Co-creating bodily, interactive, and reflexive knowledge through art-based research

In the past few decades, there has been a growing amount of interest toward alternative research methods within consumer culture research. The goal of such approaches is to engage understanding in a more multisensory, bodily, and experiential manner. While aiming to transgress traditions of research, alternative approaches often end up inadvertently repeating existing structures of knowledge. To provide a perspective on how alternative methods could utilise the full power of the tools they propose to use in research, this paper introduces art-based research (ABR), a process-oriented methodology that involves taking on artistic practice as part of research. ABR is bodily, interactive, and contextualised, employing a different approach to what knowledge is, how and when knowledge is created, and who is a part of knowledge-creation. The paper suggests that ABR can become an important political tool for critiquing traditions of and discussing power structures within academia

Performing Fantasy and Reality

Fantasy is a phenomenon that has a strong presence in both everyday life and in research. Fantasy is a central part of contemporary, consumption-oriented culture through its strong ties to the development of identity, the construction of communities, the attainment of desires, and the creation of meanings. Nevertheless, fantasy in itself is rarely the focus of research and thus remains undefined and under-explained. Moreover, research that does note fantasy tends to accentuate only its entertaining and leisurely aspects, presenting it as something unserious, irrational, and escapist. Studies further tend to present fantasy as something purely cognitive and imagery-based. However, fantasy is also a bodily and shared experience that is tied to materiality, space, and culture. It therefore becomes important to explore fantasy as a phenomenon in its own right from a bodily and negotiated point of view. In this research, I explored how individuals engage in the performance of fantasy in order to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon as a subjective experience that is a part of contemporary Western culture. Talking on a performance methodology that focuses on experience, participation, and interaction, I collected data ethnographically in the context of live action role-playing games. I supported the ethnography with art-based research that took form in visual art addressing the theory and data analysis of this study. I propose that fantasy can be described as the conscious engagement in two parallel performances, the performance of reality and its transformation that is outside of our symbolic order. Fantasy is therefore a different approach to and interpretation of normalised performance and reality. I further show that fantasy is intrinsically tied into the performance of reality. Fantasy allows investment into reality through its explicitly reflexive nature that pushes individuals to become aware of and thus also critical of the structures of their everyday performances. Lastly, I map out two different types of fantasy performance, entertainment-driven fantasy and exploration-driven fantasy. These differ in the ways individuals negotiate roles, interaction, space, time, and materiality as part of the performance. Entertainment-driven fantasy allows momentary attainment of personal desires, while exploration-driven fantasy leads to more long-term agency through reflexive learning. All in all, this research brings new insight into the understanding of fantasy as part of contemporary consumer culture, tying it into experiences of space, materiality, agency, desire, Utopia, nostalgia, mass media, and entertainment. Through shedding light on fantasy's intrinsic connection to reality, this study examines not only the human experience of the non-real, but also our current subjective experience of reality, society, and shared meaning

Fanaticism - Its development and meanings in consumers' lives

Objective of the Study The aim of the study is to understand the development and meanings of fanaticism in consumers’ lives in order to gain a better grasp of the concept of fanaticism itself in terms of consumer research. More specifically, the main objective is to see how consumers’ identities are related to fanaticism and its development. To further understand this, the study also concerns itself with how the overall phenomenon of fanaticism actually develops and what factors influence this development, as well as how communality is present in fanaticism. Based on drawbacks of previous research, this study will take a view that sees fanaticism as a positive and developing phenomenon that should be studied subjectively. Thus narrative identity theory is used as a basis for the study. Further, because fanaticism has not been thoroughly studied in the field of consumer research, but is nonetheless a relevant part of it, this study will hopefully bring new insights to the topic. Research Method In order to gain a subjective understanding of fanaticism, the research data was collected through the means of narrative interviews. The data was then analysed by using narrative analysis, which involves constructing coherent stories out of the interviews followed by interpretation and analysis of said life stories in order to find common themes that present explanatory knowledge. Findings The research presents a personal view on the subjectively felt experience of fanaticism, its development, and meanings in consumers’ lives through the fan narratives. The concept of fanaticism is related to topics of loyalty, devotion, consumer-brand relationships, as well as identity building, and a connection of fanaticism to the creation of narrative identity is suggested. The four stages of development of fanaticism were identified, which allow for better understanding of the processes involved in being a fan. The fanatical relationship is further established to represent core values for the fans, which help build identity and become a common thread in the consumer’s life as well as their diverse fanaticisms. Moreover, different factors influencing fanaticism and its development to start, and become more or less intense were presented. These included physical and emotional life changes, influences of the object of fanaticism, and influences of the society. The role of communality was also looked at, and it was established that consumers see belonging to a community as being a fan for others, while not being a part of a community is seen as being a fan for yourself. Nonetheless, both a need to belong to a bigger whole and to have a private relationship with the fanaticism is present in all fans. From these themes emerge the concepts of public and private fanaticism, a balance of which is present in all fanaticisms in different proportions. Understanding this relationship could further unravel consumers’ attitudes and actions within fanaticism, as distinct combinations of the two elements could possibly result in differing development and meaning of fanaticism, presence of communality, and even overall consumer behaviour

