusive approach. Locating information networks, articulating research problems and questions, and conceptualizing Project designs are part of visual arts research as the structure of a project is visualized and realized. The strategies make good use of artistic approaches that focus on the whole and the parts as an inventive analysis is created and an imaginative synthesis is sought. The expanding landscape of imaginative and critical inquiry pursued by artist- researchers is purpose driven, and new opportunities for creating and critiquing knowledge are opening up. Individuals who see structures that define traditional discipline areas not as boundaries or barriers but as bridges and bypasses are shaping these practices in new ‘ways. Part of the legacy of conceptualizing visual arts practice as research is the need to reconsider the inextricable relationship between theory and practice. Assembling new his- torical and critical traditions of fine arts alongside equally diverse studio practices means that the alliance between the artist and the art writer is seen as a shared collaboration that interrogates the artwork in an inventive quest to explore the unknown so as to renovate the known. For the artist, the artwork embodies the questions, ideas, and images, whereby for the critic, the word becomes the vehicle to offer new interpretive possibilities. In this case, the coalition between the visual and the verbal is both critical and supportive. It is not unusual to see artists working as curators and writing as theorists and art writers taking on the challenge of creating forms and situations that are used to present views as much as to critique positions.* The example of the art practice of Fred Wilson discussed in the previ- ous chapter is a case in point. This kind of interchange of roles and practices is loosening conceptual chains and discipline claims and opening up possibilities for exchange that are issues driven rather than content based. The example of the art project dis-positiv by Richard Jochum, described in Chapter 4, is a case in point. New postdiscipline alliances are clearly seen in connections being forged among artists, sociologists, scientists, and technologists.’ For instance, the particular environment of the digital world is proving to be an especially rich setting in which newer conceptions of theory and practice in the arts and sciences are being explored. The caricatures of the eccentric scientist, the reclusive artist, or the computer nerd have little basis in the reality of the mul- {idisciplinary environment of today. Although critical theorists and visual culture commen- {ators raise pertinent questions about problematic relationships among att, culture, science, and technology, there is a need to move beyond an analysis that still sees domains of knowl. edge cloaked in paradigmatic terms.* In the many situations where artists and scientists are collaborating, there is little talk that sees science as merely a rationalistic endeavor ot art as only an expressive activity. Questions, issues, and abstractions guide those imaginative investigators working outside the edges of disciplines where new knowledge is seen as a function of creating and critiquing human experience. By necessity, this complex practice has to bridge disciplines and in doing so not only opens up new possibilities but also ren- ders mute old arguments that see inquiry as methods bound, rather than issues focused. Perhaps one of the most appropriate environments for this kind of creative and critical inquiry is within the educational settings where artist-students gain access to individual and professional training. More than anything else, educational study puts into practice the elu- sive claim that students can learn how to learn. But learning is a destabilizing process thatCHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 191. results in the emergence of an individual voice within a collective agency. Therefore, being a learner disturbs accepted knowledge in a way that confirms what is known by continu- ally highlighting what is not. The knowledge one carries is grounded in experience and sit- ations. It is accumulated on the road and under the fingernails, and it is often collected in isolation. Personal knowledge, intuition, and imagination are valuable assets that are sus- taining and help become points of entry into communities of inquiry. But personal know!- edge is not enough. The relentless process of being drawn into a profession is both exhausting and liberating. A premise that informs arts-oriented inquiry is that the artist- student becomes proficient in not only appreciating the scope of knowledge that informs the field but develops the critical skill necessary to change it from within. A Framework oF VisuaL Arts PRACTICES This chapter describes the inextricable links between theories and practices and outlines a framework for designing and developing visual arts research projects that are based in studio inquiry. The approach builds on the arguments presented in Part Il, Theorizing Art Practice as Research. The framework shown in Figure 7.1 follows the braided structures put in place in previous chapters. The framework for visual arts research (see Chapter 4, Figure 4.1) describes the central role of studio practices, which is the place where research questions, problems, and purposes originate. These practices describe some of the ways that visual artists respond to the challenge of using their art practice to under- take creative and critical research. In Chapter 5 (Figure 5.1), the structure describes the dynamics of visual arts knowing and the cognitive and creative ways that artists think through ongoing dialogue between, within, and around the self, artworks, viewers, and settings, where each is used to help cre- ate new understandings. This dynamic and reflexive meaning making is described in Chapter 5 as transcognition, and it captures the creative back and forth characteristic of the artistic mind. Seen within the context of research, the alignments and areas of emphasis. that artists search out take in the perspectives of “others,” be they other artists, theorists, art writers, artworks, viewers, or contexts, and this ensemble provides a structure for ref- erencing and reviewing. The Framework of Visual Arts Contexts (see Chapter 6, Figure 6.1) acknowledges the the- oretical depth and breadth that artists take on through their art making as they assume a multiplicity of roles as meaning makers, cultural commentators, social critics, teachers, and the like. Although grounded within the core experience of making practices, where the artist. readily adopts the dual role of practitioner and theorist, related areas are explored as cre- ative inquiry is undertaken. I describe three additional making structures as those that are systems-like, those occurring in relation to community interests, and those that take place within cultural contexts. The framework presented in this chapter (Figure 7.1) extends the structure of theories and practices presented in previous chapters and describes the visual arts practices that contribute to visualizing ways research may be undertaken. The frame- ‘work describes creative and critical habits of mind and habits of practice that are at the core of the thinking and making processes involved in art as research.192 PART III Visuau Ants Research Phactice As with conceptions of visual arts practice presented in previous chapters, any inquiry will center on art-making practices. | argue that the experience of the artist is the core ele- ‘ment in the creation of new knowledge, and the potential for new understanding is further enhanced through research projects that may take varied forms such as exhibitions, per- formances, documentation, and publication. The purpose of any inquiry by necessity wil connect to a series of related areas. For instance, if there is a need to invoke an empiricist Position, various forms and structures such as relevant artworks, related perspectives, his- torical views, methods and