political

WHO'S AFRAID OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH?

Lindsay — Sat, 03 May 2008 10:02:35 +0200

WHO IS AFRAID OF ARTISTIC RESEARCH?

Thursday 22nd May 2008 10am - 4.30pm
Dundee Contemporary Arts Seminar room

One-day symposium about the epistemology and context of practice-based research

Compared with the established epistemologies of the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences, the discourse surrounding practice-based research in art and design is relatively young and includes a range of diverse approaches. What practice-based research is or is not, is highly controversial. Does it mean that the researcher investigates his/her own (visual) practice, or rather, that visual practice is a means of investigation? Other questions arise in the context of 'normal science' and the knowledge economy: what are the goals of such research?, and what is the desired outcome? What are the connecting lines between art and science, between practice and theory?
And last but not least: why would an artist want to do 'research'?

Practice-based research can be understood as a process, evolving from and changing through the practice undertaken by the individual researcher. The challenge here is that research (still) can be undertaken in releative freedom. Entering the arena of ongoing discussion, negotiation and re-adjustment, and engaging in the discourse about methodology essentially contributes to constituting this freedom.

Speakers:
Laurence Rassel, artist/curator (constantvzw.org, Brussels) Simon Sheikh, curator/critic (Copenhagen, Malmö Art Academy) Dr. Dieter Lesage, philosopher (Berlin/ Erasmushogeschool Brussel) Prof. Nigel Johnson, artist/researcher (Dundee University)
Chair: Dr. Ken Neil, artist/researcher (Glasgow School of Art)

Screening:
A portrait of the artist as a worker (rmx.), Ina Wudtke, Berlin

Organised by: Lindsay Brown and Cornelia Sollfrank

For detailed information about the programme and the speakers, please visit the Visual Research Centre website at the address below.

The event is free, but advance booking is required: 01382-909900

Dundee Contemporary Arts · Nethergate 152 · Dundee DD1 4DX

Knowledge Transfer Conference Scotland

Lindsay — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:57:45 +0200

Knowledge Transfer Conference Scotland
St Andrews University
Friday the 4th April 2008

Part One

Knowledge Transfer (KT) involves the two-way flow of ideas, skills and people between the research and higher education community and wider users in Society in the public and private sectors.

As a researcher at Dundee University I was able to attend this conference, which was (surprisingly) free for all Scottish University staff and researchers to attend. I had not anticipated, perhaps naively so on my part, to be in the utmost minority as an arts researcher. To my luck, I was joined by another researcher from the same university and of the same level (year two), although this student was studying as part of a funded project in Molecular Biology.

Our concerns were similar in respect to our supervisory guidance, the pressures of timescale and our aspirations for the future which both included KT in respects of education and teaching. Our differences only became apparent however when commercialism of the University came up in our conversation. My concerns were with the individual researcher and how a University can expect excellence if accruing finance is its only motivation. Being part of a science department that was a ‘stem subject’, she had commercial thinking intrinsically woven into her mindset, one pressure of which was the need to produce a certain number of papers to assure the statistics of positive production. Not so ironically, the introduction to the first talk of the day came under the banner of Research and Commercialism.

The first three talks were a broad introduction to the policies governing research in Scottish Universities. The speakers included Roger McLure the Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, Prof. David Ganni the Director of Research for the Scottish Funding Council and Prof. Ian Sanderson Director of Corporate Analytical Services Directorate, from the Scottish Government. The talks at the outset were science heavy, the only mention of arts and humanities came in the form of a model of how the structure of research was split up ie. Social, Cultural and Commercial. The main crux of the talks were how Scotland could successfully translate Intellectual Property into other assets. The Scottish Government had allocated 1.7 billion to the Higher Education system which also included the college sector (to the dismay of some of the delegates). A whopping 23 million however, had been set aside for knowledge transfer.

At this point I started to wonder exactly what KT was in this commercialised notion of education. As a community arts worker KT happens naturally as part of my job. A translation occurs between my knowledge and how I pass that onto the young people or patients/residents that I work with and vice-versa. In my artistic life, audience in some form is intrinsically part of my practice that in turn informs future research; therefore KT occurs without question. In the commercial world of science and industry however, there has to be this explainable intermediary that is fundamentally accountable to the accounts, the KT coming in the form of patents and ‘interdisciplinary’ arrangements between science, engineers, universities and industry. KT in this sense then, is just another measurable asset that can justify the 23 million that is speculatively offered by the government. One way forward that was suggested in the solution to KT was the suggestion of the development of ‘effective structured networks’, something that I felt has already happened within the arts, humanities and community education sectors of institutions.

