[spectre] webcast seminar on interdisciplinary research

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 13:23:03 +0000
Subject: Research methods seminar
From: geoffcox <geoff at generative.net>


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MUTUAL INCOMPREHENSION
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an open seminar on interdisciplinary research methods

speakers: Guido Bugmann, Peter Fend, Steve Grand, Katy Macleod, Malcolm
Miles, Tracey Warr.

Thursday 13th November, 2.30pm ->

Stonehouse Lecture Theatre
Portland Square
University of Plymouth
UK

webcast http://www.digital-futures.net/

organised by i-DAT (Institute of Digital Arts and Technology) for its
postgraduate community and guests

"Literary intellectuals at one pole - at the other scientistsŠ between the
two a gulf of mutual incomprehension - sometimes hostility and dislike, but
most of all a lack of understanding. They have a curious distorted image of
each other. Their attitudes are so different that, even on the level of
emotion, they can't find much common ground."
(C.P. Snow, The Two Cultures, 1959:11-13)

In the last few years, it has become fashionable to try to bridge this
divide.  Rather than try to resolve these separations, this seminar aims to
investigate the contradictions inherent in practice-based research that
presents itself as interdisciplinary and that attempts to work across, or
between, the apparent (cultural) split between the arts and sciences? Might
the contradictions themselves be productive?

It is generally assumed that through research methods, new knowledge and
further understanding will emerge. What if these research methods employ
conflicting models or frameworks of 'knowing'?

schedule:
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14.30
short introduction (synthesis)
Geoff Cox (Science Technology Art Research, i-DAT, UoP)

14.40

interdisciplinary research from a science perspective:
Guido Bugmann (Reader in Intelligent Systems, UoP)
Steve Grand (Cyberlife Research Ltd)

15.10

interdisciplinary research from an arts perspective:
Katy Macleod (Critical Studies in Fine Art, UoP)
Malcolm Miles (Reader in Cultural Theory, UoP)

15.40
coffee break
16.00

interdisciplinary research in arts|science:
Peter Fend (Ocean Earth Development Corporation)
Tracey Warr (Arts & Cultural Management, Dartington College of Arts)

open discussion facilitated by Mike Phillips (Science Technology Art
Research, i-DAT, UoP)

ends approx. 17.30
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BIOGRAPHIES:

Guido Bugmann is Reader in Intelligent Systems in the School of Computing,
Communications and Electronics, at UoP. He studied Physics at the University
of Geneva in Switzerland, and later joined the Fundamental Research
Laboratories of NEC in Japan, and King's College, London. Most recently he
was holder of an EPSRC grant for investigating "Instruction-Based Learning
for Mobile Robots" (with the University of Edinburgh).

Peter Fend is currently an AHRB/ACE Research Fellow at i-DAT, UoP. He is the
Director of established the New York-based artists group, Ocean Earth
Development Corporation in 1980. Essential to Ocean Earth's working practice
is a collaborative and interdisciplinary process, working with shifting
collectives of artists, architects, engineers, and scientists to develop
projects that connect ecological imperatives with experimental new
technologies.

Steve Grand is an independent scientist/engineer, working on artificial life
and artificial intelligence. He is presently director of Cyberlife Research
Ltd., a small UK research consultancy. A committed autodidact and
interdisciplinary thinker, he has specific interests in computer science,
computational neuroscience, artificial life, electronics and robotics. He is
currently a NESTA Fellow and has honorary fellowships in psychology at
Cardiff University and biomimetics at Bath.

Katy Macleod coordinates the Critical Studies programme for the Fine Art
Course at UoP. She has 5 postgraduate students and has been researching in
the area of doctorates in Fine Art since 1996. A pilot study guide, 'The
Doctorate in Fine Art' (AHRB funded) and a book 'Thought Through Art' are
forthcoming publications.

Malcolm Miles is Reader in Cultural Theory, UoP. His current research areas
are the relation of environmentalism to contemporary visual culture, and the
uses of critical theory in contemporary urban discourses. Current
responsibilities are to undertake and publish research, supervise research
students, co-ordinate research student workshops on methodologies, and
contribute to the development of the subject's research culture.

Tracey Warr is Development Leader in Arts & Cultural Management at
Dartington College of Arts, and also a curator and writer specializing in
performance art and site based art. Her research interests include Body Art,
Land Art, and Consciousness.

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