The paper presents a series of reflections on the relationship between an artwork and its environment. It is written from a subjective perspective but this has been informed by a number of different viewpoints, ideas, artworks, theories, and not least, my own practical experience. An ongoing preoccupation has been the question of where exactly the artwork is, or perhaps more accurately, where the significance of the work lies. Is it in the object, in its relation to its context or to its viewer (as in an institutional theory of art), in this viewer’s involvement with the work, or perhaps somewhere else? And in relation to the present context, can the process and methods that are characterised as “research” be identified with art? Research enables different way of seeing or framing practice and the approach to practice. It thereby affects its nature. The directions of and motivations behind the practice may likewise affect the nature of the research (those activities that aren’t characterised as practice). A dialogue takes place between them. This may never be audible but might remain internalised. Crucially, the work’s internality is directed outwards to the external world.