Published
11-5-2026
Type of Work
Presentation (Seminar, forum, etc)
Abstract
This webinar presents an overview of the contemporary state of creative-practice research and autotheory before introducing Shimmer, an emerging methodological framework developed through creative practice, postgraduate supervision, and reflective inquiry. The presentation argues that while creative-practice research has successfully established creative work as a legitimate form of knowledge production, and autotheory has legitimised lived experience as theoretical material, both traditions leave relatively under-theorised the embodied moment through which insight first emerges.
The significance of the work lies in its contribution to ongoing debates around embodiment, affect, intuition, and knowledge production within creative-practice research. Shimmer proposes a language for understanding how creative knowledge becomes perceptible before it is fully articulated, offering a potential framework for researchers, educators, and creative practitioners working with emergent and non-linear forms of inquiry.
Methodologically, the work draws upon practice-led research, autotheory, feminist philosophy, phenomenology, affect theory, reflective practice, and action research. It synthesises these traditions into a framework that conceptualises shimmer as both epistemological and methodological: epistemological in its concern with how knowledge emerges, and methodological in its application to creative practice, supervision, reflection, and research design.
As an ongoing research project, intended outcomes include the further development of the Shimmer Methodology through scholarly publications, conference presentations, creative-practice applications, postgraduate pedagogy, and a future monograph. The webinar functions as a public dissemination activity designed to test, refine, and extend the framework through engagement with the Cultural Studies Association of Australasia research community.
The presentation concludes that creative-practice research has reached a stage of maturity that enables a more precise discussion of emergence itself. Shimmer is proposed as a contribution to this discussion, offering a framework for recognising and working with the embodied, affective, and pre-linguistic conditions through which creative knowledge comes into being.
Notes
2 files:
Script and Slide presentation
Citation
Montgomery, L. (2026) Shimmer Methodology: May 2026 Cultural Studies Association of Australasia,[Staff Scholarship, SAE University College]. Creo.
Included in
Aesthetics Commons, Art Practice Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Digital Humanities Commons, Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons, Epistemology Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons, Performance Studies Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons