BREAKOUT SESSION LEADERS

Sunday afternoon, December 8, 2:15 - 3:15 pm:
7 concurrent sessions

 

 

  • Oron Catts, Wet Biology Art Practitioner, Curator, Co-founder and artistic director of SymbioticA  (Art Science collaborative Laboratory, School of Anatomy & Human Biology, University of Western Australia ).

    Dr Stuart Bunt, Neuroscientist, Entrepreneur, Unionist, Co-founder and scientific director of SymbioticA
Adam Zaretsky, Artist, VivoArt educator, Clinical associate Profesor,  VivoArts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY

Question: How can an Art and Biology research/educational laboratory be set-up in an active biomedical department at a university?

Lessons from SymbioticA.

SymbioticA is the first research laboratory of its kind that enables artists to engage in wet biology practices in a biological science department. It was setup as research laboratory that foster critical engagement with biological knowledge and its applications by artists and scientists alike.  SymbioticA is generating collaborations that have no other place to evolve. It offers a new means of artistic inquiry, one in which artists actively use the tools and technologies of science, not just to comment about them, but also to explore their possibilities.

SymbioticA also support educational activities such as hosting post gradate students from different disciplines, and it runs an art and biology unit for undergraduates (developed by Adam Zaretsky.) Establishing SymbioticAâs position in the school and the university proved to be a challenging mission. In this session two of the founders of SymbioticA will present their experiences and invite Adam Zaretsky to discuss his role in developing art and biology courses for undergraduates and compare his experience in SymbioticA to the other institutions where he delivered similar courses.        

Artists can act as important catalysts for creative and innovative processes and outcomes.  They can also critically examine the various assumptions, and sometimes self delusions, built in to the ãscientific methodä.  There is a need for artists and other professionals in the humanities to actively participate in research into possible and contestable futures arising from these developments.  While non-scientifically trained artists may have a limited ability to analyse the detailed veracity of scientific work, ãoutsidersä working in a different mental framework can bring both insights and distractions into the debates about the mechanisms, ethics and philospohy behind scientific work.  We will debate whether this can only be effective if those same artists engage actively in the science so that they have enough understanding of the process and work to engage meaningfully with it?

Thank-you to ArtsWA [Arts Western Australia] for a travel award 2002 for Oron to present at ArtSci2002.     

BRIEF BIO: Oron Catts

Artist and curator, Artistic Director and co-founder of SymbioticA- The Art & Science Collaborative Research Laboratory, School of Anatomy & Human biology, University of Western Australia. Founder of the Tissue Culture & Art Project (1996). Research fellow at The Tissue Engineering & Organ Fabrication Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School (2000-2001). His collaborative art projects have been shown internationally (in events such as Ars Electronica Festival 2000 and 2001) and nationally (in The 2002 Adelaide Biennale of Australian Arts, BEAP 2002 to name a few).     

email:
oron@ symbiotica.uwa.edu.au

SymbioticA
School of Anatomy & Human Biology
University of Western Australia
35, Stirling Highway, Crawley
Western Australia, 6009

Telephone: +61 (0)8 9380 7116
URL:  http://www.symbiotica.uwa.edu.au           

BRIEF BIO: Dr. Stuart Bunt

Co-founder of SymbioticA, the first art and biology lab situated in a science department.  Have consulted and lectured on the nexus between Art/Science and Technology, exhibited in Ars Electronica and collaborated or helped produce a number of biotech art pieces revolving around emergent technologies in the biosciences.  Background in science (developmental neuroscience lab, D Phil in Natural Philosophy, Oxford ), and the arts (Director/co-founder SymbioticA).  Senator at the University of Western Australia , chief executive biomedical software spin off company, Paradigm Diagnostics, and founder of the Image Acquisition and Analysis Facility, UWA.

Stuart Bunt
School of Anatomy & Human Biology
University of Western Australia
35, Stirling Highway
Crawley WA 6009. 
phone: +61 (0)8 9380 2983  

BRIEF BIO: Adam Zaretsky 

graduated in Art Studio from University of California at Davis.  He has an Art and Technology MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago where he Assisted in teaching the first History of Art and Biology course with Eduardo Kac.  He then spent two years as a Research Associate at Massachussetts Institute of  Technology in the Arnold Demain Laboratory for Microbiology and Industrial Fermentation in conjunction with Joe Davis.  For the last year, Adam co-taught VivoArts: Art and Biology Studio, an experimental 'living art' production class for Steve Wilson's Conceptual/Information Arts (CIA) department at San Francisco State University, 2001 with Julia Reodica, San Francisco Exploratorium and then co-taught same with Oron Catts of SymbioticA, The Art and Science Collaborative Research Laboratory at The University of Western Australia's Art and Architecture Department. Adam will be continuing his VivoArts class and Biology and Art Research for the next two years, at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a Professor in the Arts Department.

Adam Zaretsky
 Clinical Associate Professor, VivoArts
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
302 West Hall  
110 8th Street
Troy, NY 12180
phone: (518) 276-2366
URL: www.emutagen.com
Email: zaretsky@mit.edu

 

 

  • Tony White, Interdisciplinary Arts Officer, Collab.Arts Unit, Arts Council of England

    QUESTION: What is the "Interdisciplinary Ecosystem"?

    A model for contextualising the funding of art and science collaborations. This interdisciplinary ecosystem is emergent, and involves a number of interdependent strands, such as: creating and investing in research opportunities; the touring of new work; communication; audience development and evaluation (including our Play Garden project which informed the breakout session last year); professional development and support for the individual artist; venue development; policy development and new opportunities. This model has given the Collaborative Arts Unit a conceptual framework within which to both support and evaluate art and science work, and a tool for developing advocacy and policy in these fields.
    A brief introduction to this model will be used to lead a discussion on strategies for supporting art and science collaborations, and knowledge-sharing with artists, scientists, funders, and anyone else who has an interest in how support for interdisciplinary activity can be improved.

    BRIEF BIO: 

Tony White is Interdisciplinary Arts Officer in the Collaborative Arts Unit of the Arts Council of England - a research-led team which is responsible for promoting emergent interdisciplinary practices across the arts, including new models arising from art and science, and art and technology collaborations. Recent/current projects include the Sciart Consortium and Sciart Awards programme http://www.sciart.org and the CODE Conference - Collaboration and Ownership in the Digital Economy - which was held in Queens College Cambridge in April 2001 http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/CODE, as well as strategies for supporting the work of individual artists. Alongside his work for the Arts Council of England Tony White is also a writer. His latest novel, Foxy-T, will be published by Faber and Faber in June 2003.

e-mail address
tony.white@artscouncil.org.uk
Address
14 Great Peter Street, London SW1P 3NQ, UK
Phone: 020 7333 0100
Fax: 020 7973 6791
URL:
http://www.artscouncil.org.uk
email:  sara_diamond@banffcentre.ca

   

 

Sara Diamond, Artistic Director, Media and Visual Arts and Executive Producer, Television and New Media at The Banff Centre for the Arts, Canada

TOPIC:  Working the Network

This Breakout Session will explore the power and challenges of networked collaboration.  What kinds of networks exist that enable arts and science creation and research?  How are they initiated and funded?  What are the criteria?  What kinds of scale works to create a project, dialogue or relationship over networks?  When is small good?  How can the skills that you have lever your ability to create the virtual and actual network that you need to get your  project done?  What are some of the tools that enable networking? 

I have spent many years of my life creating networks, that are location based and at a distance, from alternate learning contexts, to project creation, to formal fundable initiatives.  Come share your experiences with me.

BRIEF BIO:

Sara Diamond is an award winning television and new media producer/director, video artist, curator, critic, researcher, teacher and artistic director. Born in New York City, Diamond has resided in Western Canada and has represented Canada at home and internationally for many years. She is currently the Artistic Director, Media and Visual Arts and Executive Producer, Television and New Media at The Banff Centre for the Arts. In recent years Diamond has worked

increasingly with research and development projects in software, has consulted in developing interactive media curriculum and events and has created think tanks that bring together cultural industries, new media content producers, artists and investors. The Co-Production, CCII, and

Deep Web projects that she has initiated at The Banff Centre for the Arts have resulted in key international projects in television and interactive media. Diamond programs new media events for the prestigious Banff Television Festival and develops the extensive Banff New Media Institute at The Banff Centre.

The Banff New Media Institute
The Banff Centre
Box 1020, Station 40
Banff, Alberta
Canada
T1L 1H5

phone: 1.403.762.6652
URL:  www.banfcentre.ca./bnmi
email:  sara_diamond@banffcentre.ca



 

  • Helen-Donis Keller, professor of Biology and Art, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA

QUESTION: How can one introduce sound as a subject of study in undergraduate education through the integration of scientific principles, engineering concepts and the making of sound art?

Sound is becoming recognized more widely as an independent art form. The use of sound in communication reaches far back in our respective cultures, yet it has not yet found its place as an independent subject in general undergraduate education. It is often covered in a fairly pedestrian ways in physics or other general science courses, and in art classes, the scientific principles related to sound are given scant attention. An exploration of the properties of sound in a project-based curriculum provides a unique opportunity to help undergraduates become more aware of their environment and learn how to communicate their artistic intent. In this session we will consider how to introduce sound as a subject of study and share our goals and experiences with integrating scientific principles, engineering concepts and the making of sound art.


BRIEF BIO:

Helen Donis-Keller is Professor of Biology and Art at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. She received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University and an MFA in Studio Art from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Tufts University. Her scientific research interests are in the field of human molecular genetics. Her work as an artist draws upon her scientific interests and takes form through a variety of media including video, drawing, photography and audio. She is currently teaching foundation biology and several art courses including one relevant to the session, "Seeing and Hearing", a project-based learning experience that integrates art, science and engineering, at Olin, a newly established undergraduate college.


 Address
Academic Center
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
1735 Great Plain Avenue
Needham, MA 02492-1245

e-mail address: helen.donis-keller@olin.edu, dk@bellatlantic.net
Phone: (781) 292-2545
Fax: (781) 292-2505
URL: www.Olin.edu

 

  • Laurie Milner, scholar, writer, curator, professor/Concordia University, Montreal, Canada

    QUESTION:     Trickster Methodologies: What are models for curriculum development that resist binary constructions of art and science?

    Artists are tricksters. Give them a system and they'll play inside and outside of its logic; give them order and they'll mess it up; give them a method and they'll tinker it out of recognition. They raid, pirate and wantonly cross-pollinate ideas.

    Yet they are not without method. The chemistry and poetics of what they do comes from the specifics of how they bring diverse bodies of knowledge together. The ideas, forms, materials and processes of their works react within the frameworks of art and science; they also resonate within that nebulous cluster of practices known as critical theory. This too is part of the artist's vocabulary.

    One of the challenges of art-science curriculum development is to recognize these multiple dialectics. Artists work with and between science and critical theory, disrupting received ideas about art, science and theory in the process.

    In this breakout session we'll explore models for curriculum development that resist binary constructions of art and science and explore the challenges and potentials of seeing what else the trickster has up her sleeve.

    BRIEF BIO: 

Laurie Milner is an independent scholar, writer, curator and part-time teacher. Her current work explores the intersections of art and science as knowledge-making and image-making activities. She has developed interdisciplinary courses and curriculum for artists in visual culture and art and science at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design and Concordia University. Laurie, holds a PhD in Art History from Northwestern University.

email:  laurie.milner@sympatico.ca

Address:
4427, rue de Mentana, Montreal,
QC, H2J 3B4, Canada
Phone: (514) 598-8592
URL: www.concordia.ca

 

  • Dana Francis Plautz, Manager, Intel Research and Chair Art and Entertainment Committee/Intel Corporation

    QUESTION:     "How does a large technology company like INTEL nurture art-sci collaborative projects and why are these projects valuable to industry?

    Learn why Intel believes there is an opportunity to catalyze the next generation of breakthroughs via the exploration of new media and collaboration. You'll hear from an art-sci evangelist "inside" about her eight years of initiating and collaborating on many different art-sci projects at Universities around the country, what the company looks for, the surprises, and the challenges. If you're interested in this type of collaborative research work, this is an opportunity to find-out more, see examples, and ask your questions.

    Brief bio of Session Leader: Dana Francis Plautz
    After 10 years in the entertainment industry, Plautz joined Intel's multimedia lab in 1993. Currently, she chairs the Art and Entertainment Committee for Intel Research.

    Plautz has a government appointment as Chairman for the Oregon Film and Video Office, serves on the board of Eyebeam Atelier, the California College Arts and Craft (CCAC) Design + Media Advisory Board, and Portland State Universities Creative Studies Initiative. Plautz produced the documentary Artist Response to 9.11, discussing artist's role in our society.

    email: Dana.plautz@intel.com
    Address
    2111 N.E. 25th Avenue
    Mailstop JF3-379
    Hillsboro, OR 97124
    Phone: 503-264-8809
    URL: http://www.intel.com/research/university

 

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