Animated robots and androids of today are in development. Robotic systems and robotic toys have entered the nursery rooms. Paro, a Mental Commitment Robot , is a therapeutic robot seal designed by Takanori Shibata at the Intelligent System Research Institute in Japan by the state-run National Institute of Advanced Industries and Technology (AIST) beginning in 1993 “in an attempt to reduce cognitive disorders and rising long-term medial costs” (Loving the machine).
(For further reading on Paro see here:

In this context I came across the article entitled “warning of robots” (SZ, 27 Feb. 08 ) which fits nicely into my research. We discussed the issue in the seminar looking at the introduction of the androids developed by Hiroshi Ishigro at the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at the University of Osaka. We discussed the interview with David Levy on his book “Love & Sex with Robots” looking at the question of androids and their impact on everyday life, addressing the issue of relationships between humans and robots and robots becoming partners people cohabit with.

However, watching the videos of the androids like receptionist Sara (who can express 6 emotions via facial expression and respond to questions or comments with “about seven hundred stock phrases in Japanese” (loving the machine) developed by Hiroshi Kobayashi, one gets a feel for how the future might look like – it is not only the Paros, Aibos and other robotic toys we will have to cope with, but the introduction of complex embodied conversational agents and identities.

Here are some of the videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY8-sJS0W1I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD1tjTsBsJc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1SADcP5g1o&feature=related

(see here for the so called “Cute J-Girl Robot in Tokyo, Japan” and here for the AKIBA ROBOT FESTIVAL 2006 Actroid Female Robot

Clad actroid via http://sjc.blog.uvm.edu

Hiroshi Ishigro’s android via http://www.pinktentacle.com

To continue the series on art practice based PhD I would like to share the following information with you.

“A PhD for Artists is the topic of a brown-bag conversation being presented at the CAA conference (20-23 February 2008) in Dallas by Dr. Domenico de Clario and Dr. Robert Nelson from the Faculty of Art and Design at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. During the period of the conference, interested candidates will have the opportunity to meet and discuss this studio based PhD program with these key members of the University.

Major artists already among the candidates and alumni of the program include:
- STELARC: Multimedia and performance artist
- Julie Rrap: Multimedia and performance artist
- Polixeni Papapetrou: Photomedia artist
- Victoria Lynn: International curator

International engagement
Monash University has an international focus with locations in Italy, UK, Malaysia and South Africa. In particular, the Faculty utilises Monash’s facilities in Prato, Italy, at both undergraduate and
postgraduate level.

Your choice of studio
Monash Art & Design disciplines cross the spectrum of contemporary art, design, multimedia and architecture; studios include painting, photomedia, printmedia, sculpture, ceramics, drawing, glass, metals and jewellery.

Professor Domenico de Clario is a leading multi-disciplinary artist with more than 150 solo exhibitions worldwide, including the USA. Dr. Robert Nelson is an award winning, international art critic.

For more information on our studio research degrees please email: domenico.declario at artdes.monash.edu.au

For more information and how to apply please visit: http://artdes.monash.edu.au/study/course/postgraduate.html

via art & education net

In the context of the practice based PhD and linking research to practice I came over the following conference held in London:

The fifth biennial international Research into Practice will be held on 31 October 2008 at the Royal Society of Arts, London, and will explore the theme of “interpretation” in research in the visual and performing arts.
We are pleased to announce that one of our keynote speakers will be the eminent British art historian Griselda Pollock

ABSTRACTS ARE INVITED ON THE CONFERENCE THEME.

It is characteristic of research outputs, reports and theses in traditional disciplines that they are expressed in unambiguous language. One reason for this is to establish the grounds and argument from which the conclusions derive. Another reason is to be quite clear and explicit about what is being claimed as original by the author for the research. This characteristic has the effect of reinforcing the dominant knowledge models such as “the scientific method”, “empirical methods”, etc. However these models come from disciplines whose aims and objectives may differ from those in the arts and humanities. There has been much discussion about the suitability of such models for the visual and performing arts, which seem to rely on a more pluralistic approach to interpretation which values the fact that different generations and different cultures find their own value in the artefact.

Does this difference of explicitness between traditional disciplines and the arts mean that their research outputs cannot be compared? What is the status of the outcomes of research in the visual and performing arts in terms of what is known or discovered? Is research in these areas actually trying to achieve something quite different, and if so what? Is the value of research something constructed by the receiver, and if so what would that mean for knowledge-models in the arts? Are its outcomes more contingent than those in other disciplines because of this difference in the role of interpretation by the reader/viewer? Does the scientific method really result in unambiguous interpretation, or conversely is interpretation really so subjective in the arts?

