交流 kōryū.

Clarke, Jen; Hanahusa, Ruriko; Lai, I-Chern; Lucas, Ray; Lynch, Heather; Miller, Mitch; Sugita, Yasuko; Takahashi, Michiko; Vionnet, Claire

Abstract

The title I have given this book, 交流kōryū, is a Japanese word that can be broadly translated into English as ‘exchange(s)’. Its meanings correspond to the breadth of meaning ‘exchange’ offers in English, including acts of giving and receiving (often in kind), exchange visits or an exchange of words, but, as is the case with most if not all acts of translation, the space in-between multiplies the relations – it opens up meaning in different directions, tangentially and metaphorically, in productive ways. Made up of two kanji (Chinese characters), the first, 交, (kō or ka) implies discussion, connection and negotiation, as well as mingling and mixing, coming and going. It is part of 交わすkawasu, for example, which means ‘to exchange messages or greetings’ (though it could also imply an argument) as well as suggesting wider variations on mingling and mixing such as intersecting, crossing, interlacing, and so on. Most pertinent, perhaps, is that adding kawasu to the end of a sentence means ‘...with one another’ or ‘... to each other’, following the grammatical form of Japanese.This book experiments with forms of exchange, negotiating understandings and practices (or ‘praxis’ as will be explored). One way it does this is by presenting different forms of conversation, ongoing or momentary collaborations with other researchers and artists, working with or between the disciplines of art and anthropology. Here, then, art is ‘on speaking terms’ with anthropology. I understand art as akin to a work of translation, rather than of representation. It was only in the Middle Ages that translation, translatio, became narrowly identified with language; before this it was used to describe processes of transformation, of exchange – movements or transfers of persons, ideas, and objects, metaphorically as well as from medium to medium, or from experience to text, and for me, also invokes a sense of self transformation. These interweaving exchanges can also be seen as works of translation in this broad sense: crossing forms and media, interlacing academic ‘knowledge’. Crucially, art is seen here as form of knowledge, even as a way of doing ‘theory’. In book form, these exchanges are now also directed ‘to’ others, with an awareness of our possible interlocuters, our readers.

Citation

CLARKE, J., HANAHUSA, R., LAI, I.-C., LUCAS, R., LYNCH, H., MILLER, M., SUGITA, Y., TAKAHUSHI, M. and VIONNET, C. 2017. 交流 kōryū. Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen [online]. Available from: https://knowingfromtheinside.org/files/koryu.pdf

• Book Type: Authored Book
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: Feb 13, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 17, 2020
• Publisher: University of Aberdeen, School of Education
• ISBN: 9781857520620
• Keywords: Exchanges; Understanding; Practices; Art; Anthropology
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/840999
• Publisher URL: https://knowingfromtheinside.org/
• Contract Date: Nov 1, 2017