media, problems, and proposed models are the kind of exploratory “exercises” that might need to be undertaken. On the other hand, if the nature of an inquiry involves an examination of the relationship between ideas, human involve- ment, and decision making, then the issues and images examined will comprise dialectic “encounters.” Here an interpretivist emphasis explored through different narratives and forms of representations created will give rise to alternative views. Visual arts research often adopts a critical position as situations and actions are investigated, different “enactments” are carried out, and suitable settings are used as sites of inquiry. What follows is a more detailed description of some of the experiences, exercises, encounters, and enactments that can be used to visualize research projects in visual arts, By visualizing ways to think, reflect, enact, and create, new possibilities for investigating questions and problems are revealed. The outcomes may apply existing knowledge in new ways, adapt past practices for alter- native uses, change perspectives and positions, or create entirely new ways of seeing and understanding, Perhaps the main principle to emerge from the positioning of visual arts as research is the relationship between the practices of creating and critiquing. These are pivotal as they form the basis by which new perceptions are imagined, relevant information is created and collated, and alternative ideas are realized. Interpretations and representations that arise as a consequence of purposeful, creative pursuits have the potential to produce new under- standings, because from a position of personal insight and awareness, the artist-theorist is well placed to critically examine related research, texts, and theories. In relating the out- comes of creative inquiry to relevant issues in the field, there is a degree of “looking back” involved as the research process first challenges the artist by the need to create and then uses this new awareness as the critical lens through which to examine existing phenomena. This is somewhat different from traditional research methodology, which in quantitative studies is linear, iterative, and confirmatory, and which in qualitative inquiries is cyclical, emergent, and discovery oriented. Visual arts research, on the other hand, is dynami reflexive, and fluid as creative and critical practices are used to shed new light on what is known and to consider the possibility of what is not. Designing and managing research projects requires an approach that is not only system- atic and rigorous but also imaginative. This is a strategic process that means decisions are made based on purpose and possibility and may require the creative adaptation of accepted Practices whereby rules get redefined, boundaries are crossed, and new applications are sought. Although it is important for visual arts researchers to know the language and tac- tics of research conventions, it is crucial to be aware of the value and necessity of using everyday artistic thinking and making processes, A crucial feature that visual artists bring to the research process is the capacity to view things from a variety of perspectives and to be able to conjure up images and forms never seen before as they use the many elementsCHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 193 IDEAS AND FORMS AND AGENCY e eas tee Tce ela reed es Vereen ee ASU ta foie Peal Dee aaoae=y ere ei oe ea er Cerro eLaatelosoc} aed aa wi ee SITUATIONS AND ACTIONS Visual arts practices describe creative and critical habits of mind that are at the core of the thinking and making processes involved in art as research. When questions and issues are raised that require imaginative inquiry, they open up a range of forms, ideas, and actions through arful and critical study. By visualizing ways and means to think, reflect, enact, and create, new possibilities for investigating questions and problems are revealed. The outcomes may apply existing knowledge in new ways, adapt past practices for alternative uses, change perspectives and positions, or create entirely new ways of seeing and understanding. Figure 7.1 Framework of Visual Arts Practices194 PART III _Visuat Ants Research Paactice of visualization at their disposal. Let me give a synopsis of some basic visualization meth- ods that serve these purposes A characteristic of visual arts research is that it is multidimensional, as many different forms of representation are created. Visualization strategies are at the heart of what itis that artists do as they see and come to know things through images, and this capacity shapes ideas and informs actions. The inextricable links among what the mind makes of what the eye sees, the complexity of ideas and images that form, and the continual interactions with settings and contexts means that negotiating the visual world is part of everyday experience ‘A challenge for the visual arts researcher is to be able to frame and claim these processes as critically important kinds of human exchange that have the capacity to change the way we think about how we come to know what we do and the forms in which information, experience, and understanding can be created and communicated. A key point to remember in any research environment is that no matter what form issues and problems may take, or how information is created, collected, or collated, it continually changes. The assumption that research involves freeze-framing reality is an artifice that has little relevance to most researchers who are intrigued by the complex realities of everyday life. In the text, Visuatizing Data (2008), Ben Fry makes the telling point that “data never stays the same” (p. 3). In using computer-based processes that tease out meanings that are best represented in visual form, Fry brings together “exploratory and expository” (p. 4) strate- gies that blend discovery and confirmatory forms of analysis that try to capture the dynamic qualities of real data. This is partly achieved by processes that begin in analysis and end in narrative, for “a proper visualization is a kind of narrative, providing a clear answer to a question without any extraneous detail” (p. 4). It is well argued that visualiza- tion plays a crucial role in helping identify purposes and intents, as well as realizing com- plex outcomes:* (One of the most important (and least technical) skills in understanding data is asking good questions. An appropriate question shares an interest you have in the data, tries to convey it to others, and is curiosity-oriented rather than math- oriented. Visualizing data is just like any other type of communication: success is defined by your audience's ability to pick up on, and be excited about, your insights. Fry, 2008, p. 4) It is useful to consider the breadth and depth of visualization as it is so central to visual arts research practices, especially when integrated with other research traditions. Furthermore, at all phases of the inquiry process, various visual strategies and methods can be tsed that reveal new understanding in ways that cannot be realized using the traditional informational research currency of numbers and words. There are two broad areas of visu- alization that cut across the areas of research practice shown in Figure 7.1, and these con- tain different areas of emphasis in the processes and practices of visualization. Visualizing ideas, data, text, and problems reflect the breadth of the processes used in studio research settings, and they are positioned around the research traditions and practices they most clearly align with, Visualizing ideas is a core experience in visual arts, visualizing data is a fea- ture of the exercises undertaken in empiricist inquiry, visualizing texts is characteristic ofCHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 195 interpretive encounters, and visualizing problems takes place when critical research processes are enacted. These practices not only define visualization as a means of building an image and information base, but they are