PERFORMANCE PHILOSOPHY VOL 2, NO 2 (2017):172-188
DOI: h ps://doi.o g/10.21476/PP.2017.2264
ISSN 2057-7176
PERFORMANCE
PHILOSOPHY
FABRIC PHILOSOPHY: THE “TEXTURE” OF THEATRICALITY
AND PERFORMATIVITY
TEEMU PAAVOLAINEN UNIVERSITY OF TAMPERE
Beyond hei appa en conno a ions wi h he pe o ming a s, he no ions o hea icali y and
pe o ma i i y ha e come o unc ion as all-emb acing me apho s o social exis ence and all bu
pe ade ou aes he ic, academic, and e e yday discou ses. A ising in he wake o mode ni y and
pos mode nism espec i ely, nei he concep need ha e close ies o hea ical pe o mance.
Indeed, hei a endan philosophies ha e ex ended hei each no only ac oss di e en a o ms
(c . F ied 1998), bu u he in o he ma e ial, echnological, o social sphe e a la ge (e.g. McKenzie
2001). Howe e —and his is he i s axiom o he p esen a icle—bo h concep s also seem o
luc ua e be ween con lic ing alues o no el y and no ma i i y: hea icali y, be ween he essence
o an a o m and a mo e e asi e cul u al ‘ alue ha mus be ei he ejec ed o emb aced’
(Puchne 2002, 31); pe o ma i i y, be ween e ec i e doing and me e dissimula ion.
Ve y b ie ly, he o me ield o ension e okes wha has come o be known as he ‘an i hea ical
p ejudice’ (Ba ish 1981), da ing back o he alues o ca ha sis and con amina ion as mobilised in
Pla o and A is o le’s ea ly dispu e o e hea ical mimesis. Mo e ecen ly, he ‘ hea ical and
decons uc i e meanings o [ he] “pe o ma i e”’ would ‘span he pola i ies’ o wha E e Koso sky
Sedgwick dubs ‘ he ex o e sion o he ac o (aimed en i ely ou wa d owa d he audience) and he
in o e sion o he signi ie ’ (2003, 7)—hence also he pa adox ha Jon McKenzie (2001, 15) no es
be ween he ‘sub e si e’ and ‘no ma i e alences’ o pe o ma i i y, in u n-o - he-cen u y
Pe o mance S udies and in he philosophy o Judi h Bu le .
The second axiom—one ha I only s a e he e bu will elabo a e h oughou —is ha ce ain
d ama u gical endencies can be asc ibed o bo h concep s ha no only alida e hei dis inc ion,
bu also hold ac oss he kinds o ensions desc ibed (e ec ing a ce ain consis ency, ha is,
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be ween he no ma i e and he sub e si e, o pe o ma i i y, o he ejec ed and he emb aced,
o hea icali y). To di es hem o a ce ain aken- o -g an edness, and o a oid he ci cula i y o
only de ining hem in e ms o changing hea e o pe o mance p ac ices, his a icle aims o ease
ou aspec s o hea icali y and pe o ma i i y ela i ely de ached om no ions o “ac ing” o “ ole-
play,” say, and ul ima ely o enlis hem in a ex u al philosophy o wea ing and zooming—
speci ically inspi ed by Tim Ingold’s ecological an h opology and by S ephen C. Peppe ’s
philosophical p agma ism om he 1940s. Whe e Ingold’s ecology o lines admi s o ‘no insides o
ou sides,’ ‘ ailing loose ends in e e y di ec ion’ (2007, 103, 50), Peppe ’s ‘con ex ualis ic wo ld’ o
e en s admi s ‘no op no bo om’ o he e e - ami ying s ands o hei ex u e and quali y ([1942]
1984, 251). Ra he han indi idual ac ion o social sanc ion, bo h e lec a wo ld o eme gence and
becoming. In such e ms, I a gue ha he idioms o hea icali y and pe o ma i i y alike ha e ye
o ou li e hei use ulness and a e indeed capable o doing c i ical wo k oday, i only we shi om
models o bina y con ainmen ( he ins and ou s o “wha coun s”) o some hing o a mo e “ ex u al”
app oach along he lines I shall wo k o p opose.
