The day began with Phil Ker the COE of Otago Polytechnic talking about the importance of applied research in Polytechnics. Adopting a clear political stance, Phil commented on the continual erosion of the funding for tertiary environments, and the importance of events that actually side-stepped the funders and returned us to core values.
I then presented an introduction where I framed my own thoughts about art and electronic media by connecting Lorraine Daston's work on curiosity and wonder with the histories of media arts via a discussion of frequency, resonance, method, sense and knowledge. I strung together a series of examples that for me operated at this edge of wonder, both scientific and artistic. Our poster image was David Haines and Joyce Hinterding's EarthStar (image above) and I located this as a central work where experimental method is key, and where there is an opening up of visuality to other senses. http://www.sunvalleyresearch.net/?p=340
I ended my presentation with this statement from Lorraine Daston:
“The idea of representation [is] being thrown overboard because to visualise something is the same act as making the object itself. It no longer makes sense to talk about a nature which we then try more or less faithfully to represent. It only makes sense to talk about the creation of an object to manufacture for the very act of visualising it.”
and this work by semiconductor: http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/root/Magnetic_Movie/Magnetic.htm
We then moved onto our first set of short presentations.
(photos of presenters by Max Bellamy)