also an end in themselves in conceiving, con- ducting, and presenting research. It goes without saying that these visualizing practices overlap, depending on the research task at hand. Figure 7.1 also identifies several visualizing practices and structures that characterize art practice as research. Creating is a core visualizing practice whereby the artist-researcher imagines and conceptualizes responses to issues and problems and presents them in liq- uid structures that reflect the dynamic qualities of data in all its forms. Designing is an intrin- sic visual practice from which various network structures emerge that cluster around images and objects produced in response to research demands. Reflecting and other dia- logical methods that give rise to narrative structures are part of research strategies that explore interpretive perspectives. Critiquing, on the other hand, is a crucial visual practice used to investigate social structures when research is directed toward enacting change. ‘These visual practices and structures are both exploratory and expository in that they cover the full spectrum of research approaches and can take many visual forms that embody imaginative, intuitive, descriptive, interpretive, explanatory, causal, or conjectural interests. Let me explore these visualizing practices in more detail Visuat Practices: ExPERIENCES The capacity to analyze and synthesize requires the ability to think in new ways. Managing new ideas involves a process of finding and analyzing information, identifying areas of omission, and designing options to follow up. Locating relevant information is a purpose- ful task of trawling for ideas that are relevant to research interests and needs. The process of analysis simply means systematically breaking down something into its parts. The data used for analysis are information, and it comes in many structures and forms. Visual infor- mation is interpreted as evidence of ideas, arguments, propositions, interpretations, sum- maries, and conclusions, and it is communicated using various symbolic texts such as diagrams, images, words, numbers, objects, and films, Designing research projects is a cre- ative and scholarly practice that is informed in part by what is known, yet as has been argued throughout this book, it is also critical in that visualizations are based on an idea structure of one’s own making. Visual practices that explore experiences as a site for knowledge and understanding involve conceptualizing visual ideas and structures in various forms. Within a traditional research framework, concepts define the way we represent categories of information based on our experiential and empirical understanding. Conceptualizing ideas and images in this sense involves grounding ways of perceiving things and setting in place structures that serve as the interpretive lens we use to make sense of the world around us. As described in Chapter 5, the conceptualizing process adheres to a connectionist model whereby concepts and associations emerge from a parallel process of interactions among networks that may be shaped by prior learning but are responsive to intuitive and oppor- tunistic connections.196 PART III Visuat Ants Reseancn Practice Italso needs to be added that conceptualizing and visualizing ideas is situated whereby the same concepts will carry different meanings for different individuals and audiences, and this seems especially relevant within the context of visual arts knowing. Conceptualizing, therefore, plays an important role in creating and critiquing phenomena, and the process of constructing mental images can be inventive and individualistic. Visualizing Ideas Visualizing ideas is a creative and critical act that relies in part on individual imaginative pro- clivities, yet the process is also mediated by community contexts. However, when the artist is messing around with ideas, personal vision is paramount. Imaginative and inventive visu- alizations may emerge in many different forms and be translated as ideas, objects, images, or events, These forms open up the interpretive space in different ways, and each carries particular kinds of inference and reference as expressive and communicative intentions are envisioned. When private visions are presented in public as artworks or performances, or in institutional settings as visual-verbal texts, they are interpreted by agencies such as art- world networks, academic conventions, and discipline traditions. A creative idea, therefore, is not only a product of individual visualization, but its degree of originality will be deter- mined by what currently exists within similar genres in the field. Some processes suitable for conceptualizing ideas include visual versions of linguistic forms such as analogy, metaphor, and homology.* Visual analogy compares one thing with another and uses a known starting point as a way to come to understand something that is unknown (the nervous system is “like” the New York subway; creative self-expression is a “flowering” process). The premise of an analogy is that what is true in one thing is true in another. Analogies therefore help “translate” meaning and can be very powerful when pre- sented in visual form. Visual metaphor involves creating an image that suggests a resemblance of one thing to something else so as to think of one thing as if it were the same as another (the “cutting edge” of contemporary art). Metaphors are based on the assumption that an image or idea can be used to illustrate another image or idea. Visual metaphors therefore help “transform” meaning by illustrating similarities. In synthesizing descriptions of visual metaphor, Serig (2006) identifies cultural context, the distinctive difference between metaphor and symbol, and the way metaphoric reference is embodied by artists and embraced by viewers, as fea- tures that help transform meanings through artworks. Without an awareness of these qual- ities, an image such as Man Ray's Violin d’Ingres (1924), an iconic back view of a nude with tattooed *f* holes, loses some of its ironic appeal Visual homology, on the other hand, identifies structural similarities and usually involves seeing a corresponding relationship among forms found in the natural world, in cultures, or in the human mind. Consider Howard Gardner's (1983) theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) that promotes the notion of individual differences in seeing, sensing, and knowing, as corresponding to windows and doors that offer different vantage points for viewing and entering the world, Gardner's MI theory is described in terms of a struc- tural equivalent; therefore, visual homologies “transcribe” meaning by presenting it as another image.CHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 197 ‘The use of analogy, metaphor, and homology as visual conceptualization devices allows the artist to raise questions about the plausibility of the meanings being expressed. For instance, does the visual analogy help translate information in a way that increases under- standing? With visual metaphors, there is the expectation that there is an agreed relationship between the two entities, Therefore, does the visual metaphor reveal similarities and does transferring information between the two images serve as a useful bridge upon which fur- ther conceptual structures can be built? Assessing the plausibility of visual homologies is akin to asking if there is a structural and conceptual synchronicity between different forms. Do the visualizations, which are drawn from different classes and genres but are based on similar structural principles, identify an equivalence that is conceptually plausible and generative? Creating Liquid Structures Acontinuing theme through the previous chapters is the realization that research outcomes are approximate conclusions that provide as many questions as answers that are based on the notion that data “never stay the same" (Fry. 2008, p. 3). The frameworks presented in the chapters of this book that identify various areas of focus for conceptualizing