Issue 18
- Spring 2024

Thinking in Motion

Liz Collins, Knitting Nation Phase 15: Weaving Walls (detail), 2016, rayon and polyester jersey fabric, knitting machines, screen printed jumpsuits, white doc Martens, at the Museum of Art & Design, New York with Kristine Woods. Image courtesy the artist. Photographer Eric Scott.

Editor - Jessica Hemmings

PARSE Journal issue 18 explores the thinking that occurs when bodies are in motion. Six contributors from the fields of psychology, aesthetics, sports history, performance, craft and literature consider the ways our solitary bodies in motion think differently than our social and sedentary selves. The eclectic, rather than esoteric, reflections gathered here draw attention to the various ways movement can influence, and at times unlock, otherwise fixed patterns of thinking. While often invisible in the workplace, these activities provide crucial lessons for the long-term cultivation of creative thinking. Dance, the field Robinson so passionately advocated for, is perhaps the most acute form of thinking in motion. But instead of an emphasis on motion that informs motion (dancing to understand dance), contributors’ examples include the familiar experience of walking—but also running, cycling, rock climbing and motorcycle riding—that influence decision-making elsewhere in life.

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