Laboratory on Feedback in Artistic Processes 3

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nes in the midst of the whole process, zones of temporary withdrawal
or points of return within a flux of changing concepts
– which allow for a sort of being singular plural as a form of co-existence
and being with, in the absence of a unifying idea. This model
enables us to offer criticism within a group, acknowledging
that the state of crisis is a productive one. Within these processes
of working together, questions of timing, of creating a situation, of
providing an architecture of exchange are as important as finding
a common language and sharing practices. This might include
establishing a common and regular practice of conversation, situations
of learning from each other. Situating knowledge in these
ecologies means reconsidering not only the different forms of
knowledge but also the status of the singular practitioners, since
in these constellations theory must be understood equally as a
kind of practice in itself.
Practising feedback together enables working with different modes
of criticism, which should never be expressed pedagogically
nor simply descriptively. It enables learning to love sharply formulated
criticism, enjoying disagreement and relinquishing shyness
in a public encounter. Practising feedback together in this
way is not a method, nor should it ever become one. It depends
on its critical function to differentiate and to separate, it flourishes
in oppositional and transformative situations, it is nourished by
potential conflict. In opening up to democratic structure, it sustains
situations of ambivalence, which also seem essential for an
aesthetic experience, in which we have to position ourselves –
positions from which we can generate criteria. Nevertheless, it
always means being in an in-between state. It is a practice of displacement,
far from being instrumentalised.
Criticism is a practice the sense of the Greek praxis, which unlike
techné does not strive towards an end but finds its goal in
itself and in providing its public character. As such a demanding
practice, it needs regular training.