art practice as research exhibit particular structural properties I describe as braided and self-similar. The purpose is to resist the tendency to see research as fixed, rigid processes that merely follow prescribed methods. These are not what characterize art practice as research. The process is infolding and dynamic. Like all forms of research, the outcomes are arrived at from a pur- pose-driven process, and they are approximate realizations. Therefore, the structure is fluid and relates to the age of uncertainty we are living in that Zygmunt Bauman (2007) described as a movemnent from “the ‘solid’ to a ‘liquid’ phase of modernity.” This is a condition in which social forms (structures that limit individual choices, institutions that guard repetitions of routines, patterns of acceptable behaviour) can no longer (and ate not expected) to keep their shape for long, because they decompose and melt faster than the time it takes to cast them, and once they are cast for them to set. (p. 1) This liquid feature of the visual outcomes of art practice as research is well represented by the “cultural membrane” Sherry Mayo depicts to explain how ideas and concepts that are generated by cultural production enter into the marketplace of an interpretive commu- nity. The fluid mediating process means ongoing meanings are made as conceptual connec- tions are fashioned and fractured, Emprercist Inquiry: Exercises Visual arts inquiry can be described as a practice of “re-searching,” which for Brent Wilson (1997) is a quest for new knowledge that is shaped in part by questioning what is known and by offering new conceptions that relate to “what is, with what might be and what ought to be” (p. 1, emphasis in the original). The kind of visual practices that might be expected to be used when conducting inquiries in an empiricist tradition include visualizing data198 PART III Visuai Anrs Reseach Practice Si Sherry Mayo. Genome Model of the Art Object (top). Cultural Matrix, Art Objects in the Cultural Milieu (bottom). (2004). Reproduced courtesy of the artist. httpy/Avww.smayo.net Cultural production does not happen in a vacuum. This model depicts the art object as the artist encoded with contextual data or “cultural DNA.” This takes into account the spheres of influ- ence under which an artist produces an art object. The model describes a basic unicellular model in which to understand what happens to an art object as it travels through time in space... All cultural objects are embedded in a cultural matrix akin to the “raisin-in-the-pudding” theory of plasma membranes in the body. A membrane isa mosaic structure where lipid bi-layers are impr. nated with protein appendages that permeate the lipids. Cultural objects find a place to exist in our atmosphere and are filtered by the spheres of influence that surround them, Cultural objects, like proteins, may transport ideas from one time and place within one cultural milieu to another. (Mayo, 2004, pp. 6-15) The image is taken from Mayo's doctoral dissertation, Emergent Objects at the Human-Computer Interface (HCI): A Case Study of Artists’ Cybernetic Relationships and Implications for Critical Consciousness (2004),CHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 199 sources and data types and designing network structures that serve as organizational and navigational systems for creating and presenting new knowledge. Visualizing Data Used at different times as a descriptive, interpretative, and explanatory strategy, visualizing data tries to capture the features inherent in a body of information created within a research context. In looking to understand the concepts and structures within any ensem- ble or entity, itis useful to be able to define elements and relationships and possible causal connections. This is an analytical process and involves examining structures as parts and as wholes. Three visual approaches are mapping, indexing, and modeling. Mapping is a process of locating theories and ideas within existing conceptual frameworks 0 as to reveal underlying structures and systems of connections. This involves locating key concepts and ideas within some kind of terrain or typology and examples of mapping pro- cedures include file card systems, concept maps, citation logs, idea genealogies, and the like.” Any researcher who defines theoretical frameworks that may influence the issues inform- ing a particular study undertakes descriptive mapping, as this is a way research communi- ties establish conceptual structures around which disciplinary processes are organized. For instance, Laurie Schneider Adams's (1996) introduction to the methodologies of art maps the approaches used by art historians For the visual arts researcher, knowing about these accepted paradigms is necessary if the aim is to be able to question them in new ways. A more complex form of visual mapping is the kind undertaken by Charles Minard when he tracked Napoleon's ill-fated Moscow campaign. Minard set himself the ambitious task of identifying a causal explanation, and his classic example not only describes Napoleon's ill- fated invasion of Russia in 1812 that started out with 422,000 men, but it explains why only 10,000 returned. When the trail of soldiers is tracked using a line of weighted thickness, it is easy to see that few returned, and the reason is explained by dropping lines down to a temperature chart that shows major losses at times of freezing temperatures. The Russian army didn't defeat Napoleon; the Russian weather did. Indexing is another strategy that is a useful visualizing tool that helps collate objects as. typologies, taxonomies, or trees situated around certain hierarchical criteria. Further visual clarity can be applied to distinguish between conceptual levels of information. An example ofa visual indexing procedure might be Renata Tesch’s (1990) meta-analysis of methods of qualitative data analysis methods where she collates different approaches around the uses they serve and compiles an indexed tree-structure that explains the purposes of different approaches to qualitative inquiry. Modeling as a means of visualizing data is more process-oriented, where information about the relationships among features within a structure is sought. Modeling, therefore, is a mul- tidimensional reconstructive process and requires the capacity to strip complex phenomena into their constituent parts and to visualize their relationships. In Chapter 5, the concluding discussion of the Critical Influence project includes a good example of the development of a model to capture the dynamic quality of the research process. A textual example is the cur- riculum theorizing of Arthur Efland (1995), who over the years has analyzed curriculum mod- els to identify how underlying philosophical structures and value systems shape conceptions ofart teaching. His matrices that connect discipline traditions with conceptions of curriculumny) ,umesp sone o1ydes8 jeonsieas 3saq ay) aq {jam APU, morsoyy WOH 1 snowea uo aimeiaduia) otp pue ‘sjuaworow s Aue ‘a\p Jo uoRDauIp ayp ‘aDe}INs |eUOISUDLUIP-onN} € UO UONED9} si! 