The Future of Indeterminacy: Datification, Memory, Bio-politics
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Dundee
Department Name: Contemporary Art Practice
Abstract
The future is no longer seen as open. It is seen as precarious on the one hand and technologically over-determined on the other. Economic uncertainty, the rise of the risk society, the culture of fear and neoliberal necropolitics - the politics of 'making and letting die' (Mbembe 2003) - are seen as a serious threat. While the risk society attributes all hazards to human decisions, the culture of fear cultivates the tendency to catastrophise. Neoliberal necropolitics welds technology to the exploitation of natural and social reserves in an irreversible way creating a sense of closure and doom. Instead of lamenting the uncertainty of a 'cancelled future' (Berardi 2014) or the 'end of free will' induced by big-data's predictions (Han 2017), this interdisciplinary project reverses the question. It asks: what is the future of indeterminacy?
Initially derived from Gödel's undecidability and Stengers and Prirogine's non-linear dynamics in which order emerges spontaneously from chaotic systems, indeterminacy is a self-perpetuating dynamic of change. It has no beginning or end, no spatial or temporal constancy. It upsets the existing structures and ossified power regimes, which is why it was embraced as a liberating force by the 1960s, and, again, by the 1990s artists and theorists such as Cage, Fluxus, Xenakis, Derrida, Guattari, Hayles and Varela, all of whom sought to implement indeterminate procedures, in thought and action, in their respective fields.
In the digital age, in accelerated, informational capitalism, the situation is very different. First, permanent change is the rule. Second, art, culture, and politics are no longer separate; they are fused in the cultural sphere located in the infosphere. Consisting of the internet, cultural production, datification, algorithmic predetermination, symbolic as well as affective regimes, the infosphere has modified the language and forms of thought and action. It has also modified the structure of reality. Re-mobilising Poggioli's concept of the avant-garde as inherently reproducible in other art forms and, importantly, in mainstream culture (1972), this project will develop a new understanding of the relationship of artistic indeterminacy to current cultural practices via four distinct research activities:
1. Case studies of the 1960s and 1990s indeterminate practices (Fluxus, Situationists International, etoy and Knowbotic Research) that disrupt semantic, visual, aural and kinaesthetic ordering and normativity in order to understand the full impact of their methodologies on present-day artistic and cultural practices.
2. Comparing these analyses to the 2010s indeterminacy that sabotages tracking and dataveillance, namely: glitching, obfuscation, databending and dissipative networks found in the work of such artists-activists as Nissenbaum, Cardenas, Cates, Menkman, Norby, Szauder, Biggs and Fujihata, which reconfigure (virtual and actual) existential spaces by dis-ordering cultural memory. Here case studies will be combined with hands-on workshops.
3. Forming hypotheses about the relationship of the (rapidly changing) digital unconscious to future media ecologies as related to media's profound somatic, social and cultural working via a series of art-science talks, an international conference, and a special issue of Leonardo (MIT Press).
4. Re-evaluating artistic indeterminacy's deconstruction of the cause-effect, parts-and-wholes relationship in light of its 'big questions', questions that have persisted from Surrealist Craven's 1920s practice of 'impulsive living' to Davis's 2018 work with chance-operated genetic coding, namely: Is sequence (linear, circular or patterned) the only way of constructing knowledge? Is the constant linking of events to the experience archive - personal and cultural identity - a necessity? Or, can we engage heterogeneity independently of any whole-ness and constancy? These questions will be explored in a monograph.
Initially derived from Gödel's undecidability and Stengers and Prirogine's non-linear dynamics in which order emerges spontaneously from chaotic systems, indeterminacy is a self-perpetuating dynamic of change. It has no beginning or end, no spatial or temporal constancy. It upsets the existing structures and ossified power regimes, which is why it was embraced as a liberating force by the 1960s, and, again, by the 1990s artists and theorists such as Cage, Fluxus, Xenakis, Derrida, Guattari, Hayles and Varela, all of whom sought to implement indeterminate procedures, in thought and action, in their respective fields.
