Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] STEM to STEAM: knowledge, inconsistencies and risks

In response to Julie and Marco's response, coming to you from Ayr in SW
Scotland

I was introduced to Basarab Nicolescu's ideas on multi- inter-
trans-disciplinarity by David Haley. I find them useful because they
allow for benefits in different configurations. As I understand it he
argues that multi-disciplinarity is when people work together to exclude
the gaps (eg in a hospital where surgeons, nurses and cleaning staff all
aim to provide a safe bug free environment - there is mutual
understanding for a purpose. Inter-disciplinarity involves the exchange
of methods and understandings (you can see this is not part of the
hospital example). Eventually this leads to new hybrid disciplines.
Trandisciplinary is something different again and I think of it
personally as starting from the context and draws disciplines in based
on the context. It also perhaps assumes that the inhabitant's knowledge
is valid and equal (post-colonial?).

I think this can begin to address Julie's point about language. Whilst
dictionaries and translation are obviously vital, it does depend on what
sort of activity is aimed at, what sort of position is sought (and the
time available - more time can equal more mutual understanding).

Interestingly I'd like to challenge Marco on his statement (which I'm
paraphrasing) , 'artists don't have hypotheses and scientists don't have
aesthetics'. I think conceptual art and much post-conceptual art is
hypothesis driven. I think all ecoart is hypothesis driven, admittedly
not exactly in scientifically rigorous terms - and that is a good thing
- artists can hypothesise in ways that scientists are excluded from -
the Harrisons talk about precisely this in relation to the Mountain in
the Greenhouse where they extrapolated the consequences of temperature
rise beyond where the scientists could.

I can't speak for scientists and aesthetics...

In the end STEM to STEAM has to be about acknowledging the need for
multiple perspectives plain and simple. There was a gut wrenching piece
of radio yesterday on the BBC. It was exploring how Australian First
Nation People unable to tell their stories or be listened to in any
conventional way adopted Country and Western music. Obviously most of
what they were singing was pretty conventional C&W about love and stuff,
but we heard one piece about dying and suicide in prison which was just
terrifying. Ways of understanding the world are what make us human, and
suppressing them is catastrophic.