Exploring an Emergent Typology of Fantasy Experiences

Gary Alan Fine (1983) wrote that understanding fantasy experiences has the potential of providing us with completely new types of meanings. Understanding fantasy becomes especially important in the field of consumer research, as the concept has been linked to the creation of individual and shared meaning (Penaloza 2001; Martin 2004), desires (Campbell 1987; Zizek 1997), as well as building communities (Kozinets 2002; Goulding et al. 2013) and individual identities (Schouten 1991; Belk and Costa 1998). In my research, I am exploring how consumers experience fantasy and how it is tied into their overall lives. I am conducting the research as ethnography in the context of live action roleplaying games with a focus on understanding embodied experiences from the consumer’s point of view. While conducting research, I was finding it increasingly difficult to conceptualize my own experience and the experience of my informants using only verbal and textual tools. Emotion and intuition are central parts of fantasy experiences, and these are not always purely cognitive. I decided to try to paint what I was experiencing and how I wanted to theorize it. The process aided me immensely in understanding my data as well as in developing its interpretation and theorization. As Csikszentmihalyi (1990) has described, painting can put one into a state of flow. Similarly, Collingwood (1938) has proposed the aesthetic process to allow us to step to the very edge of our knowledge and capabilities, pushing us to do more. As a result, creating art builds and develops our knowledge in ways we may be unable to do otherwise. The process of painting research has pushed me to think and deal with my work in different ways, opening possibilities for new meaning and perspective. My submission to the CCT Gallery addresses a typology of fantasy experiences that has emerged in my data. Understanding and theorizing the different processes has been very difficult, and I have used drawing and painting to develop my own understanding of my data and its interpretation. More specifically, the work I am submitting has helped me understand my own and my informants’ experiences of fantasy, as well as how they differ on a more theoretical level. My submission consists of two (2) paintings, which nonetheless create one work of art. Part one (see Painting 1) explores and aims to represent the more playful, leisurely experience of fantasy, which I have come to conclude to be set in the context. The finished work will thus stress the difference of surroundings and the similarity of self in them. Part two (see Painting 2) explores and aims to represent the more serious and reflexive experience of fantasy, which I have connected, in my analysis of data, to creating a difference in one’s self. Using hands as the central subject allows me tap into the first person point of view of the audience, pushing them to view the setting of the painting as if surrounding them. In this, I following Walton’s (1990) ideas of artworks creating make-believe parallel worlds, into which we can step into and take something away with us. All in all, the role of the artwork in my research is twofold. Firstly, the artwork allows me better understand my own data and the theoretical constructs I am trying build within it. Secondly, it provides an opportunity to communicate my work to others in a new way and giving them an opportunity to engage with it on a more embodied and emotional level. References Belk, Russell W. and Janeen Arnold Costa (1998), “The Mountain Man Myth: A Contemporary Consuming Fantasy”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 218-240. Campbell, Colin (1987), The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, New York, NY: HaperCollins. Collingwood, R.G. (1938), The Principles of Art, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Fine, Gary Alan (1983), Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Goulding, Christina, Avi Shankar, and Robin Canniford (2013), “Learning to be Tribal: Facilitating the Formation of Consumer Tribes”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, No. 5/6, pp. 813-832. Kozinets, Robert V. (2002), “Can Consumers Escape the Market? Emancipatory Illuminations from Burning Man”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 20-38. Martin, Brett A. S. (2004), “Using the Imagination: Consumer Evoking and Thematizing of the Fantastic Imaginary”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 136-149. Penaloza, Lisa (2001), “Consuming the American West: Animating Cultural Meaning and Memory at a Stock Show and Rodeo”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 369-398. Schouten, John W. (1991), “Selves in Transition: Symbolic Consumption in Personal Rites of Passage and Identity reconstruction”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 412- 425. Walton, Kendall L. (1990); Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Zizek, Slavoj (1997), The Plague of Fantasies, London, UK: Verso

