ABSTRACT
Based in the arts, touched by critical theory, live methods offer oppositional levers that valuably, in the confused mess of private troubles, provide aids to identify the 'sensitive nerve-centres' of contemporary capitalism. This chapter examines the potential of 'live sociology', considering its delineation and usage so far in the work of Les Back and others. It presents examples of live sociological methods that, working within the overarching context of predominantly representational systems of signification, privilege generative rather than representational epistemologies. The chapter addresses some of the spatial and temporal provocations and possibilities of thinking with both art and sociology. It considers examples from the ethnographic research with Brian Lobel's Fun with Cancer Patients project. The chapter concludes by presenting the Live Art Research Hub, an experiment in live sociological method that, embedded within an art exhibition, produced encounters as 'generative moments'.
