"Not a fixed line": co-creating the pathos guiding principles

Abstract

In spring 2025, the research team leading Pathologies of Violence: Inscriptions of Global Conflict in Irish Artistic Practice (PATHOS) hosted a series of artist-centered workshops at The Glucksman (Cork), against the backdrop of widespread and worsening global conflict and geopolitical instability. These circumstances were central to our workshop discussions and, in some cases, affected our practitioners directly. Thematically, the workshops were broadly concerned with making art about conflict, which included related discussions on artistic responsibility, witnessing, ethics and activism, and debates on the possibilities and limitations of art in times of conflict. The PATHOS participants spoke from differing proximities to conflict, sharing details from their artistic practices and professional experiences working on conflict-related themes. Though many discussions centred on steps that organisations could take, the PATHOS practitioners also reflected on their own ethical obligations. The Guiding Principles, and our research more generally, draw on the PATHOS participants’ first-hand accounts, and on other writers and theorists, including Fred Moten, Hettie Judah, Stefano Harney, Maggie Nelson, Yohann Floch, and Marie Le Sourd. Though the workshop discussions were grounded in the Irish context, the issues raised are relevant to global arts practice.