Leonardo Education Forum
College Art Association Annual Conference
New York City 2007
Thursday, February 15, 12:30 PM–2:00 PM
West Ballroom, 3rd Floor, Hilton New York
Thinking versus Making:
pedagogy and practice across art, science, and technology
One of the challenges that has always confronted artists is figuring out how to develop a successful formal realization of a concept, in other words, how to bridge the gap between thinking and making. This dilemma is particularly problematic for creative work at the interface of art, science, and technology, which must satisfy multiple sets of criteria that may be at odds with each other. In science, for example, a great deal of emphasis is placed on internal consistency (forming hypotheses, building models, comparison, confirmation, etc). The arts, by contrast, have their own criteria for evaluating their conceptual and formal realization, which, are arguably equally demanding, although they are not as systematically defined.
How can interdisciplinary practitioners fulfill the requirements of science and engineering, while simultaneously producing works of art that succeed in satisfying aesthetic criteria? What projects have been successful both scientifically and artistically and can serve as examples of best practices, methods, and processes for addressing these challenges? How can mentors help students and early career professionals develop integrative behaviors and apply them to hybrid research? What emerging forms of curricula might support more transdisciplinary training? This mentoring session for students and emerging professionals will focus on specific strategies in these areas. A panel composed of three individuals who have successfully negotiated this landscape will kick off smaller group sessions of discussion and questions.
Session Chair: Gabriel Harp [University of Michigan]
LEF Student Co-Chairs Mariah Klaneski and Josh Levy
LEF Chairs Andrea Polli, Eddie Shanken, and Amy Ione
Amanda McDonald Crowley [Eyebeam] brings a substantial and international background in media arts, having worked nationally and throughout Europe and Asia as an arts producer, facilitator, researcher and curator. She served as the Executive Producer of the 2004 International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA2004), developing the event from concept to major conferences, exhibitions, performances, concerts and site-specific installations on a ferry in the Baltic Sea and locations in Estonia and Finland. In 2002-03 she was an arts worker in residency at Sarai: the New Media Initiative in Delhi, India and was Associate Director for Adelaide Festival 2002. From 1995 to 2000 McDonald Crowley was Director of the Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT), an organization with a national brief to foster links between the arts, sciences and new technology.
Richard Pell [Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute] is a founding member of the highly acclaimed art and engineering collective, the Institute for Applied Autonomy. His work with IAA includes several robotic, web and biologically based projects that call into question the imperatives that drive technological development. IAA projects such as the robotic GraffitiWriter, iSee and TXTmob have been exhibited in art, activist and engineering contexts such as the ZKM in Karlsruhe, Mass MoCA, CAC in Cincinnati, Australian Center for the Moving Image, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Hackers On Planet Earth and the International Conference On Robotics And Automation. IAA projects have been chosen for an Award of Distinction and two Honorable Mentions at the Prix-Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria and were recently selected for RES Magazine’s “10 Best New Artists of 2005”.
Edward A. Shanken [Savannah College of Art and Design] is Professor of Art History and Media Theory. He edited a collection of essays by Roy Ascott, entitled Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology and Consciousness (University of California Press, 2003). His essay, Art in the Information Age: Technology and Conceptual Art received honorable mention in the Leonardo Award for Excellence in 2004. He recently edited a special series for Leonardo on the topic, Artists in Industry and the Academy: Interdisciplinary Research Collaborations. Dr. Shanken earned his Ph.D in Art History from Duke (2001) and his MBA from Yale (1990). He has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Council of Learned Societies. He serves as an advisor to the REFRESH! conference, the journal Technoetic Arts, and the Leonardo Pioneers and Pathbreakers.