Su ely, he e is mo e o ab ic philosophy. Deleuze and Gua a i’s (1988) well-wo n language o
hizome and haeccei y, wi h lines o ligh o becoming, is a pa icula in luence on Ingold; el and
ab ic exempli ying hei ideas o smoo h and s ia ed space: c oche and kni ing, pa chwo k and
emb oide y. Today, ex ile schola ship is also boos ed by i s long- e m elega ion o a domain, no
o masculine ision, bu o ac ile eminini y (see Hemmings 2012). As Ingold pu s i , ‘ he echnical
and he ex ilic’ s em om he same oo bu we e ‘ele a ed’ and ‘debased,’ in mode ni y, as
masculine echnology and ‘me e c a ’ (2011a, 211–2).
Indeed, he e is an impo an deba e wi hin second- and hi d-wa e eminism o e igu es o
wea ing and emb oide y. Fo some, hey sugges emale-speci ic me apho s o hough , c ea i i y,
and collabo a ion, po en ially sub e si e o pa ia chal sys ems o echnology and domina ion; o
o he s, hey only go o ein o ce essen ialis s e eo ypes o domes ic womanhood and emale
submission. (Paasonen 2005, 173–8; Pa ke 2010.) The his o ical pe o ma i i y o such s e eo ypes
is nea ly cap u ed in a ecen essay by li e a y schola Ka ie Collins (2016): ‘Women’s na u ally
nimble inge s we e o be occupied,’ he ‘ ills and ippe ies’ hey p oduced p o iding ‘ample
e idence, should anyone equi e i , ha [ hey] we e i olous c ea u es en i ely unsui ed o public
li e.’ Recognising he buil -in masculini y o he ‘ heo ies-as-buildings me apho ’ o academic
w i ing— ha i is public, o de ly, and a ional—she sugges s ha needlec a me apho s migh
de ine i as a decen ed ac i i y ha is ‘no indi idualis ic o compe i i e,’ no apa om li e (like
he soli a y schola o old, si ing in his s udy ‘while he minu iae o clo hing and ood is o ganised
o him, a ound him, despi e him’). Mos impo an ly, i is abou ‘piecing oge he … hings o
a ying sou ce and quali y … ha wouldn’ necessa ily i oge he ’ in he building me apho ;
ce ainly ue o his a icle, his also sugges s one way o doing pe o mance philosophy.
In wha ollows, S and 1 o he a icle del es deepe in o he ensions inhe en in how hea icali y
and pe o ma i i y ha e o en been discussed, and in oduces he “ ex u al” me apho s o Ingold
and o Peppe ’s “con ex ualism.” S and 2 in oduces Ingold’s meshwo k as a key igu e o plu al
pe o ma i e becoming: he in e wea ing o lines (li es, ma e ials, ac ions, ges u es), as opposed
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o he ne wo k as a key igu e o hea ical de achmen o abs ac ion— he connec ing o poin s o
objec s in o which he meshwo k is simpli ied when we op ically “zoom ou ” om i s hap ic
engagemen . In S and 3, he d ama u gical luc ua ion be ween hea ical ne wo ks and
pe o ma i e meshwo ks—Peppe ’s ex u es and quali ies—is exempli ied by b ie ly zooming ou
o he An h opos(s)cene, as a globally u gen a ian o he medie al hea um mundi. (Tha e en
he mo e conc e e o my examples emain ela i ely abs ac e lec s he a icle’s a ionale as a
p ima ily heo e ical p o oca ion. I i is any excuse, I ha e jus inished a d a manusc ip o a
book in which I un a el hea ical and pe o ma i e ex u es ac oss a wide ab ic o case s udies,
om hea e p ac ice, h ough Ba oque and mode nis a chi ec u e, o echnology and a is ic
ac i ism.)
