[-empyre-] Research in Practice, week three, January 21-28

[keith armstrong]

Hi Everyone

Welcome from the warmer end of the weather spectrum here in Australia!

 Have been following things with interest - things have heated up of late but still of a temperate candour! 

Thanks for the intro Simon -- a few brief extra words about where Im coming from as an interdisciplinary media artist. 

Since the early 1990s my art works & art-led experiences have, in their diverse ways, each aimed to sensitise public participants to the ecological relationships that underpin our interconnected technical, cultural & biophysical worlds. I understand ecology as being both a science, a philosophy, a politic & a metaphor. I have long argued that it critical for artists to engage & influence debates about how ecologically sustainable futures might unfold in the informational age - given that ecological crises are at their heart cultural crises. In that regard I apply my work to that conversation with a sense of urgency & deep commitment.

My art works have predominantly used participant-driven, interactive experiences to speak non-didactically about the conditions required to sustain human, non human & artificial life forms into our coming centuries. I have developed approaches I call ‘ecosophical’ (meaning Ecology + Philosophy, or literally from the Greek, ‘Wisdom of the Dwelling’). This has led me to create diverse art forms including mediatised performances, site-specific electronic artworks, networked interactive installations & online works, always with reference to the body (as our primary interface). To achieve this I have used numerous interactive technologies, new materials & embodied processes of all kinds best aligned to the ecological imperatives. { www.embodiedmedia.com }

Practically speaking I am a Senior Research Fellow (part time) here at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. I have  elected to work part time and I fund the rest of my week through freelance media art projects - and yet everything I do ultimately feeds back into the research outcomes. This allows me to both collaborate with and enjoy the very best of what university's can offer (supportive contexts, people, ideas, contexts to present my research, motivated doctoral and masters students etc) - and yet I can also maintain a career which stands up in its own right. This is more than a win win -  it is an asset to the university (i.e. I'm doubly productive in terms of research and can demonstrate impact outside of the university walls through track record). II understand it as a co-dependent exchange rather than a struggle - fed by generosity on each side. 

On the subject of having  a foot in and out .. I would say that my work as a body innately lends itself to a practice-led research process - its fairly much a natural fit ..  .. noting that my research is not into practice per se but rather the way it may become applied to triggering conversations..  and naturally much of what making is about (just as being an academic) isn't actually research per se - its a lot of basic admin, production management, and technical problem solving. 


Cheers

Keith

Dr. Keith Armstrong | Freelance Interdisciplinary Media Artist | www.embodiedmedia.com
QUT Senior Research Fellow (p/t)
School of Interaction and Visual Design | Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Australia Council New Art Recipient: Night Rage/Night Fall, 2012-13: 
A seasonal media artwork exploring animal migration patterns & extinction of human experience
Australia Council Broadband Arts Initiative Recipient, Long Time No See, 2012-13.
ANAT Synapse, Art-Science Resident, with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, 2012-13.
Australia Council Visual Arts New Work Award,The Bat/Human Continuum, 2012.

Confirmed Exhibitions
| Finitude (v03),  "Information, Ecology, Wisdom" -  The 3rd Art and Science International Exhibition and Symposium, Beijing, China at the National Museum of Science and Technology.  Nov1-30th 2012
| Reintroduction, Mildura Palimpsest Site Specific Arts Biennial, Victoria, Australia, 11th Sept-1st Nov, 2013

Current Projects
| Re-introduction: A new work engaging the art and science of returning lost mammals to the Australian bush
| The Bat/Human Continuum: A new body of work exploring codependence, time and virtual darkness
| Night Rage.Night Fall for ISEA 2013
| Long Time No See for ISEA 2013 & The Cube, Brisbane.