Research/Art Project Plan for 2018–2022

Published in

abirdwhale Kakinoki Masato’s blog

5 min readOct 30, 2018

Because I have written a research proposal for 2019–2022, here I share the plan to clarify what I want to do. The below will be more or less what I will do as my primary personal project.

Purpose of the project

I aim to present the question of ‘what is the difference between which became a norm and which did not?’ through artistic activities and thus, wish to contribute to the occurrence of dialogues around normativity. By regarding polyamory as a research subject, I will research the values and narrative of a group united by a specific norm, and the ones of outgroups. I want to explore how the views and attitudes of the in-group and out-groups interact, which could encompass playing off against one another and reinforcing one another.

Details and plan

Although my activities were initially centred around intuitive sound art and music production, through the research at the PhD period, I became interested more in research-based art practice which requires stronger necessity and reasoning.

From June 2018 to the end of May 2019, I belong to the EAVI research group, Goldsmiths, University of London (the group focuses on embodied interaction with sound and image, my host and mentor is Professor Atau Tanaka) and the CRiSAP research centre, University of the Arts London (the centre focuses on sound arts, my host and mentor is Professor David Toop), as a visiting artist and postdoctoral researcher, funded by the Pola Art Foundation. Within the fellowship period, I am researching methodologies to actualise the long-term aim explained below. The research is on the use of audio and visual technologies such as VR and AR in anthropological art at the EAVI, and the connections between anthropological art and sound art at the CRiSAP. I will attempt to comprehend the current practices and the historical context of the related fields. The output from this period would probably be a research report/paper and blog posts. Other options are a presentation and prototypes.

These days, I am learning about the following five fields.

Fundamental knowledge of anthropology
Anthropological art practices
Aesthetics
Polyamory, solo-poly, relationship anarchy, mononormativity
Human history and future history (fictional and non-fictional)

Along with the research, I have been producing a few research-based artworks. In July 2018, I made £4.80 salmon-roll (bap), £2.50 cup of coffee, £5.50 cheese-cake, which is the site-specific sonic work responding to Leadenhall Market, London. The research went from the old maps of the area, the historical books on the subject, the literary works and the advertisements in different centuries depicting the past of the market, to the food history of England around meat and fish. The piece has been installed in the market permanently by Musicity. In June, I made and performed the work titled:
Act: Study
Subject: History
Topic: _
It is the performance of the act of studying. Fixity and fluidity of history, digital materials and of acts of documenting and recording were explored by improvising the act of studying history, and improvising with the immediate recordings of the act. The recorded sounds of reading, writing, squiggling, drinking, eating and occasional mumbling were fluidified through my physical manipulation. The trading history between England and Porto through wine and cod was studied in this performance instance.

Currently, I am working on the film music for Yoi Kawakubo’s new works. I am wondering if I could make use of the research-based approach here as well.

From September 2019, I will be mentored and hosted by Dr Chris Wright (Centre for Visual Anthropology, Goldsmiths, University of London), who is a specialist well-versed both in contemporary art practices and anthropology, and who internationally contributes to the connections between those fields. During my research, I will exchange knowledge and views with different researchers and research groups in the UK.

For the first six months, in addition to the polyamorous people and the related communities in London, which I regard as a starting point for a case study, I will research and select groups united by a specific norm, which are suitable as case studies, by referring to literature including taboo cultures. The word ‘norm’ in this research does not indicate any universal concept. Instead, I will treat the norms and their frictions in a particular group and between certain groups, as the case studies which could help to pursue the initial question in ‘Purpose of the project’.

For the latter half of the year, the research into the background and history of the selected groups, the study of related theories (e.g., gender studies and queer theories for polyamory), the selection of the groups which function as the outgroups for the selected groups (which would include not only close groups, but also groups such as a group of local friends at a pub, a community at a church, and a working men’s club), and the contact and negotiation with the groups will be conducted. For the research into the background, history and related theories of each group, I will visit different researchers and research groups, and learn specialists’ knowledge and discuss matters.

In the second year, I will conduct interviews, recording, filming, photographing, participant observation of the subject groups and the outgroups on a long-term basis. During this period, the subject groups can be added or changed flexibly, if it helps achieve the project purpose. Depending on circumstances, I may include something related to food.

In the third year, I will select the effective means to deliver the content of the research, and produce artworks according to the selection. The options would include video, photography, audio, text, performance, workshop, book, VR and installation. Using the right format for the works will be prioritised over using the suitable approach for my technical abilities, and the collaborations with different specialists and researchers will be conducted as appropriate. By outputting the research as artworks instead of an academic paper, I will offer the audience with the opportunities to explore their own questions rather than the answer to the question, and attempt to generate discussion around normativity.