S and 1. No el y and No ma i i y: Some Compe ing Me apho s
So wha a e he ensions inhe en in he language o hea icali y and pe o ma i i y? On he one
hand, a ce ain duali y ends o be posi ed be ween he wo e ms. A guably, he o me has been
mo e popula among con inen al, and he la e among Anglo-Ame ican heo is s (Reinel 2002,
207). In he wake o pe o mance a and he ise o Pe o mance S udies, he wo would e en be
educed o a bina y opposi ion. Mo e impo an o he con inued i ali y o hei concep ual
dis inc ion, howe e , is he de i a ion o he wo ds hemsel es. Supe icially, i would seem ha
he sha ed su ix o hea icali y and pe o ma i i y only iden i ies hem as gene al quali ies o
e en s o ac ions, and hus as somehow equi alen —abs ac ing hem away om he speci ics o
ac ual hea es and pa icula pe o mances, bu also implici ly essen ialising skill and sensibili y
as do wo ds like musicali y o humani y. Mo e c ucially, howe e , he co e dis inc ion ha hei
e ymologies sugges be ween seeing and doing ( om he G eek heâs hai, “ o behold,” and he Old
F ench pa o ni , “ o do, ca y ou , inish, accomplish”) is casually ex ended o hose o o m and
unc ion, heo y and p ac ice, ixi y and change: igid semiosis as opposed o e ec i e ac ion, inne
meaning e sus ou e e ec , he wha o ep esen a ion and he how o ei e a ion. As S ephen
Bo oms no es, e en such “b aided” bina ies as Richa d Schechne ’s—o “en e ainmen ” and
“e icacy” (2003, 112–69)—o en come wi h gende ed o e ones o ‘po en i ili y e sus showy
s e ili y’ (Bo oms 2003, 181; he akes speci ic issue wi h Schechne ’s he e ono ma i e alida ion
o pe o ma i e e icacy o e hea ical “e eminacy”).
On he o he hand, bo h e ms a e idden wi h ension and pa adox in hemsel es. Ca ica u ing
hei mo e nega i e and mo e posi i e alo isa ions in ou poin s, I e u n o he con lic ing alues
o no el y and no ma i i y b ie ly posi ed abo e:
[1] Begin wi h he “an i hea ical p ejudice” and he hea e’s s a ed e ymology o sigh and
spec a o ship; add a Pla onic suspicion o e “me e appea ances,” and hea icali y becomes a
pejo a i e e m o some hing de i ed om, and pe haps also de imen al o a and socie y alike.
As Thomas Pos lewai and T acy C. Da is nea ly pu i , i seems de ined by i s “excess and i s
emp iness, i s su plus as well as i s lack” (2003, 4).
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[2] By he wen ie h cen u y, howe e , hese e y quali ies would also de ine hea icali y in he
a i ma i e. Newly conscious o i s speci ici y in he mode nis momen —in line wi h concu en
o malisms o li e a iness o pic o iali y— he a o hea e now sough o enlis i s epis emological
baggage o pe cep ion and appea ance in an on ology o exp essi e essence, eely capi alising on
many quali ies his o ically cha ged agains i (Pos lewai and Da is 2003, 12; Ca lson 2002, 249).
Thus he aes he ics o excess and emp iness could now ange om he ‘ ich’ o Ba oque o
Wagne ian o he ‘poo ’ ba e essen ials o a B ech o a G o owski (see Paa olainen 2016a, on
di ec o ial hea icali y).
[3] Then again, bo h exp ession and essence a e p ecisely opposed o pe o ma i i y as Judi h
Bu le in ends i , as a ‘ ei e a ion o no ms’ he e y his o ici y o which i aci ly ‘conceals o
dissimula es’ as he na u al wo kings o p egi en en i ies (1993, 234, 12). Ins ead o ou ‘doings’
(s yles, clo hes, ges u es) me ely ex e io ising wha we essen ially ‘a e,’ o Bu le hey ‘e ec i ely
cons i u e he iden i y hey a e said o exp ess o e eal’ (1988, 528).
[4] Finally and somewha p oblema ically, he kind o cul u al agency o en che ished in Schechne -
s yle Pe o mance S udies is ul ima ely mo e akin o J. L. Aus in’s ([1962] 1986) p agma ic ision o
pe o ma i i y as he doing o hings, e ec i ely, no only wi h wo ds bu in he wo ld—he e, coupled
wi h a sub e si e poli ics (condi ionally allowed by Bu le as well) ha is equally opposed o social
discipline as i is o he nea -obsole e a o m o hea e.
In sho , he concep ual posi ioning o he wo e ms is adically con ex ual and u e ly lexible (c .
