Working the In-Betweens of Material Expression

Abstract

A cuboid of Clay sits on Table, freshly cut from its block by Wire, this, its immediate history, demonstrated by the smoothness of its faces interrupted by jagged lines of resistance during the cut. Clay sits on Table, but there are no absolute boundaries, clay and table are overlapping forces (Murris, 2016). Clay is embodied in Mud and Grit and Water and Pressure, but it is not reducible to these elements. Clay has affects (not qualities) that do not belong to it: its slipperiness is immediately co-composed and composing (Springgay, 2015) with other affects (wetness, coldness, reflectiveness, joy, laughter, friendship, and more). Clay enables bodies to experience a different mode of being, it gives a different viewpoint to bodies and allows them to experience their bodily existence in a different way. And—and—and still—so much potential lies in-between these material expressions.