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On the other hand, established models of accepted practice can be surveyed and found want- ing, and new regimes can be proposed. This is the approach taken by James Elkins (2003) with his review of the area of visual culture and his call for a broader basis for image analysis that he defines as “visual studies.” Elkins not only adds more elements to the content map of visual culture, but he adds different dimensions of inquiry so as to reconfigure the overall concep- tual model. The strategies used by Efland and Elkins are not only syntheses arrived at through textual and conceptual analysis, but they can also readily be seen as strategies that may benefit from exploration using visual forms of representation. Designing Network Structures Another strategy for the visualization of ideas is designing and reviewing, From a traditional perspective, the design process is generally seen to be a problem-solving strategy that moves through a series of phases as a need is identified, constraints are considered, concepts and ideas are proposed, a prototype is designed and tested, and modifications are made. The iterative cycle then begins again. But this simplistic process radically distorts the complex- ity of designing, which, according to Brenda Laurel (2005), draws on many different theo- ries, practices, experiences, methodologies, and technologies, to the extent that a distinct field of “design as research” is emerging. In his preface to Laurel's anthology, Peter Lunenfeld made the point that “design research creates a place to braid theory and prac- tice” (Laurel, 2003, p. 10). This is evident in the adaptation of field-based methods such as ethnography and participant observation, as well as critical, interdisciplinary practices that are helping create a design research culture. Designs or simulations, on the other hand, can help conceptualize how research ends and methodological means might be integrated within a broader set of goals. By designs, | refer to both the process and product of research, for most inquiries undertaken in the visual arts will be project-like that will be shaped by overall questions and issues and comprise a series of interdependent activities. Simulations may help refine other options if, for example, time and space variables are involved and access to suitable computer software is available to explore visual possibilities. Whereas a useful strategy for organizing the struc- ture and sequence of research proposals is to create visual abstracts, more complex net- worked projects might be better conceived as computer graphic simulations of the kind developed by Ben Fry, Casey Reas, and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of ‘Technology Media Lab (Fry, 2008; Reas & Fry, 2007), There are many obvious ways to further think about designing as a strategy for visu- alizing ideas, as this is the essence of what design practice is all about. An example might be the series of models that the architect Frank Gehry uses in the early phase of design development to visualize ideas such as form, space, movement, and site. In 2002 at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Gehry displayed plans for the proposed Guggenheim to be built on the lower east side of Manhattan. Many of these models were like sketches in space where crumpled paper served as an approximation of curving, crinkled roof structures, and folded card and rough-cut blocks marked off areas of mass and space. The sequence began with a “massing model” of blocks that established a sense of scale. Initial “conceptual” models included rapidly drawn scribble-sketches and simple202 PART II Visuat Ants Restanch Practice paper and cardboard shapes and forms used to capture Gehry’s visual signature. “Study” models followed that documented a higher level of design refinement. These were sub- sequently modified to form “site” models that took into account broader concerns such as the visual conversations the proposed structure might have with the existing sur- roundings, At one point, a note in the display recorded a comment that “the specific image/metaphor of the building must derive from the immediate context—so let's make it a skyscraper emerging from a fog or a cloud.” Toward the end of the sequence, new conceptual models, massing models, and study models were developed that led to the preliminary master model. The catalogue entry expressed Gehry's approach to visu- alizing an idea this way: This exhibition . . . reveals a unique design process that begins with fluid sketches and simple building blocks. Rarely content with the initial solution, Gehry approaches architecture as an evolving and collaborative process using models as three-dimensional sketches to explore the myriad design possibilities inherent to a given building program. In recent years, the computer technologies used for design and manufacturing applications by his firm have facilitated the realization—on an ambitious new scale—of the gestural quality he has long prized. (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2001) Undertaking visual arts research is also contingent on finding out what others have done, and itis a basic requirement of scholarship. Within the research traditions of the humanities and the social sciences, reviewing is a part of the research process. As a primary component of research practice, reviewing is often seen as a way of charting what has been done. Building on foundations, adding pieces to a jigsaw, and other structural images are used to describe the function of reviews. But descriptive strategies offer a limited view at best. After all, the review process provides the opportunity to look backwards and forwards at the same time. As others have persuasively argued, reviews have an interpretive function that is cru- cial to scholarly practice.’ Investigating how information is presented and how it acquires the status of knowledge in a field requires one to use a series of critical and strategic methods, The views, theories, definitions, and arguments found in related literature pro- vide a basic starting point for critiquing research. For example, as a research tool, defin- itions help identify the boundaries and contexts within which certain ideas and concepts are used. In evaluating definitions, one not only considers their adequacy and consistency but whether the underlying premise can withstand scrutiny; after all, definitions can unknowingly privilege a position to the detriment of a more inclusive view. The critical, reflective review should shake the foundations as much as shape them and blur the bor- ders as much as bind them. As a research exercise, constructing visual literature reviews is a good example of designing network structures, for it requires an interpretive scope that repositions estab- lished knowledge according to a newly framed lens that is generally drawn from the pur- poses of a particular research project. In this sense, the task of completing a visual arts literature review is similar to the curatorial effort required to mount a challenging thematic art exhibition, As such, the exhibition not only comprises a selection of artworks that areCHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 203 placed within a particular context, but it offers an original interpretation that brings new insights into the field. In my role in teaching visual research methods courses, I regularly require students to reconfigure their emerging corpus of literature into visual configurations that may be best rendered in pencil, digital graphics, or represented in wire, cardboard, or cloth. The point is that a purposeful interpretive stance is necessary for conducting origi- nal research, and it is not so much a task of showing what others have done but how the information will be used to work toward insights based on what others have not done. ‘The constraint of reducing a research project to a set of components and its relationship within a single diagram or a simulated model can have both theoretical and logistical appeal and serve as a very useful focusing device. A good example is the text Writing as a Visual Art by Graziella Tonfoni (1994). He devises visual symbols that serve as graphic devices used to analyze texts and visual objects and “imagining textual machines” (p. 141) as structures for visualizing writing as a creative and constructive process. Interpretive Discourse: ENCOUNTERS ‘When visual arts research uses discursive methods to explore dimensions of meaning and issues related to ideas and agency, many of the language-based strategies associated with the interpretivist research paradigm come into play. These were described in some detail in Chapter 4. The arts and humanities and the human sciences are fields that use a range of meaning-making approaches to construct landscapes of knowledge. Making sense of this vast and ever-changing terrain requires one to accept that meanings are made rather than found, Therefore, ideas and visions