Drawing spatial and bodily sensitivities – a training kit

Ulrike Scholtes, UVA; Marlies Vermeulen, RESEARCH CENTRE FOR ARTS, AUTONOMY AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE

virPrague 20: Experiments in Collaboration and Critical Participation

Ways in which bodies and spaces relate have gained increasing acknowledgement, interest and dedication in various sciences such as sociology, anthropology, science studies and artistic research (often under big words such as affects or affordances). Drawing on the material-semiotic proposition that bodies and spaces do not only relate, but co-produce each other, this workshop offers tools to articulate body-space entanglements. Two practitioners, experienced in map making and body work respectively, introduce drawing as an ethnographic technique to study bodies in spaces. *Marlies Vermeulen has a background in architecture and works as a cartopologist. She aims at representing our spatial environment by combining places, the properties of places and their narratives in maps. Besides her independent practice she also teaches at several universities and works on a PhD research (www.dearhunter.eu). *Ulrike Scholtes has a background in art, body work and social sciences and works as a researcher (conducting her PhD research at UvA anthropology and the Faculty of Arts in Maastricht) and teacher of body awareness (at various art faculties and social science departments). In her research she uses drawings and words to put feeling and bodily experience onto paper, thereby working on articulating forms of tacit knowledge 

The workshop consists of three parts:

1. A collective awareness exercise session in which bodies are sensitized to a shared virtual space and drawing techniques are introduced;
2. An individual fieldwork exploration in which participants take these newly achieved sensitivities and techniques to practice;
3. A reflective open online discussion in which we compare and learn from each other’s drawings and discuss questions such as: how can drawing be an instrument to study bodies and spaces? How do these drawing techniques shape knowledge making and exchange? How can artistic practices (such as drawing and body work) enrich STS research practices? How do these modalities allow us to transport affectivity and fluidity of places? How do they facilitate thinking beyond language and categories? How could they stimulate co-authorships and other collaborations?

*Marlies Vermeulen has a background in architecture and works as a cartopologist. She aims at representing our spatial environment by combining places, the properties of places and their narratives in maps. Besides her independent practice she also teaches at several universities and works on a PhD research (www.dearhunter.eu).

*Ulrike Scholtes has a background in art, body work and social sciences and works as a researcher (conducting her PhD research at UvA anthropology and the Faculty of Arts in Maastricht) and teacher of body awareness (at various art faculties and social science departments). In her research she uses drawings and words to put feeling and bodily experience onto paper, thereby working on articulating forms of tacit knowledge (www.ulrikescholtes.de).