In the digital age, in accelerated, informational capitalism, the situation is very different. First, permanent change is the rule. Second, art, culture, and politics are no longer separate; they are fused in the cultural sphere located in the infosphere. Consisting of the internet, cultural production, datification, algorithmic predetermination, symbolic as well as affective regimes, the infosphere has modified the language and forms of thought and action. It has also modified the structure of reality. Re-mobilising Poggioli's concept of the avant-garde as inherently reproducible in other art forms and, importantly, in mainstream culture (1972), this project will develop a new understanding of the relationship of artistic indeterminacy to current cultural practices via four distinct research activities:
1. Case studies of the 1960s and 1990s indeterminate practices (Fluxus, Situationists International, etoy and Knowbotic Research) that disrupt semantic, visual, aural and kinaesthetic ordering and normativity in order to understand the full impact of their methodologies on present-day artistic and cultural practices.
2. Comparing these analyses to the 2010s indeterminacy that sabotages tracking and dataveillance, namely: glitching, obfuscation, databending and dissipative networks found in the work of such artists-activists as Nissenbaum, Cardenas, Cates, Menkman, Norby, Szauder, Biggs and Fujihata, which reconfigure (virtual and actual) existential spaces by dis-ordering cultural memory. Here case studies will be combined with hands-on workshops.
3. Forming hypotheses about the relationship of the (rapidly changing) digital unconscious to future media ecologies as related to media's profound somatic, social and cultural working via a series of art-science talks, an international conference, and a special issue of Leonardo (MIT Press).
4. Re-evaluating artistic indeterminacy's deconstruction of the cause-effect, parts-and-wholes relationship in light of its 'big questions', questions that have persisted from Surrealist Craven's 1920s practice of 'impulsive living' to Davis's 2018 work with chance-operated genetic coding, namely: Is sequence (linear, circular or patterned) the only way of constructing knowledge? Is the constant linking of events to the experience archive - personal and cultural identity - a necessity? Or, can we engage heterogeneity independently of any whole-ness and constancy? These questions will be explored in a monograph.
Planned Impact
This project offers excellent opportunities for a wider social, cultural and educational impact as, for many, the very word 'indeterminacy' denotes an obscure academic field, much like 'intermedia' is often mistakenly taken to be a niche concern of nerdy artists. This project has five pathways to impact. The first three will enable the broader public, adults and young adults, to understand, appreciate and take part in past and present indeterminate artistic practices. The second two will benefit emerging and existing art practitioners and teachers. In addition, all five will enable cultural organisations, journalists, writers, art practitioners and lay audiences to participate in a debate about one of the most pressing issues of our times: digital (un)freedom: the increasing use of data tracking and biometrics to unclear and, in some cases, problematic purposes.
The general public:
1. The Digital Archive: the above-mentioned case studies will be thematically grouped in a thoughtfully curated, historically imaginative digital archive that draws on the work of one of the groups researched in this project: the Situationists International. The SI focused on the spontaneous, inventive engagement with the (physical) environment and the working of personal and social memory. The digital archive will be an interactive virtual territory where audiences of all ages will come into contact with the most well known indeterminate practices. It will be co-hosted, on a separate website, by the University of Dundee and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee's foremost art centre, and launched in January 2021. In addition to exhibitions, films and talks, DCA specialises in wide-ranging educational and informal learning programmes that connect adults and children to the making and processes of cultural artifacts and wider cultural history.
2.Workshops and Public Talks: contemporary indeterminate practices will be explored via hands-on workshops with the following artists-activists: Ajana, Cates, Cardenas, Fuhijata, Menkman and Nissenbaum. These workshops will focus on the hands-on legacy of past indeterminate practices adapted for the contemporary context, for example, data tracking and farming, and how to subvert or divert it. They will take place throughout 2020. The workshops will take place in the University of Dundee's newly refurbished Digital Research Studio; the talks will be hosted by DCA. Both will be open to non-academic participants, adults and young adults and jointly advertised on the U of Dundee and DCA's website and social media.
3.Two Café Science events in which I will pair up with mathematician Tasic, who is also a literary writer, to deliver two presentations that will clarify indeterminacy from the mathematical, literary and artistic perspectives. The first of these talks will take place in Dundee in late March 2021, the second in London in early April 2021.
