Surplus to Requirements: Work, Non-Linearity, and Abduction in Creative Research

María Angélica Madero; James Carney

doi:10.17742/IMAGE29729

Authors

María Angélica Madero https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5844-581X
James Carney

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17742/IMAGE29729

Abstract

We argue that the institutional administration of academic and creative research as labor does violence to the true character of this research as work. Where work is a pluralist concept that admits multiple forms of transformation, labor is based on a linear proportionality of inputs to outputs. We explore various forms of non-linearity in creative work and pedagogical work, ranging across disproportion, the associative, the counterfactual, and the interdisciplinary. We arrive at C.S. Peirce’s notion of semiotic abduction as a useful cognitive model for research practice and creation. Here, the linear mapping of inputs to outputs is complemented by a recognition of the role played by the speculative or interpretive leap in arriving at novel concepts and practices.

Author Biographies

María Angélica Madero

María Angélica Madero is an artist and researcher with a focus on radical education, collective artistic practices, and interdisciplinary methodologies. Previously, she served as Head of Fine Arts at El Bosque University, where she successfully led the program’s accreditation. She has also taught at other universities, including the University of the Andes. Her research spans aesthetics, psychoanalysis, and visual thinking, and she is currently pursuing a PhD in Art, Philosophy, and Critical Thought at the European Graduate School under the supervision of Avital Ronell. María Angélica holds two Master’s degrees: one in Art from UCL and another in Contemporary Philosophy and Critical Theory from CRMEP, Kingston University. At the London Interdisciplinary School, María Angélica is an Associate Professor and Deputy Director of the MASc in Interdisciplinary Problems and Methods. She also directs The Gallery, LIS’s platform for experimental curatorial projects.

James Carney

James is a computational linguist who has research interests that span the humanities and the quantitative social sciences. He has previously worked in Brunel University London, Lancaster University, and the University of Oxford. James's research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhulme Foundation, Innovate UK, the European Commission, and the University of Oxford. He is also director of Texture AI, a commercial data science company that works with language. At the London Interdisciplinary School, James is the Director of the Master's in Arts and Sciences (MASc) degree program.

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