The Dance of Agency

Title

The Dance of Agency

Description

The dance of agency, understood as a threesome in which the partners may be flyer–kite–air, potter–wheel–clay, herdsman–toggle–rope, or player–cello–sound. Chalk on blackboard. The kite’s flying is surely the combined effect of the flyer, the kite and the air. The dance of agency, it turns out, is a threesome in which each partner acts upon, and is in turn acted upon by, the other two (See Figure). Take away any one partner, and the performance will fail. Even in the air, a kite will not fly without a flyer; even with a flyer, the kite will only fly in the air; even if the flyer is out in the air, there will be no flying without a kite. The air, then, was the missing link that activated the kite, allowing an action potential that was already immanent within it – in its very construction – to be expressed in motion.

Designer

Ingold, Tim

Ingold, Susanna

Date

2013

Source

Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture

Bibliographic Citation

Ingold, Tim. 2013. Making: Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group. Figure 7.5. Pages 99-100.

is depiction of attribute

Triangle

is composed of

Circle

Square

has attribute

Arrow

Solid Line

Coverage

anthropology

triangle