Practitioners and Teachers:
1. A platform for emerging artists will be organised in November 2020 as part of the international conference in collaboration with the Northeast of North Festival (henceforth NEoN). The aim of NEoN is to advance the understanding and accessibility of digital and technology-driven art forms and practices. The purpose of the platform is to host and fund up to 5 high-quality proposals for new indeterminate artistic works from emerging artists. These works will be presented within the NEoN Festival, featured on the NEoN website and on their advertising materials.
2. Teaching materials with a hands-on, DIY approach will be compiled from the above-mentioned case studies and workshops and made available online, on the same website as the digital archive, at the end of the project, in May 2021. These teaching materials will be available to all; amateurs and professionals, emerging and established artists from all artistic backgrounds.
The general public:
1. The Digital Archive: the above-mentioned case studies will be thematically grouped in a thoughtfully curated, historically imaginative digital archive that draws on the work of one of the groups researched in this project: the Situationists International. The SI focused on the spontaneous, inventive engagement with the (physical) environment and the working of personal and social memory. The digital archive will be an interactive virtual territory where audiences of all ages will come into contact with the most well known indeterminate practices. It will be co-hosted, on a separate website, by the University of Dundee and Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee's foremost art centre, and launched in January 2021. In addition to exhibitions, films and talks, DCA specialises in wide-ranging educational and informal learning programmes that connect adults and children to the making and processes of cultural artifacts and wider cultural history.
2.Workshops and Public Talks: contemporary indeterminate practices will be explored via hands-on workshops with the following artists-activists: Ajana, Cates, Cardenas, Fuhijata, Menkman and Nissenbaum. These workshops will focus on the hands-on legacy of past indeterminate practices adapted for the contemporary context, for example, data tracking and farming, and how to subvert or divert it. They will take place throughout 2020. The workshops will take place in the University of Dundee's newly refurbished Digital Research Studio; the talks will be hosted by DCA. Both will be open to non-academic participants, adults and young adults and jointly advertised on the U of Dundee and DCA's website and social media.
3.Two Café Science events in which I will pair up with mathematician Tasic, who is also a literary writer, to deliver two presentations that will clarify indeterminacy from the mathematical, literary and artistic perspectives. The first of these talks will take place in Dundee in late March 2021, the second in London in early April 2021.
Practitioners and Teachers:
1. A platform for emerging artists will be organised in November 2020 as part of the international conference in collaboration with the Northeast of North Festival (henceforth NEoN). The aim of NEoN is to advance the understanding and accessibility of digital and technology-driven art forms and practices. The purpose of the platform is to host and fund up to 5 high-quality proposals for new indeterminate artistic works from emerging artists. These works will be presented within the NEoN Festival, featured on the NEoN website and on their advertising materials.
2. Teaching materials with a hands-on, DIY approach will be compiled from the above-mentioned case studies and workshops and made available online, on the same website as the digital archive, at the end of the project, in May 2021. These teaching materials will be available to all; amateurs and professionals, emerging and established artists from all artistic backgrounds.
People |
ORCID iD |
Natasha Lushetich (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Campbell I
(2020)
"Things begin to speak by themselves": Pierre Schaeffer's myth of the seashell and the epistemology of sound
in Sound Studies
Lushetich, N
(2020)
Big Data - A New Medium?
Lushetich N
(2020)
Big Data - A New Medium?
Lushetich N
(2020)
The Hospitality of the Abyssal Ground: or Perceptual Architectures of Indeterminacy
in Contemporary Aesthetics
Lushetich N
(2020)
Cultural Memory in the Informational Age
Schroeder F
(2021)
Improvisation/Indeterminacy
in Contemporary Music Review
Lushetich N
(2021)
Distributed Perception - Resonances and Axiologies
Lushetich N
(2021)
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? Understanding 'alien' thought
in AI & SOCIETY
Campbell I.