Jackson 2004, 6, 126), as bo h in u n may equally wo k o sus ain o dis up he powe s ha be. In
one con ex , hea icali y is seen as essen ialised by mode nis ideals o sel -con ainmen and
medium-speci ici y, in ano he , as obs uc ing aes he ic ‘abso p ion’ by i s e y ‘objec hood,’ and
he e o e as co up i e o some alleged essence (be i o a , au hen ici y, na u e, li e, o li e a u e:
c . F ied 1998; Ca lson 2002, 243, 246–7). In o he idioms, he ‘p isonhouse’ o hea icali y—as
p oduc , in o e sion, ep esen a ion—gi es in o a concep ual ‘b eakou ’ o pe o mance—as
p ocess, ex o e sion, p esence—ye soon he con ines o e-p esen a ion a e aken o e by hose
o e-i e a ion. I e e he e was a con ining, p egi en iden i y ha he subjec wishes o escape,
she can only pe o m ha escape pe o mam—“ h ough” a p egi en “ o m,” as he La in e ymology
(ci ed in Sau e 2000, 38) sugges s.
Pe haps, hen, he mo e o una e e ymology is ha o “ ho oughly u nishing” (pa o ni ), in he
sense o b inging o h wha he es o his a icle will speci ically s i e o iden i y as di e en kinds
o hea ical and pe o ma i e “ ex u es.” Pe o ma i ely, “ ex u e” names an eme gen pa e n
ha is, howe e , only achie ed in he i e a i e p ocess o i s wea ing (no el y e sus no ma i i y
again). Thea ically, i can be pe cei ed as he e y subs ance o as he me e su ace o
some hing—con i ming he alidi y o wha is pe o med, o e ealing i as me e dissimula ion.
Mo e gene ally, he language o ex u e helps us u n om igid seman ic condi ions (“ hea e”:
hence d ama, s age, ac ing, iewing) o he mo e empo al o d ama u gical dynamics o hei
discu si e and ma e ial “in e wea ing” (see Ba ba 1985; he impo an connec ion o ex u e and
d ama u gy is u he elabo a ed in Paa olainen 2015).
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In one sense, hen, I am only a guing o a change o me apho s—bu he e is a wis . While bo h
hea icali y and pe o ma i i y ha e been used o add ess mo e abs ac phenomena o social
exis ence, bo h also emain abs ac enough in hemsel es, so as o ul ima ely depend on mo e
basic me apho s s ill, acco ding o he con ex and pu pose o hei a ying de ini ions ( ake he
implied dis inc ion o seeing and doing; see also S a es 1996). The e o e I will s udy hem no as
me apho ical sou ce domains o u he unde s anding, as has usually been he case (as in “All
he wo ld’s a s age”), bu as hemsel es a ge domains, in e ec c ea ed by his o ically speci ic
me apho s o spa iali y o conduc , pe cep ion o ac ion—by a changing se o ex a- hea ical
quali ies, hemsel es a ibu ed wi h shi ing alues in di e en con ex s. In so saying, I do no
in end me apho as me e igu es o speech—“ hea ical” in he sense o only embellishing o
e lec ing some p e-exis ing eali y—bu ins ead as deeply pe o ma i e, in he sense o c ea ing
he e y ex u es o hough we ake o be eal—es ablishing wha hey name while ende ing
na u al hei means. Thus he e y possibili y o change lies in a ending o wha ou me apho s
se e o hide o highligh , ins ead o me ely ei e a ing hose we a e accus omed o li e and ac by.
(C . Lako and Johnson 1980; Paa olainen 2012, 6–7, 39; see also Paa olainen 2016b, on he a gued
hea icali y and pe o ma i i y o cu en philosophies o embodied cogni ion.)
And he e we e u n o Peppe and Ingold. In e ms o compe ing me apho s, he las decade o so
o Ingold’s philosophical an h opology has explo ed wha he calls he ‘li e o lines’ (e ec i ely
de i ed om Deleuze and Gua a i 1988) and hei ‘ agmen a ion—unde he sway o mode ni y—
in o a succession o poin s o do s’ (Ingold 2007, 75). In his mos ecen wo k, Ingold p esen s he
block and he kno as ‘mu ually exclusi e mas e - opes o desc ibing he cons i u ion o he wo ld,
p edica ed on philosophies, espec i ely, o being and becoming’ (again, o building up o ca ying
on). The challenge is ‘ o conside how a e e sion o he kno , a e a pe iod du ing which blocks,
chains and con aine s ha e emained he pa amoun igu es o hough , could impac on ou
unde s anding o ou sel es, o he hings we make and do, and o he wo ld we li e in.’ (Ingold
2015, 15; on “con ainmen ” in G o owski, Kan o , and Meye hold, see Paa olainen 2012.) No o
a gue o any di ec co espondence, hese ou me apho s—block, chain, con aine , kno —a e
s ikingly akin o he ou ‘ oo me apho s’ o Wes e n epis emology and aes he ics ha he
Ame ican philosophe S ephen C. Peppe (1891–1972) explo ed in his 1942 book Wo ld Hypo heses.