are individually and socially constructed, yet they are continually modified and maintain an ongoing tension between the old and the new. In this way, peers and discipline interests serve as both moderators and muses. Although there are accepted bodies of knowledge within any scholarly community, there is usually the possi- bility, indeed the necessity, to move beyond existing boundaries. The capacity to interpret what is happening in a field, therefore, requires the ability to think in new ways. As Zygmunt Bauman (2007) explained, “the virtue proclaimed to serve the individual's inter- est best is not conformity to rules (which at any rate are few and far between, and often mutually contradictory) but flexibility” (p. 4) All research practice includes a phase where information is encountered and critiqued in order to create representations that will assist further inquiry. Responding to information in an insightful fashion through constructive dialogue means that private views need to enter into public discourse, for it is within an interpretive community that alternative visions are most keenly felt. In shaping this discussion, a deconstructive phase where assumptions are reviewed will be followed by a synthesis or integration of the parts identified in the analysis. Here one creates a new set of signposts on a newly designed conceptual landscape that forges connections and relationships using a new set of organizing principles. Yet there will be logic and sound reasoning along with flexibility inherent in any arguments made, as evidence assembled has to support the interpretations made. Visualizing texts and reflecting on narrative structures are two practices that assist in making sense of these encounters with ideas,204 PART III Visuat Ants Reseanch Practice Visualizing Texts ‘When visualizing texts, individual views and personal constructs blend with responses from the wider interpretive communities that serve as reflective spaces through which ideas are communicated. At the heart of these interpretations are the way different agencies create the dialectics and the dialogues that help present new insights. For instance, the reduction and reinterpretation of existing category structures into alternative systems according to other conceptual cues is a type of inductive analysis that is very common in research. Although this kind of reconfiguration helps synthesize information, perhaps the most value is in the appeal it holds as a way to see things differently. Therefore, visualizing texts sug- gests that the process of engaging critically with received information requires the capac- ity to “talk back,” and this can take many textual forms. An example that uses a verbal means but invokes a visual image is the interactive account Peter Plagens (1986) gives that helps reveal the negotiating processes that take place in artis- tic encounters. In his example, Plagens “interviews” a photographic artwork by Lucas ‘Samaras."° The piece begins with Plagens as the art critic, asking questions of the artwork, and a brief extract sets the scene for the two-way conversation that unfolded. Plagens: I take it you don’t mind being interviewed? Samaras’s Photograph: Not really. I's not often I have a chance to speak directly. What I have to say is usually conveyed through intermediaries, like dealers and art critics Plagens: That’s odd. What a photograph has to say should be obvious to everyone, since it’s right there on the surface for everyone to see. ‘Samaras's Photograph: Well, part of the trouble is right there. I'm not a “photograph.” Tm a work of art Plagens: What's the difference? Samaras's Photograph: At the risk of belaboring the obvious, a photograph can at times be a work of art, But a photograph is, properly speaking, a sin- gle-surface, usually unitary, image printed directly from a nega- tive. I may be generically photographic, but as you can see I've been physically manipulated a great deal—you might even call me a collage. Moreover, my brothers and sisters are sculptures, assemblages, pastels, and paintings. Plagens: Tassume you're referring to your siblings in the Samaras family. Samaras’s Photograph: Yes. We're all very different from each other, but we have our father's vision in common. Plagens: What would that vision be? ‘Samaras’s Photograph: You'd have to ask him about that. I can speak only for myself. (p. 255)CHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 205 Reflecting on Narrative Structures Another form of textual visualization involves reflecting on narrative structures. Conventional definitions describe narrative as an account of a sequence of events, actions, or ideas that can be fact or fiction. There is something intensely personal about narrative, as most cultures have a propensity for storytelling because it renders certain human com- plexities in a form or through content we can relate to. Within narrative structures, there is also a degree of flexibility that offers more creative and interpretive scope than rule- governed, propositional languages that have preset syntactical and symbolic structures that more or less prescribe meaning. Narrative content, however, can also be weighted down by its own ideological baggage as grand narratives and polemics can be questionable accounts. Therefore, the interpretive frames that shape narrative strategies, fields of reference, and the informing contexts need to be seen as active agents in how meanings are made. For instance, Linda Weintraub’s (2003) essays about contemporary artists present much more than narratives about their practices, passions, and preferences. Her conceptual stance is grounded in her belief that art practice is continually expanding to embrace all kinds of sociocultural settings, situa- tions, and services and this renders any simplistic narrative moot. As such, questions about the role of the viewer and the function of art in society become more consciously part of the artist’s frame of artistic action. Weintraub’s interpretive lens is captured in her comment that “free radicals are reproducing in the arts as they are in physical matter [and] because artists are uniquely capable of both initiating and adapting to change, art forms are mutat- ing all around us" (p. 8). Although Weintraub uses conventional linguistic forms to construct her accounts, itis also possible to consider visual narrative as an interpretive method to construct and cri- tique phenomena, In general, the utility of word-picture combinations is a consequence of how they aid illustration and communication. Here, meaning is mostly limited to description. However, using visual images as the main component of a narrative means that conceptual, structural, and sequential decisions are formed mostly in pictures and this gives an opportunity to stretch the range of meaning making and open up interpretive pos- sibilities. When considered in the context of a research narrative, where the purpose is to construct readings of data that move beyond descriptive accounts and realist tales, the inclusion of visual images also has to contribute to the interpretive conception that frames the narrative. If visual forms are not used merely as an illustrative device, then visual narrative struc- tures are integrated into the events, issues, and arguments at the outset. This is evident in the approach Michael Emme (2001) uses with his “visual criticism” strategies, where the interpretive form is presented as a discrete visual analog that carries the conceptual con- tent. For Emme, to critique is to create. Drawing on aspects of critical sociology, Emme argues that art criticism can be seen as a form of activism, and the pervasive impact of visual images in contemporary culture requires these critical perspectives to be presented as visual processes. ‘The means used to report research may take on different narrative forms, for often. it is in bringing personal accounts into the public domain that rich connections are made and new paths revealed. The visual arts researcher has access to 2 range oF ems ill.206 PART III