(2021)
Normativity at the edge of reason: review of Cecile Malaspina, An Epistemology of Noise
in Radical Philosophy
Campbell I
(2021)
Structuralist heroes and points of heresy: recognizing Gilles Deleuze's (anti-)structuralism
in Continental Philosophy Review
Title | Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices |
Description | An anarchive is an ephemeral repository without centrally organised memory. It resists fixing data in favour of informational iteration, and the interplay of remembering and forgetting. The Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices is a digital constellation of contemporary artistic practices that engage with indeterminacy in a thematic of formal manner. It is attached to the Indeterminacy project website and relies on randomised and semi-ordered forms of retrieval. When the Anarchive user clicks on 'anarchive' in the website menu, a randomised selection of terms appears. When they click on one of the terms, one of the possible connections appears. All paths are local. There is no meta-view. No point from which the totality of the anarchive can be surveyed. In this sense, the Anarchive is also a reflection on knowledge. It is both a creative output and a research tool. The finalisation of the Anarchive has been delayed due to Covid 19. The Anarchive is is now 'live' and in the testing phase. It is expected that the techical glitches will be resolved in March - April and that the Anarchive will be formally launched in Sept 2023. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Impact | The Anarchive will be launched in the course of 2023 (its production has been delayed due to Covid 19). |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/about-anarchive/ |
Title | Given to Chance |
Description | An exhibition curated in collaboration with the NEoN Digital Arts Festival and NOMAS Projects Gallery (12 - 30 November 2020) Dundee, featuring the work of emerging artists who created the following works based on the Indeterminacy / Share commission (described in more detail in the 'collaboration & partnernships' section): Going Viral (neural network generated video and web application) by Derek Curry & Jennifer Gradecki, US; Study for Sponge Project (video assemblage Youtube ASMR videos) by Dina Kelberman, US; Future False Positive (AI generated, single-channel video loop) by Martin Disley, Scotland; DriNing (Videos from Google Street View scraping algorithm) by Enorê, Brazil; Sequencer (video / live-coded digital animation) by Sarah Groff Hennigh-Palermo, Germany |
Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | 1. The exhibition was widely advertised on social media and drew significant audience numbers despite the pandemc. The NOMAS Projects Gallery is a window gallery in central Dundee where viewers can view the displayed artworks 24 hrs a day. Because of this we don't have precise numbers but know from feeeback to the research project team, the curatorial team, NEoN ad NOMAS Projects that at least 300 people saw the exhibition. 2. The exhibition led to further collaborations between the invited artists (ongoing) 3. It also led to seminar tasks and discussions for Contemporary Art and the Interactive Design classes at Dundee and Abertay 4. A new pathway to impact has been identified: 'prototyping' cross-source GANs (currently in early stages of development) |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/events/given-to-chance-exhibition/ |
Description | Many of the planned research activities - theoretical research, interviews with artists, theorists and scientists, the three-day transdisciplinary conference, workshops, and, to a lesser degree, research in the artists' private archives have gone on unperturbed by the pandemic. Some activities such as visits to the US, Japan and EU archives and artists' studios were postponed and/or re-conceptualised, as did knowledge-exchange activities with an international travel component. In late March 2020, the project was re-organised to enable a focus on the available (digital and remotely viewable) sources and databases. Knowledge dissemination and public engagement activities were carried out in virtual or hybrid form. The different order in which the research was conducted from late March 2020 to early 2022 has had an impact on the project findings, not in terms of quality but research emphasis: the digital aspect of the research and digital case studies have been explored in more depth than the analogue ones although connections with the analogue have been made through interviews and remote use of artist/theorists' private archives. The most important findings of the project are: 1. Ontological indeterminacy (how things come into being) and epistemological indeterminacy (how and why things can or cannot be known) are, in the digital realm, structurally inseparable. Cross-disciplinary research is needed to understand the impact this inseparability, on humans, other-than humans, environments, and the knolwedge economy. 2. The project's initial hypothesis that mid-20th century artistic experimentation with indeterminate procedures (as experiments in distributed agency and thinking by doing) are germane to current digital culatural practices (following Poggioli's theory of the avant-garde as reproducible in mainstream culture) has proven correct. Mid-20th century indeterminate procedures are key not only to current artistic-activist practices (e.g. obfuscation and gitch), but also to digital and cultural practices at large because they are directly related to what today is known as 'alien thought' - machinic and algorithmic operations that defy the linear programme-result, input-output, means-and-goals logic. 