Abstract

This paper aims to investigate development in the concepts of patainstitutionalism with reference to the research methodologies and dynamics of the Grey Institute, a practice-based research centre directed by Dr Jane Birkin and Dr Rima Dunn. The paper will present the methodological and epistemic aspects of the Grey Institute’s research culture. From Derrida’s concept of hauntology to Foucault’s ‘The Masked Philosopher, we will examine the historical and critical legacies of Paul Grey, founder of the Grey Institute. Based on a repository of documents kept by Grey until his death, the paper will assess the current work of the Institute and attempt to project forward the path that the new generation of staff and affiliated members of the Grey Institute might take, whilst upholding the value systems of the founder, which are so clearly set out in the recently discovered collection of papers. The Grey Institute is charged with contradictions and knowingly operates within them as a playful and productive unit of administration, exploiting the hidden dynamics of various well-established research processes. The Institute manifests as a de- and re-institutionalising force, and through this rigorous reconfiguration facilitates a fluid circulation of creativity towards an effective practice-based research function. Sheltering diverse opinions and personalities, the Grey Institute facilitates the development of co-creative clusters, presenting and interacting with different modes of intensive and radical research. These activities naturally operate across the wider social and political dimensions of art and theory. Working both inside and outside the institution, the various initiatives and interventions of the Grey Institute turn the accepted institutional model inside out. Feeding on the techniques and the grey literatures of management systems, the Grey Institute gradually and naturally developed into a semi-secret collective, including fictional characters who organise their own research projects in the form of workshops, reading groups, lectures, policy papers, and the materialisation of mysterious objects. We will discuss the Grey Institute’s functionalities from the various perspectives of systems of knowledge under the bureaucratic requirements of contemporary academia. Above all, the Grey Institute is a state of mind, an illusive entity that is always present; a critical imaginary force that emerges on occasions.