A his o ian o ideas and a philosophe o a and e hics—himsel a disciple o John Dewey—Peppe
dismissed he a i udes o ‘u e skep icism’ and ‘u e dogma ism’ much as he did philosophical
eclec icism, a guing ha a he ime only ou such hypo heses s ood ou as ‘ ela i ely adequa e’
in ‘scope and p ecision’—each wi h a dis inc oo me apho and heo y o u h, d awn om
‘common-sense’ expe ience. I o mis ic me apho s y o explain wha some hing is like (c . Ingold’s
ca ego ical “con ainmen ”), hose o o ganicism, how his some hing de elops (Ingold’s “chains”
unde s ood as p ocesses), and mechanis ic ones, how i wo ks (Ingold’s “building blocks” app oach),
hen con ex ualis ic me apho s a e conce ned wi h how some hing—any hing—happens, occu s,
o comes abou . (Peppe [1942] 1984.)1 While a ely acknowledged among he likes o Dewey o
James, Peppe ’s “con ex ualis ic” elabo a ion o Ame ican p agma ism p o ides an a guably
impo an p eceden o cu en philosophies o “becoming,” and as such, he mos gene al

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d ama u gical amewo k o his a icle. As I will only e u n o i a he end, a e a cen al sec ion
on Ingold, I conclude his in oduc o y bi by b ie ly in oducing i s cen al e ms and ca ego ies.
As a icula ed in Wo ld Hypo heses (1942) and Aes he ic Quali y (1937), “con ex ualism” names o
Peppe a p ocess on ology o cons an no el y and change, less o do wi h p agma ic ends han
wi h he la ge con ex s in which such quali ies con inuously eme ge (pe haps, his choice o e ms
was o downplay he o e ly ins umen alis in e p e a ions easily le elled a p agma is ene s).
The speci ic oo me apho o his app oach is he ‘his o ic e en ’—no as a hing o he pas bu
‘ he e en in i s ac uali y,’ ‘ali e in i s p esen … when i is going on now, he dynamic d ama ic ac i e
e en ’ ha e en ually can only be desc ibed by e bs ( a he han o mal simila i ies, o ganic
wholes, o mechanical elemen s: Peppe [1942] 1984, 232). Fu he key dis inc ions a e be ween
‘ he quali y o a gi en e en [as] i s in ui ed wholeness o o al cha ac e ’ and ex u e as ‘ he de ails
and ela ions which make [i ] up’ ([1942] 1984, 238). I educible o hie a chies o con en and o m
o essence and appea ance, he wo a e ul ima ely in e wined bu may also be app oached as i
hey we e sepa a e, by way o in ui ion and analysis espec i ely. Finally, i ‘wha e e di ec ly
con ibu es o he quali y o a ex u e may be ega ded as a s and, whe eas wha e e indi ec ly
con ibu es o i will be ega ded as con ex ’ ([1942] 1984, 246, my i alics), hen which is deemed
which is ul ima ely a ma e o pe spec i e: up close, he e is a ex u e o e e y s and, while whole
ex u es may appea as me e s ands om a a . In Peppe ’s e ms, such is he wo k o usion,
e iden ‘whe e e a quali y is had’, ye o en obscu ing i s bo h empo al and ex u al sp ead ([1942]
1984, 239–46). Whe e usion gi es us ‘uni y’ (be i o ac ion o cha ac e —Ingold’s example o he
kno ), he e he sp ead will con i m i s cons i u i e he e ogenei y (Ingold’s ‘p oli e a ion o loose
ends’: Ingold 2013, 132).
