TRANSDISCIPLINARITY IN ACTION
With M.A.R.I.N. we are constructing transdisciplinarity in action, colliding science with interaction design and artistic research methods. At the same time we strongly believe in social innovation that emerges from working in special conditions, being able to reflect and produce in intense cycles. All this enables the wider public presentation of work with a strong impact.
The M.A.R.I.N. network program is centered on the Method of Artistic Research, which is currently playing a major role in the field of conveying and appropriating innovative experience of the world. Heid and Ruediger (2003) wrote the following on contemporary artistic strategies: “Artists are expanding their space of action by means of diverse interventionist strategies. They no longer feel bound to an object-centered art market but instead find and invent operative, process-based forms in their cooperation with partners in all areas of society. Alongside these options for strategic action, an important role is assigned to investigating and reflecting upon systemic conditions. In this way, artistic research can crucially contribute to imparting and appropriating innovative experience of the world.”
Artistic research is not “bound to conventional paradigms of science, and can be conducted without the obligation to adhere to dogmatic methods (although both forms share the basic motif of skepticism-as-a-method). Artistic research is able to promote knowledge acquisition in very different areas of life without heeding the defining might of specialists, and in the process can choose aesthetic criteria as the foundation for constructed realities” – to name just a few of the most important factors.
In this way, artistic research potentially promotes the emergence of a third culture that might form a bridge between the two cultures described in 1959 by C. P. Snow – namely, the irreconcilably juxtaposed humanities and the natural and technological sciences. Snow lamented the gap that had grown up since the 19th century between the humanities and the natural sciences, which he said had led to the impoverishment of both fields. In a subsequent study ‘The Two Cultures: A Second Look’ (1963), Snow optimistically prophesied the evolution of a “third culture”; a new generation of scientists that would close the communication gap between the two traditional cultures.
Rather than giving a voice to popular science, M.A.R.I.N. intends to strengthen the territory of artistic research. Both cultures, that of art as we describe it and that of science, hold in common human curiosity, creativity and the desire to understand and represent the unknown and this is why the initiators of this program believe that precisely the differing epistemology and forms of knowledge production can be used productively in the proposed collaborative matrix, by primarily taking into account the ecological and geopolitical setting and the sociopolitical conditions that are to be encountered in the case of looking at the Baltic, Mediterranean and other areas of interest. That is why the M.A.R.I.N. program tactical media component is crucial for the definition of the data dissemination and reflection strategies and is one of the fundamental pillars of its vision.
MOBILE RESEARCH SITE
The main research regions of the first phase are the Baltic Sea, The Irish Sea, Mediterranean and The North Sea, with an emphasis in the fields of marine ecology, littoral cultures and their interconnection. These regions were chosen because of their intercultural richness, ecosystem degradation and geopolitical significance. On both micro and macro levels of the need to sustain the natural and human ecosystems, dominant discourse on ecology runs the risk of “running out of fuel”. There is a heightened need to be articulate about ecological phenomena and how they relate to locations, communities, and media practices. We feel that artistic and scientific research integration offers an important exploratory and insightful voice to create such discourse, raise the awareness, maintain interest in these fundamental topics and urge localized action.
Research outputs vary between workshops and events, installations and performances, mobile and net based interfaces, different forms of social networks, open source software for ecology and navigation, sensor networks, low power computing and energy technology concepts, ecological and biological innovations and other similar topics.
We believe that the symbolic value of M.A.R.I.N. is significant, and the attention it will get in different forms of media will have a wide impact. M.A.R.I.N. artists and researchers will visit harbors and several media and art festivals, exhibitions and expos. The scientific and artistic relevance will be made further felt through public outreach by the publishing activities, documentation and interaction using new media platforms (Internet, social networks, location based mobile applications). In other words, both direct and indirect media attention to M.A.R.I.N. and work on board will generate further eco-sensibilities among the general and expert publics.
Within the residencies M.A.R.I.N. intends to create research conditions for an intensive transdisciplinary collaborative model. We are well aware that facilitating collaboration between artists and scientists is not an easy process. The intimacy and duration of each residency is crucial for this engagement – compare it with the brief encounters that are possible in seminar rooms and conferences.
While being serious about marine ecology research, M.A.R.I.N. also offers a playful angle to sustainability. We will invite interaction designers and wearable computing specialists and artists to conceptualize and stitch together special outfits with sensors, add insightful devices to the residency vessel as well as to help us build engaging interfaces for public presentations and performances. Also known from the research on “serious games”, innovative interaction design can be a key factor in successful engagements of target audiences to deal with issues – in our case, with ecology. As much as media literacy is an issue – so is ecology literacy.
Inspired by the need to share models of best practice in art & science field, we will develop a set of open data policy and participation guidelines. These guidelines can be extended for future use by a variety of organizations and individuals working within ecological and sustainable scientific, cultural and academic projects and activities. In this way, the mobile, ecological monitoring and research unit, with the establishment of an open communications infrastructure, will serve as a model for an empowered mediated sustainable mobility, one of the primary long term aims of the project. The content produced through the initiative will be open-source, co-managed by the M.A.R.I.N. network organizations.