3. How we remember in the digital age: temporality, autopoiesis, and sedimentation (and not only artefacts), play a key role in (human and machinic) mnemonic practices. 4. There is a need to further articulate multi-species (human and other-than-human) perception. This can be done through the lenses of entanglement (initially articulated by quantum theory), plasticity (which has, in recent years, come into focus through discussions of neuro-plasticity, e.g. Catherine Malabou's What Should We Do with Our Brain?) and organology (the becoming-body of technologies). 5. Contingency and plasticity are key concepts and processes in understanding (historical and contemporary) technology, including social-digital, spatial and temporal, and epistemic technologies. 6. Recursivity (rather than iteration), which is a process of repetition and diversification, can be used in artography. Artography, as developed in this project, relies on theoretical writing, spatial mapping, (choreographic and musical) notation, and creative writing. It is a new interdisciplinary methodology that can be used in other research. The project's findings have further led to the conceptualisation/development of three other cross-disciplinary projects: 1. ENERGY A (Philosophy of) Practice (grant application submitted in Sept 2022); 2. Everything Thinks: What can Art-Science Experiments Tell us about Cross-Species Intelligence? (a collaboration with Synthesis Center, grant application in process), and 3. Ek-Static Technologies (a collaboration with Leuphana, grant application in process). |
Exploitation Route | The thematic and methodological objectives of the project have been met: 1. A specific brand of interdisciplinary research leadership that brings together theoretical and practice-based research, digital humanities (media theory and philosophy) and artistic practice in a range of media, has been developed 2. The analysis of three key epochs in the history of artistic indeterminacy: the 1960s chance operations, the 1990s (h)activism and culture jamming, and the 2010s glitch and obfuscation practices has led to an interdisciplinary reformulation of the aesthetic, cultural and bio-political aspects of indeterminacy relevant for the 21st century. This is evidenced by the project's publications, most directly by the monograph that will be completed in the course of 2023: To Think is to Throw the Dice. 3. Novel interdisciplinary methodologies have been developed, such as theoretical artography which uses theoretical writing, spatial mapping, intermedial (choreographic and musical) notation and creative writing. Existing interdisciplinary methodologies, such as anarchiving, have been used in novel ways, to create hybrid artefacts as evidenced by the (online) Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices, which is both a creative output and a research tool. 4. A new interdisciplinary network for academic and non-academic beneficiaries has been created through several project activities: workshops, seminars, an international 270-delegate conference, an exhibition, podcasts and the blog, publications (two edited collections and two special issues), the project website, the Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices, and talks delivered at other institutions. The project team is in the process of applying for a network grant to formalise, maximise and expand the existing connections and cross-pollinations. In what ways might the outcomes of this funding be taken forward and put to use by others? The findings have appeared in different forms intended for different audiences: 1. Publications have been and will continue to be taken forward by other interdisciplinary scholars or scholars from disciplines like art history and theory, media theory, philosophy and digital humanities; 2. Online sources (the project website, dictionary, podcasts, workshops, conference, and the Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices) are and will be of use to scholars, practitioners and the general public; 3. The findings of the case study research and the 6 workshops will be taken forward by practitioners, archivists, curators, lecturers and students. |
Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software) Education Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Other |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/ |
Description | There is non-academic impact resulting from the content and methodologies that this project has introduced to a wide range of art practitioners and technologists, via the 6 public engagement activities (workshops), the Given to Chance exhibition, and the Indeterminate Futures conference (all of which took place in 2020). Due to the Covid19 restrictions in 2021 and, in some parts of the world also in 2022, many of the practitioners' activities were postponed or cancelled. However several dozen practitioners have reported changes in their practices. At this point in time, there is evidence of influence and methodological and technique-based changes in the practitioners' work, and in some cases, in the educators' agendas despite the fact that the gathering of evidence (of the implementation and/or further development of the content/methodologies introduced in the project's knowledge-exchange activities) has been delayed. This process is still ongoing. The project team is in contact with over 400 academics and practitioners who took part in the project and/or attended the conference and engagement activities. All are regularly invited to outcome (e.g. book) launches. Many have reported impact; we expect to have the full impact report after the launch of the Anarchive and the publication of the special issue Parallax later this year. Although academic impact has been delayed