The conference will focus on the theory of interpretation in research in traditional disciplines and on the emerging theory of interpretation in research in the visual and performing arts.
Conference topics that might be considered include, but are not restricted to:

* are unambiguous research outputs in the arts possible or desirable?
* are the problems of interpretation in the arts different from other disciplines?
* do the interpretational problems in arts stem from its media or from its aims?
* can anything be learned from studies in interpretation in other humanities subjects?
* in the historical past were issues of interpretation viewed differently?
* do the arts have special advantages that compensate for any perceived disadvantages with respect to interpretation of outcomes?
* how does the author/reader problem affect research?

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT THE CONFERENCE WEBSITE AT
http://www.herts.ac.uk/artdes1/research/res2prac/confhome.html
Research into Practice is the leading forum for scholarship on so-called practice-based research in the visual and performing arts, hosted biennially by the University of Hertfordshire, UK.

Contact r2p at herts.ac.uk

Via Drawing Research

The Centre for Research into Practice at the University of Hertfordshire explains the meaning of “research into practice” as follows:

“We are interested in the way in which practice advances knowledge. There has been a lot of discussion about this topic in the UK and internationally, in part caused by the growth of art and design in the university sector and the expectation of, and evaluation in terms of, research outputs. Many other disciplines are led by advances in practice, indeed it has been argued that all research is practice-based. However, there seems to be a group of disciplines in which the practitioner holds a particular role and in which the theorist may be viewed as some sort of onlooker or critic. Those disciplines are as diverse as art, therapies and law. The fact that these disciplines are advanced by practice does not mean that they are not advanced by theory. There are theories of art, theories of therapy and theories of law. But the practitioner is somehow the key professional, the key person who advances the discipline. So what is the relationship between these different roles, and what do these disciplines have in common that might form a theory of research? This is research into practice. Of course, in such disciplines it is no surprise to find that it also means to put research into practice, i.e. to evaluate its outcomes in terms of its application to practice. ” (source: http://sitem.herts.ac.uk/artdes_research/cr2p/mean.htm)

“To Phd or not to Phd ? : How to improve research based art practice” was initiated by the Leonardo Education Forum.
In Germany, the practice based PhD is rather not an issue discussed yet. This might be to do with the high status of the traditional PhD, the Dr. phil. in Germany, as discussed on the re:place meeting “At the crossroads of Media Art, Technology and Education supported by LEF. However, here is the information I want to share with you:

“Respondents will include: Ken Friedman, Kristina Niedderer, Deirdre Barron, John Zimmerman, Basak Senova. All interested persons are invited to participate.

Like scientists, artists are engaged in research activities. However research is carried out in different ways when comparing artists to scientists. During the last 20 years, a number of academic institutions have created PhDs in Art as well as a Practice Based Research Degrees. For a thorough report on this question, please refer to the one written by Professor Stuart Lain, University of Brighton (http://www.it.bton.ac.uk/research/euindia/knowledgebase/
brightonpg/laing.htm).

We would like to invite Yasminers to discuss the broader question of how research education in art should be designed today. Respodents will include:

Dr.Ken Friedman, PhD in Design Norwegian School of Management

Dr. Kristina Niedderer. Silversmith and designer as well as an expert on the relation between arts practice and research training. Her current research focuses on experiential knowledge.

Dr. Deirdre Barron from Swinburne University research coordinator at Swinburne University Faculty of Design. She is currently writing a book on doctoral education in design, and together with her research group, she is doing a massive review of the literature to date.

Dr.John Zimmerman, School of Design Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Basak Senova, School of Communication, Kadir Has University
This discussion is part of the program of the Leonardo Education Forum in cooperation with the YASMIN Network. Further information on the Leonardo Eduation Forum (open to educators and students) is available at: http://artsci.ucla.edu/LEF/

Forthcoming: Dates : 3rd March 2008 14th March 2008

via Yasmin/Roger Malina

The arsvirtua competition on Mixed Reality works is currently being exhibited in Second Life at:

http://arsvirtua.com/more.php?p=86

http://arsvirtua.com/

Here’s the information:

Mixed Reality is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments where physical and digital objects can co-exist and interact in real-time.

Feb 7- April 15, in http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seventh%20Eye/6/77/48, on http://turbulence.org and in the Huret & Spector Gallery in Boston.

Reception in Ars Virtua on Thursday Feb 7 from 2pm-4pm SLT.

Mixed Realities is an exhibition and symposium that explores the convergence—through cyberspace—of real and synthetic places made possible by computers and networks. Mixed Realities links and overlays the Huret & Spector Gallery (Boston), Turbulence.org, and Ars Virtua (Second Life).

Second Life is a shared, synthetic, 3-D environment through which people can interact in real-time by means of a virtual self or avatar. Although it’s an imaginary place, it is often able to “masquerade as real” (Richard Bartle) because it approximates reality persuasively enough to facilitate player immersion.

