Abstract
This practice-based research explores stuckness in creative work not as a problem to eliminate, but as a threshold state where tacit knowledge becomes operative. Drawing on autoethnographic narrative, I examine how attending to stuckness reveals the autonomic nervous system's (ANS) role in embodied knowing. Through a close reading of wood carving practice, I document how physical engagement with materials offered a way to work with, rather than overcome, stuckness. When invited to exhibit this work, I experienced acute stress that led me to adapt a Risk Assessment form—typically used for physical hazards—to map emotional risks such as shame and humiliation. Rather than eliminating uncertainty, this adapted matrix became a tool for aligning conscious awareness with bodily knowledge. This account contributes to practice-based design methodology by offering one practitioner's methods for lingering within stuckness, opening questions about working with embodied intelligence at threshold moments.
Keywords
Risk assessment, tacit knowledge, stuckness, practice
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2341
Citation
Glover, H. (2026) Touch Wood: Stuckness, Risk assessment, and Embodied Knowledge in Practice, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.2341
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Touch Wood: Stuckness, Risk assessment, and Embodied Knowledge in Practice
This practice-based research explores stuckness in creative work not as a problem to eliminate, but as a threshold state where tacit knowledge becomes operative. Drawing on autoethnographic narrative, I examine how attending to stuckness reveals the autonomic nervous system's (ANS) role in embodied knowing. Through a close reading of wood carving practice, I document how physical engagement with materials offered a way to work with, rather than overcome, stuckness. When invited to exhibit this work, I experienced acute stress that led me to adapt a Risk Assessment form—typically used for physical hazards—to map emotional risks such as shame and humiliation. Rather than eliminating uncertainty, this adapted matrix became a tool for aligning conscious awareness with bodily knowledge. This account contributes to practice-based design methodology by offering one practitioner's methods for lingering within stuckness, opening questions about working with embodied intelligence at threshold moments.