Co-thinker and Co-thinking Practices
Artists: L. Puska and Jay Albaos

Who are the co-thinkers? 
The co-thinkers are the duo formed by L. Puska and Jay Albaos.

What is co-thinking and where does a co-thinker sit inside it?
The co-thinkers exhibit co-thinking - a duo-based collaborative practice shaped to symbiotically support by our respective art and research practices. The co-thinking practice between us builts on mutual feelings/notions of trust, safety, openness, care, integrity, and so on - having known each other within the realms of art-making but also as good friends.

In co-thinking practices, we as co-thinkers are not fixed to a single position. We can move in, out, and between roles: friend, critic, artist, being, emotion - altogether a maker. One of the significant co-thinker roles is being a support apparatus with critical eye, an active element in de-centering a project’s thought, doing, and making processes. "De-centering" is also framed as the questioning of contemporary notions, such as 'efficiency', 'outcome orientatedness', 'duration', 'craft', and even 'commitment' in art and art-making.

We as co-thinkers also acknowledge that the project itself has a voice in the decision-making and direction of the co-thinking process. This aligns with the vision that co-thinking(s) is a multi-directional yet care-oriented experimentation - inclusive of the artwork, and attentive to all facets involved in it.


Terms of function:
- On ownership: the co-thinker does not necessarily have to be a project's co-owner. They may remain an active outsider-insider — engaged, present, and influential, without assuming formal ownership. Each artist remains free to pursue independent projects outside the co-thinking framework.
- On art-making: co-thinking does not require the creation of new artworks. The duo may draw from their existing practices when relevant, using them as material for experimentation.
- On collaborative practices outside the co-thinking practice(s): The co-thinkers welcome collaboration with future colleagues. When additional collaborators join, the co-thinking practice expands into a collective. The collective then is shaped by the bodies, presences, and voices which shape/constitute it.