Audience members – who will be embodied as avatars in Second Life, browsing the works at turbulence.org, and/or be physically present in the gallery – will interact with the works and with one another. Thus, Mixed Realities will enable people who are distributed across multiple physical and virtual spaces to communicate with one another and share experiences in real time.

Five works were commissioned by New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. specifically for the Mixed Realities exhibition. Collectively, they combine sensor, video, sound, streaming, webcam, projection, processing, world wide web, and 3-D technologies to produce immersive, interactive and participatory performances and installations. They allow audiences to experience real and fictional places simultaneously in Imaging Beijing and The Vitruvian World; debate the value of virtual labor and currency in No Matter; communicate physical data from multiple sources through Remote; and question mediated communication itself in Caterwaul.

Additional information at turbulence.org.

via arsvirtua

I like the introduction of a conference dealing with the issue of visible memories – especially from the media education perspective. I perceive it as bridge to gap between computers (banned in so called computer class rooms) and imagination, storytelling as well as what I call meaningful ideas and artistic contexts.
Immediately Andrea Wollensak’s work Memory Markers bringing together memory, gesture, traces of place as well as GPS technology came to my mind.

As Jean Paul has put it: “Memory is the only paradise we can not get banished from” (“Die Erinnerung ist das einzige Paradies, woraus wir nicht vertrieben werden können.”)

The Visible Memories Conference will take place at the Syracuse University over
2 to 4 October 2008.

Here is the call for ppers:

“Conference Theme: The Visible Memories Conference at Syracuse University invites papers for competitive selection. The conference will explore the intersections between visual culture and memory studies with particular focus on the ways in which memories are manifested and
experienced in visible, material, or spatial form.

Examples of especially relevant and desirable research topics include: local sites of memory; memorials and archives; environmentalism and representations of nature; regional, national, or global tourism; photography or cinema; digital media; and art installations. We also
welcome other research topics in similarly innovative areas.

The Visible Memories Conference is presented by the Visual Arts and Cultures Cluster of The Central New York Humanities Corridor, made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The Corridor is a large-scale partnership with Syracuse University, Cornell
University, and the University of Rochester that connects scholarship in five other cluster areas: philosophy, linguistics, religions and cultures, musicology/music history, and humanities at the interface of science/technology.

Conference Format: The conference will feature an innovative combination of events designed to facilitate conversation not only between a variety of researchers concerned with the study of visual culture and memory but also between academics and distinguished professionals in art and design, film production, and institutional archiving.

Featured events will include:

- Keynote lecture by conceptual artist Ernesto Pujol.

- Plenary speakers Cara Finnegan, Andrea Hammer, George Legrady, Julia Meltzer, Phaedra Pezzullo, Gregory Sholette, David Thorne, Patricia Zimmermann.

- Competitive panel sessions.

- Research workshops and roundtables.

- A gallery reception and film/video screenings.

Submission Guidelines: Submit a paper abstract electronically (500 word maximum). Include a separate cover page with paper title; author name and affiliation; and contact information. Submissions should be addressed to Dr. Anne T. Demo (atdemo at syr.edu).

Abstracts will be reviewed by the conference planning committee. Deadline for abstract submission is May 1, 2008. Acceptance notification will be sent by June 1, 2008.

Conference History: Syracuse University has been heavily involved in the study of public memory and visual culture for the past seven years. The university has previously hosted two major interdisciplinary conferences devoted to the themes of “Framing Public Memory” (2001) and “Contesting Public Memories” (2005). These events have attracted national and
international scholars from such disciplines as Anthropology, Rhetorical Studies, Philosophy, Writing, Geography, and Art. As a result of these efforts, the Syracuse University “Public Memory Project” has become a hub for collaboration among scholars from over a dozen departments and has hosted numerous individual scholars while supporting specific
memory-related projects within the Syracuse community.

See our conference website for further details: http://publicmemories.syr.edu/.

Additional questions about the Visible Memories Conference may be addressed to:

Dr. Anne T. Demo
Phone: 315-443-1032
E-mail: atdemo at syr.edu
Communication and Rhetorical Studies
100 Sims Hall, Building V
Syracuse University
Syracuse, New York 13244

Via H-ARTHIST

Here are some photos of the SL seminar presentation held at Multiline and in other places all over SL yesterday as well as the real University of Education in Freiburg.

Today I took the students to ZKM in Karlsruhe which was sort of a final highlight at the end of the semester,sort of a summery, bringing together all the things we discussed and tested at University of Education – in an experiential and tangible way.

It developed as a guided discussion tour, great experience, as I perceived it. I think it is all about those moments in education – rather than teaching I prefer to call it collaborative learning by exploring.

Here are some photos of the works, some of the YOU_SER, century of the consumer exhibition as well as quite a few of what I call the classics.