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| |-- | |-|| | \ | | \ \ / / |___ | - | ||--- |___
| |-- | |_|| | | \ | \ \_/ / |---~ |---/ ||__|~ |---~
|____| |____| |_| \_| \ / |___| |_|\_\ |____| |___|
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3/ 4 March, 2002
A Symposium as part of Adelaide Festival 2002
Register online: http://www.adelaidefestival.org.au/2002/bookticket.asp?ID=29
***conVerge***
To coincide with the exhibition 2002 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art -
conVerge: where art and science meet - the Adelaide Festival 2002 will convene
a two-day symposium exploring relationships between the arts and sciences in the
context of sustainable futures.
Many artists currently exploring scientific, technological and cultural
developments of the 21st Century are engaged in a critical debate. This is a
discourse suffused and indeed inspired by complex sociological and political
issues and these creative disciplines, areas of cultural practice often
understood to be at odds with one another, must engage if we are to understand
our future and the roles of creative individuals within it.
This symposium has been developed to complement the 2002 Adelaide Biennial of
Australian Art, an exhibition of work by Australian artists exploring these
areas of debate to be staged by the Art Gallery of South Australia during the
Adelaide Festival 2002. The intention of the symposium is to broaden dialogue,
generate ideas and raise awareness of the contributions both artists and
scientists can make to the larger challenges of our time.
Nationally and internationally significant artists, scientists and thinkers will
come together to create an open site for audiences to engage with this debate -
to become participants in the development of ideas rather than a merely passive
audience. The symposium will encompass presentations, performances, workshops
and panel discussions.
The project will provide a research environment, as it were, where the public
may see, experience and contribute to a range of ideas and media at play.
'Both scientists and artists have a special gift for us, if they can only bring
themselves to share it. Both groups live always at the 'edge of mystery'- the
boundary of the unknown'
Robert Oppenheimer
Who should attend?
Science communicators
Scientists
Research and Development practitioners
Artists
Representatives of local, state and federal governments
Politicians and public administrators
Academics
Community workers
Private and public sector
What you'll take away from the Symposium?
Challenging ideas from different vantage-points, imaginative encounters across
disciplinary barriers, interconnecting different disciplines and life-worlds.
SUNDAY 3 MARCH
**Partnerships**
Australian artists engaging with science practices, issues and themes within a
variety of environments have created collaborations with individual scientists,
science research organisations and industry.
In turn, "'big science' is turning to human creativity for help. Major research
bodies such as CSIRO and those within corporations such as Xerox are calling in
artists to work collaboratively with their scientists in pushing back boundaries
of technological development." (Quiddington).
What happens at the points of intersection between these two various
disciplines? How might this contribute to the development of an expanded and
more supple creativity in social development? What are some of the issues
inhibiting cross-disciplinary exchange?
**Bioeconomics**
As we enter the 21st Century, key issues that face our economy that confront
economic development are shifting away from those of the late-Industrial Age
towards an era in which life-sciences and biotechnology are fashioning a
bio-industrial world. Public awareness and broad-ranging debate on the
implications of these trends are crucial to any realisation of the promised
benefits of biotechnology.
**Genomics**
Management of genetic information is a key issue currently facing human society.
Recombinant genetics is one of the most dramatic technological developments/new
phenomena to date in the area of biotechnology. New techniques for identifying
and manipulating genes are the first strand in what Jeremy Rifkin describes as
'the new operational matrix of the Biotech Century'. While the motivation behind
genetic engineering is age-old, the technology itself represents something
qualitatively new. To understand why this is the case, we must appreciate the
distinction between traditional tinkering with biological organisms and the
mutational potential of current genetic engineering.
MONDAY 4 MARCH
**Image and Meaning**
This session will explore concepts of scientific visualisation and
representation, the ever more complex relationships between different semantic
systems (collusions and collisions of meaning between images, signs, texts), the
use of scientific language, science communication, graphical representation of
numerical data inter alia.
**Knowledge Systems**
Is science universal? Value the contribution of other cultures and
philosophical models towards this body of knowledge we call science towards the
instrumental ordering of our collective
knowledge about the world and nature's functioning. Examine interconnected
relationships between people, species, natural systems and culture as a means of
understanding our world. Does science define itself or is it socially contingent
and culturally embedded. Who own this scientific truth[s]?
**Ecology**
In order to explore sustainable futures, artists and scientists alike are
turning to the environment and the impact that we have had on nature and the
world around us. Understanding our dependency upon the world in which is key to
how we relate to our environment and how we preserve its diversity.
**Plenary session**
Speakers So Far
International
Critical Art Ensemble, a collective of artists of various specialisation
dedicated to exploring the intersections between art, technology, radical
politics and critical theory, USA
Adam Zaretsky, artists and professor of Conceptual and Information Arts, San
Francisco State University, currently Honorary Researcher in the School of
Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia. USA
Nina Czegledy, independent media artist, curator and writer, who divides her
time between Canada and Europe. She is also President of ISEA (International
Society for Electronic Arts) (Nina's visit is supported by the Australian
Network for Art and Technology)
Ren
