Sharing knowledge: Performing co-production in collaborative artistic work

Abstract

This article puts forward co-production as a lens for geographical approaches to collaborative knowledge production. Co-production extends understandings of collaboration as temporary, fragile and with multiple spatial forms. Through the example of creative writers’ artistic knowledge, co-production is developed as a process of making together that involves intermittent spaces of sharing and cooperation between different actors beyond and across firm organisational boundaries. It is argued that the formal and informal mixing of these actors requires focusing on the micro-spaces of co-production that show how sharing knowledge occurs through forms of emotional work. Drawing on interviews with writers and participant observation of creative writing practices in Bristol, three spaces of co-production are outlined: the workshop, the project and the event. These highlight the geographies of emotions in such co-production, in particular the role of trust which is significant in, but also beyond, face-to-face encounters. The article concludes by pointing to the implications of the research.