Ideas in Practice: A Collaborative Experiment in Inventive Research

Graduate School, Arts at Aarhus University

Course description
Ideas are enigmatic phenomena. Most of us talk about ideas daily and we might even have a vague idea of what ideas are, though we rarely think about them directly as ideas. But ideas have lives and histories. They can be good or bad, big and small. They can be ephemeral and persistent, hard to catch or difficult to get rid of again. Artists work with ideas. So do designers, scientists, researchers, philosophers, and politicians.

Anthropologists, for example, study how ideas of kinship, religion, or economy differ across cultures and societies. Psychologists design experiments to test how we form ideas individually or collectively, and whether this makes a difference in their development or impact. Design researchers document and discuss how ideas are externalised, explored, combined and transformed from early-stage ideation to outcomes in creative processes. Philosophers discuss the nature of ideas, their ontological characteristics and epistemological consequences. Cognitive scientists model how ideas are stored, represented, transformed, and transmitted in and between brains and bodies. At Aarhus University, we even have a research community dedicated to the history of ideas.

Beyond research, ideas play an essential role in most, if not all, professional work, including the work of artists, designers, scientists, psychologists, and journalists. They are the sparks that initiate inquiry, and many creative activities revolve around producing, externalising, exploring, synthesising, and transforming ideas. Contrary to myths about ‘Eureka’ moments, ideas rarely spring fully formed from the mind of the practitioner. Ideas come in many forms and can encompass solutions or part-solutions, generative and explorative opportunities, and suggestions for re-framing problems or processes. In many cases, the ideas will occur as fragments that need exploration and development before potentially contributing to a final concept, model, or object. When professional practitioners externalize ideas, it allows them to explore and reinterpret their mental representations, refining their ideas.

This PhD course endeavours to re-encounter and experiment with ideas as research objects and companions. In doing so, we survey and discuss state-of-the-art research on ideas from design research, psychology, anthropology, STS, philosophy, and beyond. Here, we are less interested in ‘grand’ ideas and their histories - like political ideologies, religious doctrines, or scientific theories - but rather in exploring what we might call the everyday life of ideas, as they emerge and evolve, thrive or fade away, and the practices and infrastructures that condition these processes. We will bridge and blur distinctions between ideas as empirical and conceptual matters of concern, that is, of ideas as phenomena in our empirical work that we find ‘out there’ and ideas as the conceptual-cum-analytical tools we use ‘in here’ to make sense of the ‘out there.’ It is thus relevant both for PhD students, who work with ideas empirically (ethnographically, historically, artistic, designerly…) and those who are interested in more conceptual discussions, as well as everyone in between.

Put differently, we will explore, discuss, and practice ways of recognising, developing, attuning, and rethinking ideas in our individual research projects. Partly, we will work with methods that situate our research in the world, as practical and relational activities, which draw on a variety of epistemic, sociotechnical, and affective configurations that trouble easy distinctions between what we study and how we study it (our concepts, methods, and so forth). We suggest that heightened attention to the everyday lives we share with our own ‘research ideas’, whether encountered and acknowledged briefly or persistently, can provide alternative foundations for experimenting – in the broadest sense – with inventive and creative research practices.

Tentative program
Day 1
Assignment for Day 1 (prepared in advance): Prepare a brief presentation outlining your research focus, and disciplinary framing. Propose a key reading or concept from the readings that resonated strongly with your work or interests.

Morning Session: Whole Group Seminar 9:00-12:00

Participants introduce their academic background, research projects and major interests/inspirations/points of attraction in relation to the course.
Each participant also proposes/introduces/frames a key reading or concept related to "ideas in practice" drawn from the readings.
The session concludes with a joint discussion of initial concepts and themes emerging from participants' work

Afternoon Session: Lectures and Conceptual Framework 13:00-17:00

Based on discussions and patterns emerging in the readings, the afternoon program begins with three introductory lectures.
Based on his work in creativity and design research, Peter Dalsgaard will provide a general introduction and framework for the academic study of ideas in creative work.
Drawing on experimental perspectives from anthropology, STS, and beyond, Frederik Vejlin will discuss research as an inventive practice and how to work with ideas as analytically animated research companions.
From her extensive experience as an anthropologist-artist-curator, Jen Clarke will ease us into the program for Day 2 by exploring practical methodologies for integrating theoretical concepts into tangible, creative, and transformative outcomes. Jen will also introduce the briefs and protocols for creative methods used in Day 2.
Group discussion of lectures followed group creation for collaborative work on Day 2 based on selected concepts and interests shared on Day 1.

Evening “Session”: Dinner and Socializing 18:30-??

Voluntary, self-paid dinner at a local restaurant w. course participants and lecturers.
Details TBD.

Day 2
Assignment for Day 2 (collaborative work in the morning session). Develop a collaborative project plan integrating theoretical insights with practical applications. Prepare to present and exhibit your group's work during the afternoon session.