Chris
On 20/12/2016 21:40, Julia Buntaine wrote:
> In response to Marco's post -
>
> There are a few problems which I'm constantly trying to grapple with - let
> me preface this by saying that I went to a college (Hampshire College)
> where you design your own curriculum and are only evaluated, not graded. In
> most cases, every student has a cross-disciplinary education and graduates
> knowing the LANGUAGE of multiple disciplines. Which brings me to my first
> point, something many in this group have probably already discussed:
>
> 1. How do we get over the language problem? Even if (and they are) art and
> science are compatible, their specialization has led to unique language (or
> not unique, but with different meanings).
>
> Should we devise a list of words, from each STEAM discipline, that everyone
> 'should' know the definition of? Is this even possible? I'm going to do
> this for my upcoming STEAM course at Rutgers, I will be happy to share the
> results with anyone interested (julia.buntaine@gmail.com).
>
> and I think Marco's point about being weary is critical - specialization of
> disciplines has led to crucial advancements in the fields, and we cannot
> let the fields dilute one another, only enhance. So where is this line, and
> who draws it? Is there an overarching guide to be found, or need it be on a
> case by case basis always?
>
> and -
>
> 2. How can we get STEM to value art beyond the "invite the artist in to
> paint the rocket" scenario?
>
> I think this lies in emphasizing that all fields in STEAM rely on
> creativity as their foundation. Recognizing this may lead to more evolved
> viewpoints from each of the S T E A M for one another.
>
> *Julia Buntaine*
> *Neuroscience-based art: www.JuliaBuntaine.com
> <http://www.juliabuntaine.com>*
>
> *Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers UniversityDirector at SciArt Center
> <http://www.sciartcenter.org>*
> *Editor-in-Chief of SciArt Magazine <http://www.sciartmagazine.com>*
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 3:21 PM, Marco Donnarumma <lists@marcodonnarumma.com
>> wrote:
>> Dear Yasminers, and all involved in the discussion,
>>
>> Thanks for launching and contribute to this discussion. I'll skip the info
>> about me, for Roger was so kind to forward my previous email which included
>> links etc. Here I'd like to follow up on a couple of points which emerged
>> so far.
>>
>> While we may all agree that art and science contribute to create knowledge,
>> it is important to recognize that they contribute to *different kinds* of
>> knowledge.
>> Roger (2006) wrote one of my favourite quotes in this regard: 'Most science
>> is normative and need make no appeal to extra disciplinary sources for its
>> advancement'. The kind of knowledge an artist is interested and invested in
>> is different from the one a scientist is concerned and work for. It is, of
>> course, a matter of methodologies, history of practices, contexts and,
>> perhaps more importantly, questions, which originate in and evolve through
>> different means: artistic aesthetic and scientific hypothesis. An artist
>> does not need a hypothesis to make a good artwork, in the same way as a
>> scientist does not need an aesthetic to make good science.
>>
>> Thus, crucially, we should be wary of the re-staging of normative science
>> in artistic endeavour, as well as the functional uses of art to enhance
>> scientific or technological productivity; art & science is about 'working
>> outside current paradigms, taking conceptual risks', citing Roger again.
>> The unique possibility available to us today is that we can merge
>> disciplines towards new practices of experimentation. This, however, has to
>> be done mindfully, for it will likely result in contrasts and
>> dissimilarities which are not easily defended and sometimes must be taken
>> for what they are: inconsistencies. This is, after all, one of the aspects
>> that contributes to the richness of art and science practice itself.
>>
>> Importantly, this does not signify an incompatibility between art and
>> science; rather, it indicates an intrinsic complementarity, which we may
>> trace back decades and centuries ago. Art & science, it was already hinted
>> at, is nothing new. Through deeply transdisciplinary approaches, especially
>> in education, such complementarity can be fully investigated, leveraged and
>> developed further.
>> This mode of transdisciplinarity, what Roger calls 'deep art-science
>> coupling', requires the artist-researcher to have an in-depth knowledge of
>> all the fields being engaged with. This is necessary to highlight
>> contrasts, exploit complementary aspects and generate connections among
>> science, art and theory.
>>
>> To conclude, what I find exciting today is that we (artists and scientists)
>> have the overt possibility to formulate questions *together*; sometimes we
>> even get money to do explicitly so. Being a practitioner artist with a
>> scientific or transdisciplinary degree is less rare today than it was a few
>> decades ago, but more importantly, we get more easily to sit together
>> around the same table. So the issues become: Assuming that art and science
>> work through and for different kinds of knowledge, how do we go about
>> asking questions? How do we combine our methodologies in ways which are, at
>> once, non-exclusive, respectful and risky?
>>
>>
>> Malina, R.
>> 2006. Welcoming Uncertainty: The strong case for coupling the contemporary
>> arts to science and technology. In Artists-in-labs : Process of Inquiry, J.
>> Scott, ed., P. 15. Wien: Springer
>>
>>
>> --
>> Marco Donnarumma, Ph.D.
>> *Performing bodies, sound and machines*
>> http://marcodonnarumma.com
>>
>> Research Fellow at Universität der Künste Berlin
>>
>> *Human-Machine Configurations (2016-18)*
>> https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/research/graduate-school/
>> fellows/marco-donnarumma/
>>
>> Studio
>> Einsteinufer 43, Raum 212
>> 10587 Berlin, DE
>> m: +4915221080444
>> 4w33534643646
>> --
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--
Chris Fremantle
Independent Producer and Researcher

chris@fremantle.org
+44 (0)7714203016

http://chris.fremantle.org
http://ecoartscotland.net
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrisfremantle/
http://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-5818-8208
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Fremantle2

Producer on LAGI Glasgow http://www.landartgenerator.org/glasgow

Producer for Wide Open
All Our Stories Art and Therapeutic Design Strategy for NHS Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Nil by Mouth: Food, Farming, Science and Sustainability
http://creativefutureshq.com/projects/nil-by-mouth-food-farming-science-and-sustainability/

Producer for Ginkgo Projects
Therapeutic Design and Art Strategy, New South Glasgow Hospitals
http://www.ginkgoprojects.co.uk/projects/new-south-glasgow-hospitals

Producer on SITED+ Programme - researching sited work in Scotland
http://www.sited.info

Senior Research Fellow/Co-I for Design in Action
Co-Investigator on Design in Action http://www.designinaction.com
Co-Investigator on Cultural Leadership and the place of the artist https://ontheedgeresearch.org/category/leadership/
http://graysartschoolaberdeen.com
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