I don¹t think the problem is with art and other disciplines getting together. Nor do I think it is with research. There is nothing intrinsically at fault with any of these activities or how they can be undertaken in various combinations. They can be hugely beneficial to one another. If you are constantly looking for new methods of making and disseminating art, of how art can exist and people constitute themselves around it, then mixing things up is default. That is how new ways of seeing and being are uncovered.
The problem is when the things that makes these activities personally and collectively rewarding are expected to fulfil other forms of utlility. Montserrat is right in her analysis that those who hold the purse strings expect a return on their investment. Whether that money comes from academic or cultural funding agencies doesn¹t matter. It is all government money and these days governments, in their desire to constantly show value to others (the electorate, industry, etc), instrumentalise everything they touch. This has a bad effect on art and science (both are creative activities with similar requirements). Neither are industries. They are not means of production that can be assimilated into that economic model. The commercial art market offers no succour either. That is a world where novelty, rarity and authenticity have been fetishised and commodified to the point of obscenity. In that environment shit smells sweet. Artists have to make choices, just like anybody else. You can starve, take government money or sell-out. What are the other currently available options? I can think of some which exist in very specific contexts (gift economies in small tribal contexts) but without changing the whole global economic model I don¹t see anything viable. I also do not think the world is going to change at least, not through good intentions. Sorry to be so down. I¹m not really. I¹m in Berlin setting up a show and quite happy. It is one of my favourite cities, even though it has changed horribly over the past twenty years. Nevertheless, whilst Berlin has been profoundly damaged by corporate and governmental pressures it is better off as a real city, open and evolving, than in its prior existence in a netherworld created by some of the more absurd geo-political dynamics of the Cold War. Regards Simon Simon Biggs Research Professor edinburgh college of art [email protected] www.eca.ac.uk www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ [email protected] www.littlepig.org.uk AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk From: Pall Thayer <[email protected]> Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:21:48 +0000 To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Internet of Things....ResearchOpportunitiesonEPSRC funded Project] > unlikely outcomes of uncertain value. It is just that the way academic > research is funded there is this pressure to prove the economic and social > value of the probable outcomes well in advance of them coming into being. This is exactly the problem I have with the "art practice as formal research" trend. It's great that this has opened new avenues for art funding but at what price? I fear that this is going to produce a lot of boring art that probably sounded interesting on paper but is missing the spontaneity that makes some artwork really leap out and grab you. Too precisely calculated. Art should, at the very least, have strong elements of spur-of-the-moment whim to highlight that violent tumultuousness that is unbridled "Creativity" (with a capital C). The "academic research" approach is always going to involve major compromises. The magic happens when just dive in. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions and fine tune concepts later. Hmm... how about a research project that examines the effects of academic institutionalisation on creativity? best r. Pall > These pressures function to pervert what research is all about > (finding/creating things you didn't know you might find/create). How can you > know the value of something that doesn't exist yet? Why does everything have > to have a value? Many artists and scientists prefer not to be concerned with > these things. Such considerations are imposed upon them. > > Regards > > Simon > > Simon Biggs > Research Professor > edinburgh college of art > [email protected] > www.eca.ac.uk > www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ > > [email protected] > www.littlepig.org.uk > AIM/Skype: simonbiggsuk > > > ________________________________ > From: james morris <[email protected]> > Reply-To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity > <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:26:29 +0100 (BST) > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] Internet of > Things....ResearchOpportunitiesonEPSRC funded Project] > > > On 25/6/2009, "Simon Biggs" <[email protected]> wrote: > >>recorded and all original material retained for peer assessment. This is >> not >>foolproof (there are plenty of examples of poor science around) but nobody >>has proposed a better system yet. It is unusual for artistic work to be >>undertaken in this context but not novel. Otherâ*Ts have done it. It often >>leads to surprising outcomes, especially for the scientists. > > > > I'm interested to know what the nature of the surprising outcomes are > for scientists? (Are the artists less surprised by the outcomes?) > > > > http://www.principlesofnature.net/gallery_of_selected_art_works/the_discreteness _of_infinity_art_science_parallels.htm > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2008/sep/02/darwinscano py > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number > SC009201 > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > -- ***************************** Pall Thayer artist http://www.this.is/pallit ***************************** _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour Edinburgh College of Art (eca) is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC009201
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