The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts

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supports a view that knowledge is promoted through an intimate criss- crossing between
construction/making, perception/observing and conceptualization/understanding. in
these processes we map both structures/patterns and specific focal points, or ‘zones of
convergence’.^3
But ‘bodies’ may not only refer to human beings. drawing from actor- network
Theory (latour 2005), physical objects and even immaterial artefacts like electronic
signals or sounds, have an impact as actors involved in agencies in socio- cultural
interactions and formations. as agents they take an active part in social processes and
spatial situations, affect the scheme of things, bring about interference and change, or
influence spatial conditions.
as architectural thinking moves between scales (detail–global) and aspects
(artefacts, spaces, processes, user perspectives, systems), with a constant awareness of
the physical/material, of agencies, environmental considerations, spatial relations and
relational space, it continually produces temporary mappings and projective models
as part of an innovative- analytical activity. The architect is trained to handle a large,
multifaceted material in complex spatial situations and to create meaning, through
the use of mappings- modelmakings, by identifying structures, key points (locations of
special interest or with a certain potential), qualities, connections and relationships
between agents and agencies in these situations. in this sense, the architect constructs
semi- open systems for each situation. The architect is also trained to combine several
types of tools to promote thinking; to rapidly shift between physical models, computer
simulations, conceptual images and words, a multi- modal way of working that unites
deductive thinking with intuitive precision, to see new relationships and to develop a
sense of timing for action.
in the research process this constitutes a powerful toolbox with which architectural
thinking can contextualize heterotopic conditions. it breaks up the traditional
linear narrative of the research process, as starting with a problem, moving through
analysis and theory, applying theory back to empirical studies, and finally arriving at
concluding solutions. instead, it promotes constant, quick shifts between innovation
and analysis. associative, lateral thinking is combined with logic/deductive reasoning
and theoretical reflection. Creative experiments can be interspersed with series of
systematic investigations and conceptual development. starting off by a precise action,
or a question, or an observation (or a given situation which one senses can be viewed
in an alternative way), the architect- researcher gradually constructs – or composes

• the assemblage, the open system which forms the research set- up with its relevant
  components and their internal/external connections. This assemblage, discussed as the
  sixth theme in this chapter, is also the material that the researcher models /re- models
  into the creation of new meaning and understanding.

theme 2: performance and performativity

as the research situation is accepted to be in constant change and construction,
performance means to actively interfere with it, through the making, interacting,
simulating and communicating. performance is both to act in a situation and to make
something act, that is, to investigate by making- action as well as composing the set-up
for it.