Talkshops. SHARED CAMPUS PhD Community

Description

Tobias Klein (School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong) and Basia Sliwinska (Art History Institute, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal) are inaugurating a new SHARED CAMPUS initiative embedded within the Social Transformation theme group. It is called TALKSHOPS, which are imagined as a series of online (Zoom) gatherings curated and chaired by us and led by PhD Stundets from across the Shared Campus community.

TALKSHOPS aim at intriguing participants from inter- and cross-disciplinary backgrounds where social transformation within art&design forms an umbrella for the exchange of ideas. We hope this initiative offers a meaningful platform for peer feedback and support.

The Talkshops are grounded in the practising of social justice, which we believe is foundational to pedagogy rooted in critical thinking. This fosters conditions for social transformation through encouraging learners as agentic political subjects and motivating them to struggle in the interest of more just, free and equal society. In Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom (1994) bell hooks argues for a critical pedagogy that speaks to lived experiences ofvperipheral and marginalised groups, which is generative of authentic knowledge(s). hooks’ vision is at the core of talkshops departing from hook’s vision of education as the ‘practice of freedom’.

Dates 2024

• TALKSHOP #1: 17 May 2024
• TALKSHOP #2: 29 July 2024
• TALKSHOP #3: September 2024 *
• TALKSHOP #4: October 2024 *
• TALKSHOP #5: November 2024 *

* exact dates tbc soon; more details to follow

Talkshop#1

Expanding Sensoria

Facilitator

Tully Arnot

Date

17 May 2024

Time

10:00am GMT

Corresponding: 11:00am London / 12pm Zurich / 6pm Hong Kong, Sigapore, Taipei / 7pm Tokyo time

About the Facilitator

Tully Arnot’s interdisciplinary practice explores models of plant-based multisensory perception as well as how technology mediates our relationships with the natural world, through areas including plant robotics and the simulation of nature. As an educator, Tully has specialised in Audio Description and creative workshops for people who are blind or have low vision, as well as programs for neurodivergent audiences, with a focus on creative use of technology. Arnot is a current PhD Fellow at the School of Creative Media, with Professor Zheng Bo.

Access

PhD students from across Shared Campus are invited to join – each Talkshop is limited to host a maximum of 15 partners in dialogue to enable a vibrant exchange of ideas and a collegial environment.
Please note that students from Shared Campus Full Partners and Social Transformation theme partners are given preference for activities organised by the Social Transformation theme group,

To book your place please sign up using this Google Form.

Zoom (link will be sent to the first 15 persons who sign up)

Talkshop#2

The Similarity/Difference Conundrum. Artistic and scientific experiments in trans- and undisciplinary research

Facilitator

Janina HOTH (jhoth2-c@my.cityu.edu.hk)

Date

29 July 2024

Time

10:00am GMT

Corresponding: 11:00am London / 12pm Zurich / 6pm Hong Kong, Sigapore, Taipei / 7pm Tokyo time

Description

In the field of art, science, and technology, the relations between artistic thinking and scientific research are heavily debated. Should the fields be (re)united or are they ontologically separated? We will address this conundrum of similar and yet different structures in/between art-science by looking into day-to-day research practices of artists and scientists.

Thought experiments, analogical thinking, trial-and-error are standard methods in scientific research. They are also common practices for artists. Intuition, emotions, and personal beliefs, too, guide and structure how we conduct research on both sides. But there are significant differences: whereas scientists tend to search for a solution to a clearly defined problem, artists experiment to pose questions, deconstruct concepts, and explore “‘the possible’ in the sense of what is merely conceivable, the idea that all things can be perceived and conceived differently.” (Moldering, 2010, p. xv).

In the talkshop, we will discuss and explore these similarities and differences between artistic and scientific practices. By discussing experiments across art-science, the relation between the fields finds a new common ground. We move away from questions of e.g., a (re)union of the two cultures or divides in the historical constructs of objectivity/subjectivity. Instead, we will go deeper into which connections can be found and which differences exist as a delineation between art/science. Art-science research is considered as a trans- and undisciplinary field for exploratory and experimental research.

The talkshop can be a form of self-reflection on our own research. It can also be starting point for researchers who are interested in art-science. It is directed at emerging artists, makers, curators, scientists, and anyone else interested in the relationship between art, science, and technology. You are welcome to share and discuss your own interdisciplinary practice whether you are already working in art-science or are still forming your practice therein.

About the Facilitator

Janina writes her PhD on collaborative practices in art, science, and technology (RGC-funded scholarship at the School of Creative Media, CityU Hong Kong). She investigates art-science as social-epistemic practice and questions how knowledge transfer happens within and outside of research environments.

Prior to her PhD, she was a research associate at the Department for Image Science, Danube University Krems where she co-developed Digital Humanities projects and digital exhibitions as co-editor of the Archive of Digital Art. She lives and works in Hong Kong and Vienna, Austria. www.joth.me

Text to read before the talkshop

Ambrosio, C. (2014). Objectivity and Visual Practices in Science and Art. In New Directions in the Philosophy of Science (pp. 353–368). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04382-1_24

Access

PhD students from across Shared Campus are invited to join – each Talkshop is limited to host a maximum of 15 partners in dialogue to enable a vibrant exchange of ideas and a collegial environment.
Please note that students from Shared Campus Full Partners and Social Transformation theme partners are given preference for activities organised by the Social Transformation theme group.

To book your place please sign up using this Google Form.