Abstract
In this article my aim is to situate the growing area of academic audio-visual essays within a wider field of practice-based-research. My objective is to look for patterns across this field so as to pose questions as to the history of common strategies for practice-based research. One such pattern is that of comparison. Beginning in the 1970s, I create a joined up trajectory of comparative re-playings using Le Grice's Berlin Horse (1970) Ken Jacobs' nervous system projections (1975-2000), Douglas Gordon's Through a Looking Glass (1999) and Mark Dean's glitchy videos (1994-1997). Coming up to date I focus upon three videographic diptychs that adopt comparison as their modus operandi: Success (Jaap Kooijman 2016) Maya and Mia at la la land (Jenny Oyallon-Koloski 2019) and Santa y Teresa: a walking dialogue (Michelle Leigh Farrell 2020). Through the creation of this trajectory we find that comparison is a strategy that is not simply 'good to think with' but also good to think with in audio-visual and feminist ways.