Art-based research of consumer culture

In this paper, we explore the combination of consumer culture research and art-based research through an example of an existing cross-disciplinary project, as a part of which researchers created an interactive art installation Shopping at Capitalist Peace. In exploring the example and tying it into existing literature, we suggest that the combination of the two traditions can be bene cial in the development of both consumer culture research and art-based research. We propose that in using the approaches together, researchers can engage in a methodological framework that allows and urges interactive, contextualized, and re exive co-creation of knowledge among participants. Moreover, this framework becomes a tting tool for exploring themes of consumer culture, which involve norms and structures inherent to our daily lives, yet ones that we are often blind to due to their naturalisation

Play at Any Cost: How Cosplayers Produce and Sustain Their Ludic Communal Consumption Experiences

Communal consumption is often described as inherently playful, with previous research mainly focusing on successful ludic communal experiences, and largely disregarding its potential pitfalls. Moreover, the marketer is usually seen as the primary facilitator of ludic experiences, which has marginalized the role of the consumer. This article explores how consumers produce and sustain ludic consumption community experiences in the face of growing instrumental costs. It assumes a practice theory lens, and is based on an ethnographic inquiry into cosplay, which is a time and resource intensive form of pop culture masquerade and craft consumption. Prolonged engagement in the cosplay community leads to growing emotional, material, temporal, and competence-related costs, which hinder playful experiences. Consumers practice modularization, reinforcement, and collaboration to overcome these costs and maintain the important ludic sensations that motivate communal engagements

Undoing gender through performing the other

Following the perspective of gender as a socially constructed performance, consumer research has given light to how individuals take on, negotiate, and express a variety of gender roles. Yet the focus of research has remained on gender roles themselves, largely overlooking the underlying process of gender performativity and consumers’ engagement with it in the context of their everyday lives. Set within a performance methodology and the context of crossplay in live action role-playing games, this paper explores how individuals undo gender on a subjective level, thus becoming conscious and reflexive of gender performativity. The study suggests that individuals become active in undoing gender through engaging in direct, bodily performance of the gender other. Such performance does not challenge or ridicule norms, but pushes individuals to actively figure out for themselves how gender is performed. As a result, individuals become aware of gender performativity and become capable of actively recombining everyday performance

Biostimulants of growth in the production process of grain crops

The role of biostimulants of growth of various natures in the production process of spring wheat variety Zlata was studied, depending on nitrogen nutrition conditions, and was carried out under field conditions.The experiments assessed the activity of the plant assimilation apparatus and the formation of the yield of wheat plants using biostimulants of various natures by spraying vegetative plants. The studies found that the greatest effectiveness of the studied drugs was observed under conditions of optimal provision of nitrogen nutrition to wheat plants. It has been established that the preparations Epin-Extra, Emistim and Hardy increase the efficiency of the assimilation apparatus of spring wheat plants, which led to the receipt of large increases in grain weight under conditions of optimal provision of wheat plants with nitrogen nutrition

Engaging the audience through videography as performance

The audience is an important part of videography, but its role tends to be seen as passive and unengaged. The audience’s experience is often guided in videography, with intended reaction made clear. Yet such an approach to the audience does not make use of the possibilities of videography for inciting active interaction and incorporating multiple interpretations. Previous research has suggested that videography has potential for interventional influence on audiences by taking on the performative turn in research. Developing more deeply the notions of performance and performativity in the context of videography, this paper proposes that one way to activate audiences, interact directly with them and engage them in meaning-making is to approach videography as performance. To provide practical suggestions for creating such performance, the paper contextualises videography as a recording medium, thus establishing its ontological position and ties to other media