The Scottish Psyche was then quoted as having lack of ambition, the ethos of attaining excellence espoused by the ambassadors giving the talks directly in contradiction to this. The obvious route therefore was for universities to be encouraged to seek the best. To help attain this, the Scottish Executive had put aside 2.5 million for PG grant support. It was not stated in which sectors of the universities this support was given, but it was stated that this was for two students of excellence per university in Scotland. Even though Scotland’s alleged current psyche was held up as reason to push for excellence by obtaining research students useful to the economy, it was still apparent that the notion of a learned society was being touted by the resting of laurels on the Scottish Enlightenment of the 1700’s. This raised questions on the value of our education system, and how history and philosophical thought was being aligned with modern economics, an economics that ironically did not appear to take into consideration the equal supporting of the humanities in education.

At the end of the first session then, my concerns were with the future, and how far KT would start to be measured commercially. My thoughts were with basic education, hospitals and schools, and the one to one input that is sometimes necessary for the quality of life of certain individuals. This cannot be measured commercially. Does innovation always equal commercialisation and if so, where does artistic research fit into the overall business ethos of the university? The last question of the session came from a gentleman involved in the Biological Sciences, and was ‘If you espouse excellence, what concessions regarding support have you made for individual students in the research community?’. The answer was ‘Good question, we are not sure if we should put a policy into place for that, but maybe we should.’

As the fate of the individual student is now in the hands of the commercialised university, that is exactly the question that I wanted to ask.

Water Tower Antennae

Lindsay — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:39:47 +0200

This tower was on a council estate on the edge of a small town called Lanark in Scotland. The structure took me by surprise, the mobile phone antennae on top of the tower intriguing me as to what sort of frequency messages they might be encouraging the water to remember?!

However another point came to mind that perhaps those users more familiar with the technical side of antennae building and radio may be able to answer. As most concrete structures require a mesh support system of metal, would the internal structure of the water tower itself be acting as an antennae, and at what frequency would this water tower be vibrating or transmitting? I wonder what effect the water contained in the structure would have on the attenuation of EM energy passing through the tower?

Also, from a point raised in another project; in the commercial sell-off of parts of the EM Spectrum by Governments, also comes the selling-off of our rights not to receive radiation through our bodies in various circumstances. In the advent of smoke-free and noise-free zones, will there come a time when there will be EM-free zones, or will the invisible perhaps always remain so? I'm not so sure that I would drink water from this reservoir, would you?

Youth Club Opening Soon

Lindsay — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:06:35 +0100

Birthday Girl

Lindsay — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 15:33:16 +0100

A self-portrait I took on the 5th January. For obvious reasons I was quite disturbed by this image, as I was unintentionally wearing khaki with large boots, the desert quads in the background also looking quite military. The Egyptian gentlemen however seemed quite amused at this, they were perhaps used to seeing western tourists wrapped up in these Arab textiles, that they incidentally were selling to protect us from the desert sand.

Road to Cairo

Lindsay — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:08:03 +0100

I don't speak Arabic, but this sign caught my attention whilst on a bus journey between Suez and Cairo. According to an Egyptian friend, these signs appear at various points along routes, and is one of a number of variations reminding one of Allah. A modern totem of faith perhaps, and a good luck symbol for travel, much like the Christian version of St Christopher.

The Moon and the Church

Lindsay — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:36:57 +0200

Carbon Positive

Lindsay — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:40:51 +0200

Fife, since the Industrial Revolution has always been associated with heavy industry. The coal faces since the eighties have all but gone, some of them being built upon in recent years with private 'box' housing. This however is a wee jewel in the Kingdom's crown, a reminder that the hydrocarbon chain is alive and kicking. This is Mossmorran, Fife's Ethylene Plant, courtesy of ExxonMobil and Shell.

Fieldcraft: camouflage

Lindsay — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:38:31 +0200

Electromagnetic shielding paint and sign. Sept 2007.