An immanent approach to theory and practice in creative arts research

The need to demonstrate that artistic practice can be undertaken as a form of research has generated a conversation displaying extraordinary variation between authors regarding the objects, aims, methods and outcomes of creative-research projects. According to Biggs, however, the multiplicity of research methods and practices in the field should be regarded as an asset rather than a shortcoming. In this chapter, I will focus on the ways in which practice-led research might be theorised without smothering the qualities that make it unique. I will critique three different models of practice-led research - Bolt's concept of 'handlability' borrowed from Heidegger, Barrett's use of Foucault's 'author-function', and Smith and Dean's model of the 'iterative cycle web' - to demonstrate the distinctive ways in which these models enable knowledge-production through creative practice. Each model generates its own set of benefits while at the same time leaving space for new formulations of the relationship between theory and practice in creative work. Through a discussion of my own work, Sillage, 2015), I will show how Deleuzian concepts can activate the idea of knowledge production as immanent in the creative process. Throughout the chapter I will employ the Deleuzian-Guattarian concept of 'assemblage' to suggest that practice-led research projects can be understood as creative-theoretical assemblages.