Artists and designers play a key role in interpreting and expressing scientific phenomenon and meaning. Much of my generative research, curatorial and teaching practice is focused on conceptualizing, designing, and facilitating pioneering research, curatorial and learning initiatives at the intersections of art, science and technology. As an educator, I am working to promote art + science learning partnerships between K-12, higher education, and bioscience research arenas while broadly engaging community. The SEP Residency has given me a great opportunity to further develop curriculum aimed at the intersections of arts and science.
Currently as Assistant Professor in Design (Art, Design, Film + Media) at Cornish College of the Arts, I am working with design students across disciplines to address complex integrated design challenges and steward their development of theoretical, research driven capstone projects. The mission at Cornish is to nurture creativity and intellectual curiosity, while preparing students to contribute to society as artists, citizens, and innovators. At present, Cornish is in the midst transforming their curriculum across disciplines, to create more integrated learning models.
In my new capacity at Resident Research Fellow: Creative Corridor, I am working with my colleagues to develop coursework that explores the role of artist and designer in scientific inquiry and that creates access and opportunity to apply art and design thinking to communicating and expressing discoveries and challenges in molecular biology, genetics and nanotechnology. Public Scholarship is academic and creative work that connects the classroom to academia/lab to public sphere. Learning opportunities like these are being further developed at Cornish through the Creative Corridor, a comprehensive offering of college electives that address interdisciplinary options, skill based learning, inquiry based practice and workshops, research-led teaching, collaborative and community work though the Creative Corridor at Cornish. Below are some of the courses that are in development:
In my Genes: Bioart and Ethics at the Frontiers of the Genomic Revolution (being developed by Renee Agatsuma). A number of contemporary visual and performing artists have referenced genomic information and research in their practice. As gene sequencing becomes more and more affordable, information gleaned from our genes will have an increasing impact on our society. Genetics has been implied in forensics, ancestry, athleticism, disease-risk, medications, race, and personality traits. This course explores the potential benefits and risks of the knowledge derived from genetics. It will help give you the background to produce artistic pieces, and critically evaluate how genomic information is used in society, as well as view and respond to work of artists that are exploring these issues.
1. Background of genetics and use of genomic information in healthcare and ancestry background on genomics with a focus on complex disease and epigenetics. We will briefly mention classic Mendelian diseases and provide an introduction to populations in a genetic sense. This part of the module will give you enough information about genomics through direct instruction, seminars, and activities so that you will be able to understand some of the ethical, legal, and social issues involved in genomic research.
2. Collaborations between artists and geneticists – what art has been produced?
There have been a number of artists that have worked in the field investigating genomics. We will be looking at the work of various artists that have used genomics as an influence, including: Geraldine Ondrizek, Ginny Ruffner, Eduardo Kac, Liz Lehrman, Heather Dewey-Hagbourg, and Hunter Cole. You will also conduct interviews of local scientists or have participated in a seminar or some other way of thinking across cultures.
3. Bioethical critiques of art and science
A number of art historians and scientists have critiqued some of the artistic work produced. We will review these critiques, and they will be used as a background for the artistic work that you will produce.
VR Therapy: Exploring Therapeutic Modalities through Immersive Virtual Experience
The development of this course would draft off of the momentum already created by artist, technologists, others interested in exporing the realms of VR. Cornish Designers did a project with Fred Hutch exploring therapeutic modalities for bur victims…so we will develop this partnership further. Cornish is already home to the Seattle VR Meetup and soon to be the base for the Seattle VR Hackathon.
Applied Comics & Scientific Illustration: Invisible Illness
Comic novelist, Ellen Forney, is interested in the power of the graphic comic form in communicating difficult topics such as mental illness, auto immune disorders, genetics, etc... Her intensely personal and visually dynamic graphic memoir, Marbles, provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder. Students will choose an health related issue or question that they will research and develop into a comic novel form addressing the challenges of their specific topic.
Impact and Implications: 100K Wellness Project and the Quantified Self … This class will explore research based methods...The Body as Data Generator, Wellness, Big Data, Wearables, Genomics and Epigenoics. Huge shifts in Health and Wellness include: bringing engineering to biology, the impact of the Human genome project, corssdisciplinary and systems biology and precision medicine...all having a huge impact on our own ability to measure our own health data...and impact our wellness.
Research and Creative Practice at the Frontiers of BioMedical Research
This course explores molecular and biomedical sciences as they relate to art and design practice. It introduces art + scientific collaboration and the expanded role of artists and designers in scientific inquiry and biomedical interpretation, expression and communication. Research based scientific and creative methods and “long thinking” will activated through this interdepartmental course. Emphasis will be on creative work with the potential for high social impact.
Wearable Technology: New Realms in Design Research: Inquiry, Research and Creative Practice at the Frontiers of BioMedical Sciences Beginning discussions with Asta Roseway, Principal Research Designer at Microsoft Research, who also leads their Artists in Residence Program. Asta works as a research designer in emerging technologies pertaining to Human Computer Interaction, Affective Computing, and Wearables. She has deep roots in virtual reality as a world designer and continues to explore intersections between public and private displays of wearable data, but more specifically focuses on experiences within the health, and wellness sector. Asta is one of the co-founders of studio99, a Microsoft Research effort designed to bring Art and Technology practices closer together. We have ignited a partnership with MSR and Studio 99...and she is interested in possibly developing an offering for the Creative Corridor that would introduce the possibilities of Wearable Technology as they relate to uses in design, art, performance, performance production.
Wildlife in Film: Science, Politics & Creativity *
Humans possess a fundamental fascination with wildlife. Perhaps you are attracted, maybe repulsed, or simply mesmerized by themyriad appearance and behavior of wild things? This ‘wildlife imperative,’ part of the larger Biophilia Hypothesis(Wilson 1983), is evidenced by humanities’collective need to explore, understand and represent wild creatures in art, music, literature, and not least of all cinema. The wildlife documentary, while in existence for decades, has been proliferating in recent years, spawning numerous feature length films and countless hours of content for public, network and cable television channel.
While moving images of exotic animals are engaging on their own, what are the scientific, political, and creative implications of these efforts? How do we assess their scientific credibility? What is the political agenda behind a given wildlife documentay, and how likely is this medium to affect (or not) the filmmaker’s desired outcome? While our cultural legacy demonstrates human creativity,
what can we learn about our feathered, furred, and scaled relatives? This course will draw on a range on wildlife films and associated readings (film criticism, wildlife & ecological science, environmental politics, the creative process)providing a framework to investigate the value of this genre to inform, conserve, inspire.