Lighting from the Side: Rhetoric and Artistic Research

Aslaug Nyrnes

Bergen University College

Research – also in the arts – is usually described, explained, and discussed employing
vocabulary from traditional scientific theory. This means that the focus is on ideas, method, content, objectivity, and truth. But researchers in the artistic field are often dissatisfied since this terminology does not capture what we experience as the most fascinating and even essential aspects of the arts and artistic research.

My aim in this essay is to explore and develop a model for discussing artistic research (both in and on the arts) from a rhetorical point of view.

Rhetoric is an important but little explored field in the theory of research as a whole. It is generally claimed that research has to do with exploring the truth, and that truth should not be affected by mere rhetoric. It is not my aim in this article to develop the relationship between scientific knowledge and rhetoric.

Instead I will quote the French philosopher Michel Foucault, who once wrote that it is not always climbing the highest peak that will give you the most interesting view. On the contrary, light from the side will be the most alive and life giving.

Foucault distinguishes between top light and side light as a means to obtain a clearer view of a situation. These metaphors will be the leading ones for this article: For this occasion I want to turn off the top light of scientific knowledge, and use the side light of rhetoric instead.