Paper short abstract:

This paper explores methodological challenges and proposed solutions for studying the creative process, combining narrative inquiry, walking methods and co-creation, drawing on the framework of mediation as a way of traversing the inner and outer spaces in the context of making art.

Paper long abstract:

Creative processes may require both a creative engagement with the world outside and a withdrawal into interiority or a relatively solitary space of focused engagement and immersion. Both of these aspects featured prominently in the descriptions of the creative process by Japanese artists in Osaka I worked with, who were engaged in a wide range of contemporary art practices, including painting, contemporary dance, video installations, making of wearable objects, and combinations of these. Building on the previous work with the artists I am now embarking a new project, which combines phenomenological inquiries into the experience of making with an ethnography of the social and cultural context of this work, drawing on the foundation of existential anthropology. While collaborative space of the art event often creates and important frame for making an artwork, all the descriptions emphasized the importance of creation of an interior sphere, an interiority, for the process of making. This paper explores some of the methodological challenges and proposed solutions for studying the creative process of making art, combining narrative inquiry, walking with recording and co-creation. It draws on the framework of mediation as a way of traversing the inner and outer spaces in the context of the creative process of making art.