Visuan Aars Researc Practice in which to represent experiences, and this helps to open up new opportunities for dia- logue. Further, it is possible to see visual arts practice, not only as an interpretable or representational form, but also as a means of coming to understand something in a way that other research traditions cannot. To do so requires theorizing studio art experi: ences so as to reveal a history of personal preferences and practices and to identify points of content and process connection, collaborative potential, and community relevance. ‘These are part of the considerations Hugo Ortega Lopez (2008) takes into account in his interpretive encounters with theories and practices of art education research and implica- tions or inquiry that emerge from his studio experiences that are the central part of his doc- toral research. At the heart of the problem for Lépez is exploring how to move beyond the limits of knowledge and the role studio practices can play: The transmission of knowledge is constrained or facilitated by its medium of presentation. Through time, the channels of knowledge distribution have generated a specific hierarchy of forms that determines acceptable type and validity of knowledge, The hierarchical system of research determines the appropriate paths and modes of inquiry. It demands the conversion of anything into written language and the modification of an investigation into existing labels and formats. The stratification of forms of communication emerged from the possibilities of documentation, transmission and distribution within cultural, political, financial and technological controls that emphasized the discourse and the explanatory abilities of the knower. The accepted forms of scholarly communication thus guide behaviors and dynamics in an investigation through the linear constitution and construction of an argument. But what are the Possibilities of generating knowledge from highly visual investigations? (pp. 4-5, ‘emphasis in original) Lopez describes the interface between his doctoral research and his studio activity in terms of engines and gears. Meanings found in texts using the usual methods of litera- ture review are limited by the preexisting set of relationships in place that define con- ventional content structures. For Lépez, there is merit in looking at these systems differently, Examples of engines are “proximity” and “cross-contextualization.” As the- oretical objects, textual sources can be reconfigured by changing their proximity by building new assemblages of information. Drawing on the philosophical ideas of Gerald Bruns (1999), the focus is less on the idea that information is comprised of broad, gen- eralized notions, and more directed toward the concept that it is in the particular, inc dental, and specific textual moments that new insights can reside. In a somewhat similar way, Lopez adapts cross-contextualization from the ideas from Roger Schank’s (1999) work on complexity theory and emergence. Cross-contextualization involves appropriating and assimilating “chunks” of content in a somewhat haphazard way, as this transforms them into new configurations that offer an alternative interpretation to the original. It is these visual forms that become part of narrative structures that emerge from inquiry.CHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 207 ewan sions ee) Hugo Ortega L6pez. Proximity and Cross nec Contextualization Textural Disruptions: As Oca utnatytten enone on William James (above). Propositions Ill: —eneeten ene Formas It Contradicts (below). Reproduced ee ae —7— courtesy of the artist. http:/wwwartebunker Tong li Sear eee ee -blogspot.com co eel espe “The challenge is how the intrinsic eeeereriernenmnenn knowledge structure and language aot a emntem epee mem, ag ofan art practitioner, as ithappens, fo inom nn 7 is accepted as evidence and valid testimony of a research event for academic standards. Could it be that the voice and vision of the artist and his/her studio practice hhas been altered, even ‘mutated’ by the standardized practices of the academy and the prevalence of verbaliwritten languages dealing with art related activities? If tis is the case, then the way artist. researchers create opportunities, strategies, and make use of forms Of inquiry that explore alterity and differentiation needs to be acknowledged. (Hugo Ortega Lopez, quoted in Baxter, Lépez, Serig, & Sullivan, 2008, p. 8) Art practice provides fluid opportunities to work beyond the limits of knowledge in what Lopez described as a “visual model of doing” (2008, p. 25). If one pushes against walled structures, there will be points of disruption that will result in the emergence of new forms. This “acknowledges the opportunities that are inherent to a singular local situation” (Lopez, 2008, p. 25). CrrrtcaL Process: ENACTMENTS Chapter 5 opened with reference to a Maxine Greene saying where she reminds us that art can’t change things, but it can change people, who can change things. The activist role of the visual art as a form of critical and creative inquiry and human agency has a long if somewhat208 PART HIT Visuat Ants Res#ancn Paacrice Hugo Ortega Lopez. Cycle, Gear, Eye, Vision: A Sequence of Art and Research Practice (above). Geometry: Visual ‘Model of Doing (below). Reproduced courtesy of the artist. htipyivww .artebunker blogspot.com My work . .. can be likened to a set of gears that implements a cycle of prac- tice whereby my individual eye serves to re-vision things in an institutional setting, and this draws on opportunity, and improvisation as much as insight and_ understanding. (Hugo Ortega Lopez, quoted in Baxter, Lopez, Serig, & Sullivan, 2008, p. 7) method...structure...analysis...agency checkered history, and it continues to be used by artists to take on sociocultural and geopo- litical issues. The image-laden world of today and the technological diversity in how visual culture is produced and presented offer a landscape of form and content that is hard to resist, if even more difficult to penetrate to lasting effect. Yet it is precisely through the net- work opportunities opened up by the digital age in institutional settings where the nexus between academic possibility and artworld connections can be expected to thrive. The crit- ical perspective that directs much research activity in higher education, and the arguments made in this book that visual arts research can take a leading role in this practice, suggest that the time is right to claim a more formal space within this discourse, In this section, ideas for enacting critical processes are explored using strategies such as visualizing problems and critiquing social spacesCHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 209 Visualizing Problems Perhaps the most appropriate way to introduce the idea of visualizing problems is to refer to an example. Lucio Pozzi is an artist who also has a distinguished career as a studio teacher. In her study of the studio critique strategies of Pozzi, Lori Kent (2001, 2003) described how he uses a series of diagrams as a means of opening up discussion with his students about the progress of their artwork." Using a series of sketchy, structural signa- tures, Pozzi is able to draw references to historical issues, use metaphor to tease out possi- bilities, demolish preconceptions, disrupt complacencies, challenge decision making, and find creative comfort among incongruities. The diagrams themselves become visual thoughts whose representational power takes on meaning when related to creative prob- Jem-finding students encounter in art making. The pedagogical purpose of Lucio Pozzi's dia grams is to help students think more clearly and to trust their intuitions and ideas as a sustainable source for their own creative pursuits. As an intellectual and imaginative process, visualizing problems involves representing thoughts and ideas using the symbolic properties that something created or constructed can stand for something else, The elements involved are inference and meaning: We represent something