Morning Session: Small Group Workshops 9:00-14:00

The groups created on Day 1 will use briefs and protocols for different creative methodologies (some introduced during Day 1, others drawn directly from readings), to explore and work with their various ideas experimentally, and in different contexts and configurations.
Expect to be moving about, shaking up your thinking, scavenging, collecting, experimenting… maybe being frustrated, disappointed, but hopefully excited. We want you to play with ways to work collaboratively and creatively with your research ideas… turning problems into possibilities for new insights

Afternoon Session: Presentations and Exhibition 14:00-17:00

Smaller groups present their collaborative efforts through an exposition, display, performance, or other relevant formats.
Opportunities for documentation and creation of a temporary exhibition showcasing the workshop outcomes.

Aim

The course introduces PhD students to interdisciplinary approaches to studying and working with ideas in practice. It draws inspiration from exemplary work in design research, psychology, anthropology, STS, philosophy, and beyond.

Course Objectives

Facilitate interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration among PhD researchers.
Explore the intersection of ideas, creativity, and practical application within diverse disciplinary frameworks.
Develop practical methodologies for integrating theoretical concepts into tangible, creative outcomes.
Cultivate a community of practice that supports innovative, inventive, and experimental approaches to research.

Upon completion of the course, students will have gained

Familiarity with interdisciplinary approaches to studying and working with ideas, both as empirical objects and as central elements of their own research practice.
Opportunities to discuss, assess, and critically engage with methodologies, frameworks, and perspectives on studying the genesis, evolution, dissemination, and impact of ideas in practice.
Experience with collaborative methods for working creatively with ideas as both empirical and conceptual matters of concern, producing tangible and documented outcomes, and communicating these to others.

Literature - Tentative

A list of course readings will be finalized and shared with participants after acceptance, about 1 month before the course begins.

Tentative Course Readings (to be finalised later)

Abbot, A. (2004). “Chapter Three: Introduction to Heuristics” & “Chapter Seven: Ideas and Puzzles.” In: Methods of Discovery: Heuristics for the Social Sciences. WW Norton and Co. Pp. 80-109 & 211-248.
Corsín Jiménez, A. (2014). “Introduction: The prototype: more than many and less than one.” Journal of Cultural Economy, 7(4). Pp. 381-398.
Dalsgaard, P. (2017). “Instruments of Inquiry: Understanding the Nature and Role of Design Tools.” International Journal of Design, 11(1). Pp. 21-33.
Dumit, J. (2021). “Substance as Method (Shaking Up Your Practice).” In Ballestero, A. & Winthereik, B. R. (eds.), Experimenting with -Ethnography: A Companion to Analysis. Duke University Press. Pp. 175-185
Deleuze, G. (1998). “Having an idea in cinema.” In: Kaufman, E., & Heller, K. J. (eds.), Deleuze and Guattari: New Mappings in Politics, Philosophy, and Culture. University of Minnesota Press. Pp. 14-19.
Deleuze, G. (2013). “What is the creative act?” In Lotringer, S., & Cohen, S. (eds.), French Theory in America. Routledge. Pp. 99-107.
Donovan, J., & Gunn, W. (2012). “Moving From Objects to Possibilities.” In: Gunn, W., & Donovan, J. (eds.), Design and Anthropology. Routledge. Pp. 121-134.
Habib, C. (host). (2021). “AEWCH148. Stuart McLean or Rewriting Reality with Symbiosis and Metamorphosis” [Audio Podcast Episode]. In: Against Everyone with Conner Habib. https://connerhabib.com/2021/04/13/the-metamorphosis-of-reality-i-talk-with-anthropologist-stuart-mclean-on-aewch-148/
Haraway, D. (2020). “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” In: McCann, C., Kim, S., & Ergun, E. (eds.), Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives- Routledge. Pp. 303-310.
Jensen, C. B. (2021) “Say Why You Say It: On Ethnographic Companionship, Scale, and Effect”, Science & Technology Studies, 34(3), pp. 125–137.
Lim, Y. K., Stolterman, E., & Tenenberg, J. (2008). “The anatomy of prototypes: Prototypes as filters, prototypes as manifestations of design ideas.” ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 15(2): 1-27.
McLean, S. (2009), “Stories and Cosmoginies: Imagining Creativity Beyond “Nature” and “Culture”. Cultural Anthropology, 24.Pp. 213-245.
Suchman, L. (2012). “Configuration.” In: Lury, C. & Wakeford, N. (eds). (2012). Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social. London: Routledge.
Marres, N., Guggenheim, M., & Wilkie, A. (2018). “Introduction: From Performance to Inventing the Social.” In: Marres, N., Guggenheim, M., & Wilkie, A. (eds). Inventing the Social. Manchester: Mattering Press.
Stengers, I. (2011). “Comparison as a matter of concern.” Common Knowledge 17(1). Pp. 48-63.
Tsing, A. (2019). “When the Things We Study Respond to Each Other: Tools for Unpacking the ‘Material’.” In: Harvey, P., Krohn-Hansen, C., & Nustad, K. G. (eds.), Anthropos and the Material. Pp. 221-243.
Vallee-Tourangeau, F. (2023). Systemic Creative Cognition: Bruno Latour for Creativity Researchers. London: Routledge.

Ideas in Practice: A Collaborative Experiment in Inventive Research

Graduate School, Arts at Aarhus University

Cookie consent