New Horizons
No Culture, No Future: Developing a Strategic Research Framework for Sustainability and the Arts Scholarship View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Tarah Wright, Ian Garrett
Climate change threatens human and planetary health and while science has demonstrated the obvious solutions - humanity simply needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – but the realization of that solution is impeded by social and political realities, a lack of ecological literacy amongst decision-makers, and often an absence of will on the part of society. The environmental crisis is therefore a cultural crisis, and a sustainable future is only attainable if we transform culture. The Arts play a critical role in that artists and arts organizations have been identified as strong partners in changing culture with a significant influence on the development of cultural norms. Yet to date there have been very little research associated with the role that the Arts can play in creating a sustainable future. This is not a surprise, as scholars and artists are often isolated from each other because of limited opportunities for knowledge exchange and a lack of common methods for knowledge mobilization. In this paper we outline a recent Canadian research project that seeks to: identify scholars working in sustainability and the Arts (SATA); contribute knowledge to the field by examining the challenges and barriers to SATA research; and undertake a Delphi study that aims to develop a comprehensive research strategy for SATA scholarship in the future. This project is building knowledge and understanding in the field of SATA, and serves as a mechanism to begin a larger dialogue about the role that SATA research can play in achieving a sustainable future.
Extending the Model of Creativity: Distortion in Pandemic Times View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jekaterina Karelina
The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns caused a huge reduction in intense social interactions with acquaintances, making them more occasional or temporarily lost. In pandemic, creative writing (CW) assisted people to get over in isolation period, to reflect the traumatic pressure of pandemic situation and to build up coping behaviour contemplating personal fears. According to Reckwitz, creativity has already become a life matrix core, or everyday routine. However, contemporary sociological discourse has not yet sufficiently stressed the issue of creativity during COVID-19. Extending Simonton’s thesis on importance of social context, I study the phenomena of creativity during pandemic. In this paper I expand the conception of four C-model of creativity (established by Kaufman & Beghetto). Most individuals working with a professional level of knowledge of their field can be classified as Pro-c. However, specific industries of creativity, like CW, are rooted into practices of teaching and coaching. Professional writers perceive CW as a set of skills that can be trained. The research question is to formulate a sub-classification of Pro-c creativity splitting up the Pro-c as high level creators and Pro-c as high level trainers of creators - and suggest previously unspoken extensions and hypothetical adjustments.
Conceptualizing Impact in Sustainability and the Arts: Understanding the Role of Arts Organizations Through the Case of CreativePEI View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Emma Bugg, Tarah Wright
The rapidly unfolding climate emergency has thus far proved to be too grand a challenge for existing powers to effectively respond to. As we learn more about the enigmatic tasks of mitigating and adapting to the worst effects of climate change, the inextricable link with culture becomes increasingly clear. In recognition of culture’s key role in climate action, scholars are increasingly contributing to the emerging field of sustainability and the arts (SATA) and encountering myriad ways the arts can aid in fostering badly needed sustainable transformations. However, this body of scholarship lacks focus on the specific role of arts organizations and their potentialities for impact. Using a mixed methods approach over two phases of study this thesis employs semi-structured interviews and the Delphi method to explore the role and impact potential of arts organizations in responding to climate change, through the case of CreativePEI. This research showcases a robust engagement with climate change by an organization not explicitly mandated to do climate work, showing how existing arts activities and capabilities can be viewed through a climate lens. This research also shows the utility of the Delphi method for eliciting consensus-based indicators, with this Delphi resulting in 46 consensus-based indicators in nine categories. The Delphi also reveals further areas of concern regarding climate impact, as well as perceived barriers to measuring certain types of impact. Finally, we present a preliminary impact framework informed by this research for use and adaptation by CreativePEI and the broader arts sector.