due to Covid 19 too, 14 publications have been published (including edited collections and special issues), with another coming out this year. The current publication date for the monograph is 2024/25 (due to the unavailability of the archival material located at the Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles and MoMA, New York City) in 2020-2021 and for a part of 2022. Another notable impact area is the inclusion of early-career researchers in all aspects of the project's research. Many ECRs have commented on the variety of venues (e.g. the conference, workshops, publications and the project website) that have enabled continuous knowledge exchange with more experienced cross-disciplinary academics and practitioners. A full report on academic and educational impact will follow after the last item - a teaching-orientated summary of the project, which draws on the existing materials (dictionary, Anarchive, podcasts, publications) - has been completed (in June 2024). |
First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural |
Description | The project activities have influenced professional art and media practice |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or Improved professional practice |
Description | ENERGY: A Philosophy of Practice |
Amount | £1,000,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/X009114/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 09/2027 |
Title | Indeterminacy Anarchive |
Description | An anarchive is an ephemeral repository without centrally organised memory. It resists fixing data in favour of informational iteration, and the interplay of remembering and forgetting. The Anarchive of Indeterminate Artistic Practices is a digital constellation of contemporary artistic practices that engage with indeterminacy in a thematic of formal manner. It is attached to the Indeterminacy project website and relies on randomised and semi-ordered forms of retrieval. As a research tool the Anarchive prompts associative term linking, and combines informational depth with rhizomaticity. When the Anarchive user clicks on 'anarchive' in the website menu, a randomised selection of terms appears. When they click on one of these terms, one of the possible connections appears. All paths are local. There is no meta-view. No point from which the totality of the anarchive can be surveyed. In this sense, the Anarchive is also a reflection on knowledge. It is both a creative output and a research tool. The finalisation of the Anarchive has been delayed due to Covid 19. The Anarchive is is now 'live' and in the testing phase. It is expected that the techical glitches will be resolved in March - April and that the Anarchive will be formally launched in Sept 2023. |
Type Of Material | Technology assay or reagent |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | As mentioned above, the Anarchive will be made available to the public in the course of 2023. |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/anarchive/ |
Title | Project website: The Future of Indeterminacy |
Description | In addition to offering information about all of the project's events and activities (the conference, the workshops, commissions, exhibition, publications, and blog) the website also has a dictionary and podcasts (interviews with the artists, theorists and scientists relevant for understanding the project's approach to indeterminacy). We are in the process of uploading the 3-day international conference, and have started working on the digital archive, which will be uploaded to the website, too, alongside teaching materials as outlined in the project proposal. The website is conceptualised as a resource for historical, theoretical and artistic research useful to academics, artists, students and the general public. It is work in progress and will be until the end of the project (when all the sub-projects will be completed). |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The conference speakers, workshop participants and students have commented on the usefulness of the dictionary and the podcasts (in addition to the full conference programme). According to these comments, these tools delineate the project's research aims, contextualise them within the broader frame of indeterminacy and provide useful references. We anticipate that the digital archive will be a similarly useful resource, both because it will integrate audio-visual and textual materials and because of its design and approach - a reflection on the 'critical archiving' tradition. |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/ |
Description | Ek-Static Technologies |
Organisation | Leuphana University |
Country | Germany |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Indeterminacy team is developing a project entitled Ek-Static Technologies with Leuphana University. This collaboration began with an invited plenary speech (Lushetich) in Nov 2022 and is developing through online discussions and in-person workshops scheduled for April - June 2023. |
Collaborator Contribution | This collaboration began in Dec 2022. We will be able to provide a more accurate description of Leuphana's contributions after the discussions scheduled for mid-April 2023. |
Impact | This collaboration is in early stages. There are no outputs or outcomes to report at this point in time. The collaboration is interdisciplinary; it involves researchers from Aesthetics, Media Theory, and Design. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Follow-up collaboration with the Synthesis Center, Arizona State University |
