Carter, Paul. “Interest: The Ethics of Invention” in Practice as Research Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry, edited by Estelle Barrett and Barbara Bolt, 27-34. New York and London: I.B.Taurus & Co, 2007.

      The themes Carter dances over in “Interest: The Ethics of Invention” include philosophies relating to practice led research, the Australian historical context of Practice-led research, and the etymology of terms relating to Practice-led research. Essentially, the essay explores the social position and potential of practice led research.

     “Interest: The Ethics of Invention” is a dense piece of writing laced with complex metaphors, frequent divergences and lengthy quotes, including a slab of three paragraphs quoted from one of Carter’s own previous publications. In fact, Carter so frequently refers to his previous publication that it almost seems like he is reviewing it himself. All this makes the reading of it a hard slog.

     One of Carter’s significant contributions to the field of Practice-led research is his involvement with a public art project in Federation square, Melbourne, and Carter assumes that the reader is already aware of this project and Carter’s previous writings on related subjects. This is probably because the text was originally published as a conference paper and apparently has not been significantly altered for its inclusion in ‘Practice as Research Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry’. The text could have done with some further translation for the book format.

     While Carter’s ideas about the Australian context for Practice-led research are interesting, the style of writing becomes distracting and mildly irritating. It takes a few reads to grasp the essential ideas. I find myself wondering; is that a chord of genius or is Carter just fluffing around? Carter’s writing reads like the Fed square buildings themselves. Some may like it.

Zoë Evershed.

Link to Paul Carter's University of Melbourne home page