The Limits of Virtual to the Boundaries of Performance Art View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Eveline Boudreau
My paper considers the relationship between humans and their technology, using performance art as intervention and based on my experience in doing performance art over the past 30 years. I aim to create an interactive framework looking at technology, individuality, and society. In the electronic media, an inner paradox often occurs in a landscape of liminal space. Here, I consider how the virtual can be used to transmit the message of my Performance Art, and how people receive this message. Can the Internet expand the heritage of Performance Art positively in reaching an individual, group and global audience? In this art practice, how effective is the virtual connection compared to face to face interaction? Michel Foucaud’s concepts will be used in discussing individuality and identity of performer(s) and their audience. The social context and the performer’s transmission of message are important parts of Performance Art. Artistic messaging, both in person and virtually, strives to modify social relationships regarding today’s societal and environmental challenges.
Blurry Brands : Blurred and Cropped Logos in Modern Still Lives View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sylvia Onorato, Christina Onorato
Emerging in an era of rapid technological advancements that resulted in the rise of mass production, Modernist art movements often engage with themes of reproducibility, corporate ownership, and branding. But when depicting company labels or logos, the details are often obscured, cut off, set at an odd angle, or otherwise made unintelligible, which is precisely the opposite of the designers' intentions. When it comes to marketing endeavors, clarity is key. So what would be the purpose of introducing a logo, only to render it functionally useless? The answer differs by artist and movement, but Impressionists and post-Impressionists like Edouard Manet and Vincent Van Gogh tend to use blurred or cropped brands and labels to create an ambiance of timelessness, reducing the targeted specificity of marketing symbols to an artistic gesture that both complements other aspects of the painting, and maintains a cohesive style. On the other hand, Cubists like Juan Gris and Pablo Picasso frequently make product names at least partially legible, such that they add to the frenetic feeling of the piece and allow for more targeted commentary on both the evolving socio-economic landscape and the prerogative of art to confront modern opportunities and challenges alike. As Impressionism is widely considered the first Modern movement and Cubism debuted later, the differing ways in which they approach branding reflect how the steady crescendo of factory-produced quotidian commodities changed society at a fundamental level, bringing broader economic concerns to bear on domestic and aesthetic spheres.
Machine Learning Model for Building Type Classification of Cultural Heritage Sites along Jiangnan Canal: A Comparative Study of Historical and Modern Images View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shengdan Yang, Yan Huang
In recent years, machine learning has made new progress in image and semantic recognition, providing digital platforms for architectural and landscape research. The cultural heritage sites along the Jiangnan Canal show great aesthetic value in their forms, shapes, and structures, which deserve research and preservation with digital technologies. This research collects images of cultural architectural heritage along Jiangnan Canal to create a dataset, including gardens, gates, guild halls, pavilions, pagodas, residences, temples, gates, bridges and street blocks, etc. A model was developed on Google Teachable Machine for building type recognition and classification, and comparative experiments with historical and modern images were conducted to analyze the model’s accuracy. Classification results show the factors that affect the accuracy of the model and further adjustments of the model are proposed. This paper contributes to the application of AI in cultural heritage protection and offers new methods for recognition of historical architecture types. Using digital techniques and platforms, this classifier has the potential to be applied in a wide range of digital design areas and could be further developed for recognizing architecture morphology.
University Identity: Statutes and Architectures View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michelangela Verardi
This research examines the role of statutes and architectures in shaping university's organisational identity (OI). In a competitive environment, isomorphic processes challenge autonomy and standardise cultural processes in a neoliberal vision. OI literature is well established, reflecting a growing interest in organisational dynamics, is mainly confined to entrepreneurial organisations. This study contributes to the OI literature by examining the statements and symbols of university identities. While logos and slogans have been studied, statutes (statements) and architectures (symbols) have been less explored. The focus of this research is on a sample of two Italian private universities. Drawing on Baudrillard's work on simulacra, OI theories and higher education literature are combined to represent a university's identity. Findings show that university identity is embodied in core values shared by the community. University culture is expressed through identity statements in the statutes, thus revealing the cultural matrix. Representing identity through buildings, symbolic artefacts and location leaves impressions on community members and stakeholders. Lastly, bylaws and architecture function as signs if they are not so far removed from the core values of the institution that they lose touch with reality through the mimetic, normative and compulsive isomorphic effect. A new model is proposed to illustrate how these identifying tools work. It concludes with recommendations for university identity management and several areas for future work.
