Session leaders: Juliane Pierce, Executive Director, Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT) and Lisa Colley, Manager, New Media Arts, Australia Council for the Arts.

QUESTION
Negotiating art and science residencies: developing and negotiating partnerships. What is the role of the "broker" in creating residencies and opportunities for artists? How to ensure both parties receive maximum benefits and outcomes.

REPORT
This session explored some of the logistic, conceptual, and pragmatic issues faced by ANAT and similar organizations in creating sustainable models for collaborative partnerships between artists and scientists. The primary focus here was on corporate artist-in-residency programs. The session began with introductions and a brief overview by Ms. Pierce of the mission of ANAT, an Adelaide-based network and advocacy organization which facilitates opportunities for artists working with science and technology. Ms. Colley spoke of her current focus in art/science collaborations at the Australian Council and how her work was driven by the need to create opportunities for artists to have access to technological resources and by industry and government initiatives. Where do the arts and artists fit in that? Justin Cooper then gave an overview of her ANAT-sponsored residency at New York's Museum of Natural History. In 'brokering' a partnership between artists and industry, it was agreed that it is very important to learn what the needs and primary goals of the organization/corporation are. The corporate/industry partners also need to know what is in it for them from the beginning and what they will be required to contribute to the project (e.g. do they have to pay for it?). One of ArtSci2001's presenters, Jennifer Hall, referred to this as knowing what the 'exchangeable commodities' are. She also spoke about the importance of the corporate partner to be willing to contribute to the project from the beginning and to help design it from the ground up.

Equally important was finding the right person in the organization to approach and to use the scientists language in describing the project (e.g. 'scientific visualization' instead of 'artistic representation'). Some barriers faced in brokering partnerships include a sympathetic upper management that can't convince their Boards to support the collaboration and management that doesn't value or understand the arts in the traditional sense, let alone the modern one. Participants felt that there is a real need for corporations to see how their product or r+d is being used or might be used by an artist. A suggestion was made that artists or supporting organizations could give presentations during lunch hours to increase awareness of artists working with science/technology. Corporate artist-in-residencies force a new kind of socialization around new concepts. This kind of model is not as big a leap for universities, but many felt there was still not enough leadership from the faculty in academia. Several participants mentioned the need to de-brief/de-compress artists after a residency and get them back into their own domain. Part of this process should be a reflective review of what worked and what didn't in the residency.

Discussion also revolved around what the artists need to think about/assess before entering into a residency and what role artists can play in the partnership. Participants felt that artists need to value themselves and be very realistic about their vision for the collaboration, that they should know what their intentions are when going in and to not have expectations about making a product. Some felt that it can be just as important for artists to have access to resources without the need to collaborate with the scientists, but that they shouldn't be relegated to the 'corner.' Ms. Cooper, for example, described her residency not so much as collaboration as access to the facilities and talked about her role as a conduit between the different 'fiefdoms' at the museum, who normally don't talk to each other. Ms. Pierce spoke about how artists help facilitate play and experimentation, which was echoed by others.

Reported by Diana Meckley

Julianne Pierce is an artist, curator and interactive media Producer. She is currently Executive Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology. She is a founding member of the influential new media artists group VNS Matrix, who exhibited widely in Australia and internationally from 1991 - 1997. Julianne has worked for fifteen years in the Australian cultural sector and has curated exhibitions and performance events including 'Future Languages' (Adelaide Festival, 1994), 'Code Red' (ANAT/Performance Space national tour, 1997) and 'Biomachines' (Adelaide Festival, 2000). She has Produced several interactive titles including the highly praised and widely exhibited interactive CDROM 'Uncle Bill' (2000), directed by Debra Petrovitch.

http://www.anat.org.au
http://sysx.org/vns
http://unclebill.va.com