Showing doing. The art-science debate in a performative perspective

Abstract

The relationship between art and science plays an important role in the evolution of Interpretive Consumer Research (ICR). The discussion is currently stuck between a conception of art as mimesis (imitating reality), and as poiesis (imaginative creation of reality). The consequence is an inability to move beyond the frame of art or science and release the potentials of both sides. This paper introduces a performative perspective on art in a research context. Instead of separating art and science, a performative perspective tends to integrate both aspects in a processual and behavioural way. A central aspect is the concept of performance as restored behaviour that is characterized by a tension between the mimetic and the 'real'. Hereby, the act of 'doing something' transforms into 'showing doing'. Social and aesthetic behaviour becomes intertwined and advances a traditional, object-oriented concept of art. In a performativity context, doing research also becomes another form of 'showing doing' with an enactement impact. Such a perspective goes beyond a view which sees art only as a data source or an additional element of presenting research results. Art as a performance disrupts the linear notion of the research process, so that artistic modes and performances are at the intersection of method, research, object of research and representation of research. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.