The case for material semiotics in speculative research-based practice
Computational Arts Research Week 11
Some days ago, I had a conversation with my partner about a particular project I am developing, now in the research stage, both practice-based and theoretical. This work is to materialise as a multi-media installation using movement, sound and computation with a focus on deep ecology and object-oriented ontology.
This performative environment assembles materials and objects to be sonified using DIY electronic devices activated various sensors within the space and worn on the body. During the conversation, I was challenged by questions about the intentions underlying the project and how they are translated to the audience eloquently and effectively. Personally, the themes I am working with and the way I approach them through practicing free improvisation with objects are clear to me and so are the narratives with their implications and consequences. Of course they are, after all, it is a narrative that is built on my personal history, experiences and values. But in what way can I make those legible to others without making definite conclusions? First step would be to address the work for what it really is, a speculative artefact not asserting universal truths but rather poising questions, offering alternatives, looking at the world from a different angle.
Here is where material semiotics (Law, 2019) starts fitting in. Law makes a case of re-establishing the concept of 'the social' to be inclusive not only of humans but also of other materials that together 'pattern' themselves into 'weaves, webs and networks' and he calls for exploration of the 'consequences of their patterning'.
Not only can we observe deep ecological overtones and inclination towards object-oriented ontology but - for the purpose of my inquiry into strategies for developing speculative artworks revolving around those concepts - it is also plausible to utilise Law's approach as the possible framework of thinking of delivering my goals. Through a scrupulous investigation into the particular elements of the work and the way in which - 'such processes of weaving are achieved or fail in practice; where those threads come from; their character, and what they exclude; their productivity or performativity, including the ways in which they shape the elements that make them up; the agendas that they carry; the multiplicity of the different realities that they enact; how they interact, conflict with, or ignore one another; how they colonise or are colonised by other webs; how they produce domination; and how such forms of domination might be resisted' (Law, 2019) - it is possible to design the work in such a way as to deliver its message with clarity and depth which is not universal but which is nevertheless truthful to its intentions.