Organisation | Arizona State University |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Indeterminacy team is collaborating with the Synthesis Center and the SC director, Sha Xin Wei, on a project entitled Everything Thinks. This collaboration, which has come out of The Future of Indeterminacy project, is in early stages (initial project activities in the form of preliminary experimental workshops and the completion of the funding bid have been delayed due to Covid 19). The project's research agenda and modes of collaboration have now been agreed upon and we are currently working on the funding bid. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Synthesis Center is a multi-disciplinary center for transversal research and experiments in art, science and philosophy. It builds responsive environments for shelter, sociality and play, and investigates the spatial, temporal and affective dimensions of computer-mediated environments. As a partner, the Synthesis Center will contribute knowledge base, studio space equipment, and expertise. |
Impact | This collaboration is in early stages. As mentioned above, both the preliminary workshops and the funding bid have been delayed (because of Covid 19, travel restrictions and a knock-on effect of other Covid 19-related delays). |
Start Year | 2021 |
Description | Given to Chance |
Organisation | Abertay University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Future of Indeterminacy organised a platform for emerging artists in collaboration with the NEoN Digital Arts Festival. The curatiorial team consisted of Joseph De Lappe (NEoN & Abertay), Laura Leuzzi (NEoN), Adam Lockhart (Dundee) and Natasha Lushetich (Dundee). The exhibition, entitled Given to Chance was shown at the NOMAS Projects Gallery from 12 - 30 November 2020. NOMAS Projects is a window gallery where the five selected digital works by four emerging artists and an artist duo could be shown despite the pandemic. The Future of Indeteminacy team contributed curatorial expertise and organisational skills and effort. We also hosted the exhibition on our virtual Indeterminate Futures / The Future of Indeterminacy conference platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners, including the NOMAS Projects Gallery, contributed curatorial expertise, technical equipment, the gallery space, help with installing and de-installing the exhibition, and publicity. They also organised a (Zoom) artists' panel on 19 November 2020. |
Impact | The exhibition Given to Chance, which was a response to the NEoN / The Future of Indeterminacy commisssion entitled Share / Indeterminacy explored connections and commonalities between sharing and indeterminacy. We casually use the word 'share' to describe distributing images, stories and information across social media networks. Sharing suggests ownership, and yet inclusivity, generosity, accessibility, and holding in common. Indeterminacy designates the interplay of design and chance, system and impulse, repeatability and change. From an international open call for early career artists (for which 115 applications were received), four artists and an artist duo were selected and invited to develop new works for the NOMAS window spaces. The exhibition's title reflects the works' themes as well as the artists' adaptability to the pandemic and the changed exhibition conditions. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Given to Chance |
Organisation | Dundee Contemporary Arts |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The Future of Indeterminacy organised a platform for emerging artists in collaboration with the NEoN Digital Arts Festival. The curatiorial team consisted of Joseph De Lappe (NEoN & Abertay), Laura Leuzzi (NEoN), Adam Lockhart (Dundee) and Natasha Lushetich (Dundee). The exhibition, entitled Given to Chance was shown at the NOMAS Projects Gallery from 12 - 30 November 2020. NOMAS Projects is a window gallery where the five selected digital works by four emerging artists and an artist duo could be shown despite the pandemic. The Future of Indeteminacy team contributed curatorial expertise and organisational skills and effort. We also hosted the exhibition on our virtual Indeterminate Futures / The Future of Indeterminacy conference platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners, including the NOMAS Projects Gallery, contributed curatorial expertise, technical equipment, the gallery space, help with installing and de-installing the exhibition, and publicity. They also organised a (Zoom) artists' panel on 19 November 2020. |
Impact | The exhibition Given to Chance, which was a response to the NEoN / The Future of Indeterminacy commisssion entitled Share / Indeterminacy explored connections and commonalities between sharing and indeterminacy. We casually use the word 'share' to describe distributing images, stories and information across social media networks. Sharing suggests ownership, and yet inclusivity, generosity, accessibility, and holding in common. Indeterminacy designates the interplay of design and chance, system and impulse, repeatability and change. From an international open call for early career artists (for which 115 applications were received), four artists and an artist duo were selected and invited to develop new works for the NOMAS window spaces. The exhibition's title reflects the works' themes as well as the artists' adaptability to the pandemic and the changed exhibition conditions. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Given to Chance |