Wha I wish o a gue is ha such a language o o e lapping ex u es may equally accommoda e
he a ious ensions o hea icali y and pe o ma i i y as ou lined abo e. In such e ms, in b ie ,
wha is pe o ma i ely na u alised will depend on widely sp ead con ex s o ei e a ion, bu o en
akes a ho oughly used quali y in he p esen ; only occasionally may a no el s and o ac ion
unde mine i s assumed no mali y. Con e sely, ins an s o hea icali y wo k o un a el such
pe o ma i e s ands o hei local ex u es and pe haps o hei wide con ex s, in a quasi-
heo e ical ope a ion ha may ende hei ela ions mo e pe cep ible bu only e e a he cos o
his o ical speci ici y. I will e u n o some o hese p oposi ions in he inal sec ion o he a icle; o
now, no e how his ‘shee ing cha ac e ’ o acing ou he s ands a hand also de ines Peppe ’s
con ex ualis ic epis emology. On he one hand, ‘you ne e each he end o i ,’ on he o he , any
e en can be analysed in ‘many equally e ealing ways … depending simply on wha s ands you
ollow om he e en in o i s con ex ’:
The eason o his is ha wha is analyzed is ca ego ically an e en , and he analysis
o an e en consis s in he exhibi ion o i s ex u e, and he exhibi ion o i s ex u e
is he disc imina ion o i s s ands, and he ull disc imina ion o i s s ands is he
exhibi ion o o he ex u es … Con ex ualism is acco dingly some imes said o ha e
a ho izon al cosmology in con as o o he iews, which ha e a e ical cosmology.
The e is no op no bo om o he con ex ualis ic wo ld. (Peppe [1942] 1984, 249–
52)
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S and 2. Ne wo k and Meshwo k: Tim Ingold’s Ecology o Lines and Becoming
As sho hand e ms o speci ically hea ical and pe o ma i e ex u es, I now wish o ec ui Tim
Ingold’s no ions o he ‘ne wo k’ and he ‘meshwo k’. I he pe o ma i e a gumen is o
coex ensi i y o e ‘any o igina y no ion o in e io i y,’ as he sociologis Vikki Bell sugges s (2007,
11), hen Ingold’s c i ique o wha he dubs he mode n ‘logic o in e sion’ (2011a, 67) is p ecisely
coex ensi e wi h he pe o ma i e c i ique o any na u alised sense o essen ial iden i y. Ra he
han con e ing he ‘pa hways along which li e is li ed in o bounda ies wi hin which i is enclosed’
(2011a, 145), meshwo k names he becoming o hings in hei ongoing en anglemen . Thus
emb acing he ‘pa adoxically cons i u i e plu ali y’ in which Bell sees he ‘p omise o
pe o ma i i y,’ he concep would also seem o accoun o he c ea i i y and sel -o ganisa ion o
ma e in which she sees a challenge o na owly psychic o cul u al no ions o pe o ma i i y (Bell
2007, 29, 20, 98, 114). In wha could amoun o a no el a icula ion o he ma e ialisa ion ha also
unde gi ds Bu le ’s ‘bodies ha ma e ’ (1993), Ingold en isions en i onmen s and o ganisms alike
as ‘meshwo ks o in e wo en lines,’ wi h ‘no insides o ou sides, only openings and ways h ough’.
In u n, ecology is seen as ‘ he s udy o he li e o lines … w iggling ee o any classi ica ion … ailing
loose ends in e e y di ec ion.’ (Ingold 2007, 103, 50; his is somewha di e en om he Gibsonian
sense o ecology e.g. in Paa olainen 2012.)
