empyre: critical perspectives on contemporary cross-disciplinary issues, practices and events in networked media
"-empyre- facilitates critical perspectives on contemporary cross-disciplinary issues, practices and events in networked media by inviting guests -key new media artists, curators, theorists, producers and others to participate in thematic discussions.
-empyre- is an Australian based global community which preserves its autonomy as a non-hierarchical collaborative entity by engaging with new content on a monthly basis. The list was instigated by Melinda Rackham (AU) in 2002. The community grew exponentially and within the first year Adrian Miles (AU) and Rebecca Cannon (AU) joined briefly as facilitators. Long-term facilitators Christina McPhee (USA) and Michael Arnold Mages (USA) were invited to the -empyre- curatorium soon after, and during the next years they were joined by Jim Andrews (CA)and Felix Sattler (AU/GER). In 2005 Tracey Meziane (AU) and Marcus Bastos (BR) joined the team, and in 2006 and 2007 it was extended with Sérgio Basbaum (BR), Nicholas Ruiz III (USA), Renate Ferro (USA) and Tim Murray (USA). To find out more go to who is -empyre-"
(Melinda Rackham)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Eighth International Conference on the Arts in Society
Eighth International Conference on the Arts in Society, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary, 24-26 June 2013
"The purpose of the annual Arts Conference is to create an intellectual platform for the arts and arts practices, and to create an interdisciplinary conversation on the role of the arts in society. It is intended as a place for critical engagement, examination and experimentation of ideas that connect the arts to their contexts in the world – on stage, in studios and theaters, in classrooms, in museums and galleries, on the streets and in communities.
Its scope is deliberately broad and ambitious. Our times demand nothing less than cross-disciplinary and holistic approaches. The breadth of the Conference and its accompanying Journal, however, are without prejudice to finely grained discussion of the specific, the local and the grounded practices.
The Conference provides a venue and a framework for the arts and art practices that are situated within the context of international art expositions, festivals and biennials engaged with the international production of art and its global distribution networks. This Conference aims to discover what values, instincts and common ground may exist within the arts and their practices and sites of reception around the world. Your participation shapes the Conference itself.
We are inviting proposals for paper presentations, workshops/interactive sessions, posters/exhibits, or colloquia (See Proposal Types). Virtual participation is available for those who are unable to attend the conference in person. Proposal ideas that extend beyond these thematic areas will also be considered.For more information about the ideas and themes underlying this community, see Our Focus."
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication: contextual studies, and enterprise and entrepreneurship
"The adaptability necessary to succeed as a design or media specialist comes not only from deep disciplinary knowledge. Graduates also need a breadth of knowledge and skills which some commentators have referred to as being 'T-Shaped'. These additional skills include the ability to work with and increasingly work across disciplines, entrepreneurial attitudes and a knowledge of the business contexts in which they will operate. All undergraduate Ravensbourne programmes incorporate curriculum and learning activities designed to develop these skills in our students. Cross-disciplinary collaborative projects offer students the opportunity to work in teams with other disciplines.
The course structure draws on the creative synergies and frictions of the different disciplines at Ravensbourne and provides physical and intellectual opportunities for students to meet, learn and work together with students from different disciplines."
(Ravensbourne, UK)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Managing interdisciplinarity: a discussion of the contextual review in design research
"Although the debate about disciplinary status has not interrupted the production of innovative design research, as a relatively recent member of academia's 'tribes and territories' (Becher 1989) design is still establishing its disciplinary characteristics as a general research field and a set of specialist sub-fields. There is, for instance, some debate about whether design scholarship should include creative practice and reflection (for a sample of contrasting positions see Bayazit 2004; Downton 2001; Durling 2002; Roth 1999). Since a majority of design issues originate in everyday life individual design research questions are unlikely to fit specific disciplinary boundaries, the idea that design research definitively engages with multiple fields and literatures being widely acknowledged (Poggenpohl et al 2004). These considerations have contributed to the debate as to whether design research should conform to established models from the sciences and humanities or develop its own integral approaches. We suggest, however, that a greater focus on design's applied nature and inherent interdisciplinarity could profitably overtake the quest for disciplinary clarity."
(Carolyn Barnes and Gavin Melles, 2007)
1). Proceedings of 'Emerging Trends in Design Research', the International Association of Societies of Design Research (IASDR) Conference, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 12-15 November 2007
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Towards a Performative Aesthetics of Interactivity
"I identify a two-decade period - roughly speaking 1985-2005 - as the pioneering experimental period of (computer based) interactive art. Crucial to the understanding of work in this period is the blindingly rapid development of the technological context. At the beginning of the period the graphical user interface was a novelty, the internet barely existed, the web was a decade away, interactivity was an intriguing concept. The production of acceptably high resolution illusionistic digital pictures (still frames) was an active research area and a megabyte of RAM was something luxurious.
The period neatly brackets the emergence of most of the major technological milestones which now undergird digital culture and ubiquitous computing: WYSIWYG, digital multimedia, hypermedia, virtual reality, the internet, the world wide web, digital video, real-time graphics, digital 3D, mobile telephony, GPS, Bluetooth and other mobile and wireless communication systems. It was a period of rapid technological change, euphoria and hype."
(Simon Penny, 2011)
Simon Penny (2011). "Towards a Performative Aesthetics of Interactivity", Fibreculture Journal, issue 19 2011: Ubiquity.
Fig.1 Sniff and Performative Ecologies were included in Emergence, a show of Artificial Life Art curated by Simon Penny and David Familian at the Beall Center for Art and Technology, University of California Irvine, December 2009 – April 2010. Regrettably Performative Ecologies did not function as designed during the exhibition.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
