Collision as method for in-the-moment artistic co-creation

In this brief talk, we present the results of applying our specific collaboration methodology, one year into the artistic research project “Atlas of Smooth Spaces,” whose object of research is the space that is created around performers, shaped through performers, and accessed by performers. This methodology goes beyond conventional practices by setting discipline collisions at the centre of the knowledge production, rather than relegating co-creation to a few contact points at the overlapping edges of each discipline. This “collision” is preceded by a preparatory phase in which the artist-researchers define the core elements of their practice in an intersubjective and consensual manner, their respective “Null Spaces.” In a decidedly transdisciplinary manner, our approach parts with conventional practices and favours bold, discipline-crossing processes and in-the-moment action. As telling examples of this approach, we present the insights and output of different collaboratories we have initiated across artistic disciplines such as Eurythmics, Dance, Direct Film Sound and Choir Conducting, and propose how it could be effectively applied in other disciplines.