Clea ly such a wo ld e okes no only Ka en Ba ad’s ‘pos humanis pe o ma i i y’ (one o being
“en angled,” wi h no “sel -con ained exis ence”: Ba ad 2007, ix, 66) bu also he insis ence, in Ac o -
Ne wo k Theo y, ‘on he pe o ma i e cha ac e o ela ions and he objec s cons i u ed in hose
ela ions’ (Law 1999, 7)—only in he meshwo k ‘ hings a e hei ela ions’ (Ingold 2011a, 70). As a
speci ically ecological e m o philosophe and li e a y schola Timo hy Mo on, he mesh implies
‘ he in e connec edness o all li ing and non-li ing hings’ (2010, 28). ‘Vas ye in ima e’ (40), in ini e
in bo h size and de ail (30), i ‘ex ends inside beings as well as among hem’ (39). Likewise in Ingold’s
e ms, e e y o ganism is i sel ‘a issue o kno s, whose cons i uen s ands, as hey become ied
up wi h o he s ands, in o he kno s, comp ise he meshwo k’; hus he meshwo k will ex end
om he ‘o ganic issue … o ne e, muscle, [and] blood essels’ o he wide wea es o wea he
and landscape which engul hem (2011a, 70, 86–7; on wea he , see speci ically 2015, 51–1112). In
Peppe ’s e ms, e en i hei quali ies depend on speci ic s ands and con ex s case by case, he
ex u al dynamics o ne wo ks and meshwo ks can also be c udely d awn—as hey a e in Figu e
1—and unlike Schechne ’s an and web o pe o mance, o example (Schechne 2003, x i–xix),
de i e hei alue no om he nodes o kno s hey encompass, bu om how p ecisely hese a e
wo en oge he in ‘ he connec ing o poin s’ and in ‘ he en anglemen o lines’ (Ingold 2007, 81–2).
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Indeed, i is as empo al ‘lines o li e, g ow h and mo emen ’—o lines o ligh and becoming in he
Deleuzo-Gua a ian pa lance which Ingold also ci es—‘ ha beings a e ins an ia ed in he wo ld’
ha he concei es o as meshwo ked h ough and h ough (Ingold 2011a, 63, 71). C i ically o he
hinking o pe o ma i i y, no only may such image y di es he concep o he o e ly human-
cen e ed associa ions some imes en e ained, bu also o any s ic di ision be ween wha I ha e
e med c ea i e no el y and no ma i e ei e a ion. ‘“Issuing o h” along he lines o hei
ela ionships,’ he hings o his wo ld en old i s la ge his o y wi hin hei cons i u ion and hus
emain o he meshwo k, ‘wo en in o i s e y ab ic’ e en as hey ‘con ibu e o i s e e -e ol ing
wea e’ (2011a, 71, 168, 120). ‘Kno ed oge he a he cen e bu ailing innume able “loose ends”
a he pe iphe y,’ hei meshwo k is explici ly likened o he Deleuzeian hizome o haeccei y (2011a,
85–6). The one conc e e example ha Ingold himsel epea edly e u ns o is he spide ’s web o
Figu e 1. As opposed o he supposed connec i i y o ne wo ks, ‘ he lines o he spide ’s web … do
no connec poin s o join hings up,’ bu a he hey ‘lay down he condi ions o possibili y … along
which i ac s and pe cei es’ (2011a, 85). (In his “social heo y o an h opods,” Ingold con as s he
ANT o Ac o -Ne wo k Theo y wi h SPIDER, o “Skilled P ac ice In ol es De elopmen ally
Embodied Responsi eness”: 2011a, 94.)
In con as o hese mo e posi i e associa ions, Ingold’s no ion has ye o inco po a e wha we
migh call ‘ he p ey’s pe spec i e’, o keep wi h he spide example. In Vikki Bell’s e ms, his equals
he Foucauldian lines o powe and knowledge in which pe o med subjec s a e ‘caugh ’ and which
hey a e p essed o ‘con inue o a leas o nego ia e’; as he ‘e ec s’ o which hey a e sus ained
and which hey hemsel es sus ain; which hey ‘li e ally inco po a e’ ye mus also deny in o de o
Figu e 1. Thea icali y and pe o ma i i y as abs ac ion and abso p ion: Ingold’s “ne wo k” o connec ed
poin s and “meshwo k” o in e wo en lines, exempli ied by he globe (wi h geog aphic coo dina es) and
he spide ’s web. D awing by au ho .
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asse hemsel es as subjec s (Bell 2007, 4, 11–12, 17, 21). As dis inc om Ingold’s enabling sense
o imme sion—wi h bodies ‘enligh ened, ensounded and en ap u ed’ ‘in he cu en s o a wo ld-
in- o ma ion’ (2011a, 135, 129)—one is he e, in Bu le ’s wo ds, ‘in powe e en as one opposes i ’
(1993, 241, my i alics). Fu he mo e, as Mo on no es, mesh i sel has e ymological ‘an eceden s in
mask and mass, sugges ing bo h densi y and decep ion,’ and may also deno e (ci ing he OED) ‘“a
complex si ua ion o se ies o e en s in which a pe son is en angled; a conca ena ion o
cons aining o es ic ing o ces o ci cums ances; a sna e”’ (2010, 28).