by giving it form, and we infer that it can carry meaning. Within more traditional languages, we can ascribe meaning to new forms, be they words or numbers, and through the use of representational tools such as logic and reasoning, or semantics or syntax, we are able to communicate meanings of great simplicity or complexity. On the other hand, the visual representational forms used by the visual artist or studio teacher extend beyond cod- ified structures into realms of invented visual dialogue. This broadens the capacity for meaning making by putting the emphasis on “re-presentation” as much as representation. By this I mean that those responding to visual information are responsible for opening up the interpretive space between the artifact and what it might mean—a studio teacher such as Lucio Pozzi wants his students to take up the visual dialogue in their own ways. Critiquing Social Structures A further feature of visual critical processes is the idea that the artwork itself is not merely an image or an object that carries meanings, but it is part of a broader system of cultural forms, and it can play an active role in sociopolitical processes. W. J. Thomas Mitchell (1994) described visual representation “as a multidimensional and heterogeneous terrain, a collage or patchwork quilt assembled over time out of fragments” (p. 419). This is a description of rep- resentation as a “process” rather than as a “thing,” This is illustrated in Figure 7.1, and if the features of critical processes are seen in relation to the other areas of visual arts practice, inter- pretivist discourse, and empiricist inquiry, then the depth and breadth of approaches to visu- alization available for use is considerable. Similarly, as elements in a critical process, the viewer and the artwork are part of a wider set of visual agencies and actions, and this adds to the potential power to contribute to individual awareness, social change, and cultural debate. Perhaps the most prominent research practice within this area of visual arts practice is the critique. | discussed the studio critique earlier as a component of the critical teaching practice of Lucio Pozzi; however, a broader research brief requires a much more comprehensive ails210 PART IIT Visuai Ants Research Practice Lucio Pozzi. Studio Critique Strategies: Visual Explanations. Reproduced courtesy of the artist. Diagrams, sometimes appearing as insignificant scribbles in a margin, visually communicate an interpre- tation of some of the most sigri cant ideas about culture and artistic practices in the 20th and 21st cen- turies, They are used both as a ped- agogical tool with college-aged students and an illustrative tool in conversations with mature artist. The diagrams are elemental visual symbols about being an artist, about the choices that artists can make. (Kent, 2003, p. 5) The pedagogical purpose of Lucio Pozzi’s diagrams is to help students think more clearly and to trust their intuitions and ideas as a sustainable source for their ‘own creative pursuits. strategy to incorporate a critical perspective. For instance, investigating how information is presented and how it acquires the status of knowledge in a field requires one to use a series of critical and strategic methods. The views, theories, and arguments presented in the field in the form of ideas and images provide a basic starting point for research. Arguments reflect how researchers believe knowledge is acquired and constructed. As a result of conducting studies, researchers give reasons about why something is so. These reasons are based on evidence assembled from the research methods used. Obviously, dif- ferent research methods will yield evidence in different forms and the reasoning will be grounded on different criteria. Chris Hart (1998) noted, however, that at a basic level, there are two main components of an argument: the Claim and the Evidence. If one argues by making a claim and then assembling the evidence, a deductive stance is taken. On the other hand, compiling evi- dence from which a claim is made is an inductive process. In visual arts where evidence in research is varied and complex, there are several ways to evaluate arguments. A philosoph- ical approach might deploy formal logic and the conventions of reasoning to assess whether the conclusions drawn are in accordance with the premises (reasons). Several other strategies for evaluating arguments can be applied. Drawing on Hart (1998), distinctions can be seen among inferences, assertions, and suppositions made in arguments. See the follow- ing, for example:CHAPTER 7 Visualizing Practices 211 ‘Supposition: Is the claim made an assumption? ("left-handed people are artistic”) Assertion: Is a claim made about the existence or cause of something without supporting evidence? ("I am left-handed, therefore I am artistic”) Inference: Are conclusions based on some observation or knowledge claim? (“I've noticed that many artistic people are left-handed”) The analysis of arguments may reveal fallacies. Fallacies give rise to deceptions that may be unintended and often unknown until revealed through critique. Identifying similarities and difference among ideas, concepts, definitions, interpretations, and theoretical views is one of the most common methods of analysis used in research. A basic requirement is to locate common points or areas of overlap whereby views can be compared and contrasted. In essence, one is looking for common interests and different views. Asa research process, adopting a critical perspective results in the construction of a set of meanings about a topic. The topic is usually a combination of concepts and issues assem- bled from an analysis of ideas and information drawn from various sources. What makes this process of meaning making a critical exercise is that there are gaps and ruptures revealed in frameworks of knowledge and these gaps can become the focus for follow-up research. A theme evident in several artworks exhibited in the 2003 Venice Biennale was a slightly different take on the ubiquitous critique of “the human condition” that framed so much artistic inquiry in the visual arts in the 20th century. Rather than delve into the existential depths of what it is to be human, some artists these days are probing the very essence of “the human design” for the 21st century. The artwork of Patricia Piccinini, The Young Family (2002-2003), is a case in point. Although the correspondences being drawn exhibit ob’ ous visual and structural similarities with human forms, the genetic slippages betray a curi- ‘ously charming, if somewhat unnerving, future, The questions Piccinini raises draw their energy from the many issues surrounding our relationships with each other, from within increasingly isolated family networks to anxieties felt across community and cultural divides. The promise of a good and healthy life that comes courtesy of genetically modified food and tinkering with the human genome may indeed yield a sinister side. The possibility of curious mutations and unexpected surprises {to patterns of growth and change intrigue Piccinini, yet they unnerve us. The evidence she Compiles from which she fashions her visual inferences come from the stock of knowledge constantly being collected by researchers in the human sciences. As an astute investigator well versed in scientific inquiry Piccinini is able to create new ways of interpreting this exist- ing information by exploring new possibilities that Linda Michael suggests “disturbs and attracts us” (2003, p. 506). She explains: Piccinini’s work engages the audience because it does not take sides on these issues. Rather, it disturbs and attracts us, drawing us into a self-sufficient universe that accepts and reorients our questions. In Piccinini’s world it is social values and relationships that redeem her imagined future. So that our horror of humans combining with other species, for example, is considerably softened or sidetracked by the image of her profoundly patient and loving trans-species mother suckling her young. (p. 506)