Fo Ingold, howe e , wha a he ensna es ou hough is he popula image y o ne wo ks in which,
ins ead o being ac i ely enac ed and en angled, ‘all lines [me ely] connec : objec s in o assemblies,
des ina ions in o i ine a ies, le e s in o wo ds’ (2011b, 14). Wi h i s ‘ex ension o he ealms o
mode n anspo and communica ions’ (2007, 80), ‘ he ne wo k me apho logically en ails ha he
elemen s connec ed a e dis inguished om he lines o hei connec ion’ (2011a, 70), hings om
hei ela ions. As ‘connec ions be ween one hing and ano he ’ (2011a, 91)— a he han
expe ienced ‘along hei se e ally enmeshed ways o li e’ (2007, 103)— he lines o he ne wo k lack
bo h du a ion and ma e ial p esence. Wha hey ‘connec up, in e e se’ (2011a, 215) a e essen ially
educed o objec s (e ymologically “agains us,” no “wi h us” as hings would be in Ingold’s eading
o Heidegge : 2011b, 5), while he ne wo k i sel emains ‘a pu ely spa ial cons uc ’ (2013, 132).
Again, he one solid example ha Ingold epea edly e u ns o is he globe o Figu e 1. In e ing
he meshwo ked wo ld i sel in o a con ained objec , he plane a y and he class oom a ian s alike
a e o him he epi ome o deadly abs ac ion—‘a ull-scale model’ ha he o en, and no al oge he
acciden ally, likens o ‘a s age se ’ (2011a, 117):
[We] mus cease ega ding he wo ld as an ine subs a um, o e which li ing
hings p opel hemsel es abou like coun e s on a boa d o ac o s on a s age … . [I
me e objec s we e laid abou like] scene y on a s age … how could any hing li e o
b ea he? … As in a s age se , … he appea ance is an illusion. Absolu ely no hing is
going on. Only once he s age is se , and e e y hing made eady, can he ac ion
begin. Bu he open wo ld ha c ea u es inhabi is no p epa ed o hem in
ad ance. I is con inually coming in o being a ound hem. (Ingold 2011a, 71, 96,
117; o an ex ended example o hea ical in e sion, see 2015, 74–5)
Then again, he e is a way o shedding such decidedly an i hea ical alences, inso a as Ingold’s
ne wo ks o connec ed objec s—bu no his meshwo ks o in e wo en lines—can also be aken o
a o d ocussed ac s o hea ical manipula ion: ac s o de-con ex ualisa ion ha speci ically enable
he d awing o no el connec ions be ween he objec s hus abs ac ed ( he do s on he globe), on
scales o ex u e dis inc ly below he de aul ne wo ks o socie y and in o ma ion, anspo and
communica ion. In o he wo ds, he p ime ad an age o bo h he globe and he hea ical s age
lies in hei synop ic aspec a he han he media ed one: hence also he link om he medie al
hea um mundi o he mode n, spec a o ial unde s anding o he wo ld by way o a wo ld iew ( his
Heidegge ian link is nea ly elabo a ed in McGilli ay 2008). Ingold himsel admi s as much
elsewhe e, cas ing he ‘ opologies’ o meshwo k and ne wo k no as ‘mu ually exclusi e’ bu as
pe spec i ally con ingen :
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Biog aphy
Teemu Paa olainen is a pos doc o al esea ch ellow a he Cen e o P ac ice as Resea ch in Thea e, Uni e si y
o Tampe e. His Thea e/Ecology/Cogni ion: Theo izing Pe o me -Objec In e ac ion in G o owski, Kan o , and
Meye hold was published by Palg a e Macmillan in 2012. He has jus inished he d a manusc ip o ano he
esea ch monog aph, en a i ely i led Tex u e: Thea icali y and Pe o ma i i y om a D ama u gical Pe spec i e.
Wo k on his p ojec , including his a icle, has been gene ously unded by he Academy o Finland and he Finnish
Cul u al Founda ion.
© 2017 Teemu Paa olainen
Excep whe e o he wise no ed, his wo k is licensed unde a C ea i e Commons A ibu ion-
NonComme cial-Sha eAlike 4.0 In e na ional License.