Organisation | NEoN |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The Future of Indeterminacy organised a platform for emerging artists in collaboration with the NEoN Digital Arts Festival. The curatiorial team consisted of Joseph De Lappe (NEoN & Abertay), Laura Leuzzi (NEoN), Adam Lockhart (Dundee) and Natasha Lushetich (Dundee). The exhibition, entitled Given to Chance was shown at the NOMAS Projects Gallery from 12 - 30 November 2020. NOMAS Projects is a window gallery where the five selected digital works by four emerging artists and an artist duo could be shown despite the pandemic. The Future of Indeteminacy team contributed curatorial expertise and organisational skills and effort. We also hosted the exhibition on our virtual Indeterminate Futures / The Future of Indeterminacy conference platform. |
Collaborator Contribution | The partners, including the NOMAS Projects Gallery, contributed curatorial expertise, technical equipment, the gallery space, help with installing and de-installing the exhibition, and publicity. They also organised a (Zoom) artists' panel on 19 November 2020. |
Impact | The exhibition Given to Chance, which was a response to the NEoN / The Future of Indeterminacy commisssion entitled Share / Indeterminacy explored connections and commonalities between sharing and indeterminacy. We casually use the word 'share' to describe distributing images, stories and information across social media networks. Sharing suggests ownership, and yet inclusivity, generosity, accessibility, and holding in common. Indeterminacy designates the interplay of design and chance, system and impulse, repeatability and change. From an international open call for early career artists (for which 115 applications were received), four artists and an artist duo were selected and invited to develop new works for the NOMAS window spaces. The exhibition's title reflects the works' themes as well as the artists' adaptability to the pandemic and the changed exhibition conditions. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Beyond Resolution: Impossible Image a workshop and talk delivered by Rosa Menkman |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Rosa Menkman's workshop in which 30 participants took part (the limit of the workshop) combined a presentation of Menkman's work at CERN, France with discussions of the participants' methodologies for artistic and cross-disciplinary work. The participants appreciated Menkman's step-by-step methodological explanations and the resulting discussions. They had a clear sense that they had learnt something new and had the opportunity to discuss it. This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) was that the workshop had a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-rosa-menkman-and-btihaj-ajana/ |
Description | Book launch (Contingency and Plasticity in Everyday Technologies) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Online book launch Contingency and Plasticity in Everyday Technologies |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Catalogue text for Opening Performance Orchestra's 2021-2022 project Stolen Symphony |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I was asked to contribute a catalogue text for the above project, which includes live performances in several European locations (scheduled to take place in the sumer/autumn of 2022), 3 CDs (due to be published with the Belgian label Sub Rosa in 2022) and artistic contributions from over a dozen artists and writers. The text was written and submitted in 2021, however the Stolen Symphony events will take place in 2022. Based on the Opening Performance Orchestra's prior projects and public performances' reach, at least several hundred audience members are expected to enagage with the project. The event's impact will become evident later in 2022. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | DIstributed Perception (online) Book Launch 25 February 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The online book launch for one of the project's publications Distributed Perception: Resonances and Axiologies (Routledge 2021) (eds. Lushetich, Natasha & Campbell, Iain) took place on the 25th of February 2022. As the book contains contributions from practising artists (e.g. Kuai Shen, Suzanne Thorpe, Martin Disley, etc), in addition to theoretical contributions, the event was widely advertised. The 56 attendees were emerging and established artists, and general audience members, as well as emerging scholar-practitioners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Glitch Western Film and Video Games a workshop and talk delivered by Jon Cates |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In Jon Cates' workshop and talk, professional film and media-art practitioners, curators and students participated in several hands-on individual and small-group tasks, related to critical mediality and digital media. Given Cates's background as an artist and curator, the inception and spread of the glitch and dirty new media movements (in the US and globally) were discussed, too. The participants (37 in total) also engaged in a comparative analysis of media practice in different geographical regions, appraised the cultural/colonial genealogy of various film genres (such as the Western) and discussed the use of software and glitching techniques, This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) was that the workshop had a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-jon-cates-warren-neidich/ |
Description | Indeterminacy, Ontogenesis and Play a workshop delivered by Sha Xin Wei and Emiddio Vasquez |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This virtual workshop and talk delivered by Sha and Vasquez, intended primarily for artists at all career stages, was attended by practitioners, students and researchers. The workshop had a limit of 30 participants and consisted of a practical demonstration of Sha's cross-discplinary projects and methodologies, small-group and plenary discussions and a series of tasks, followed by participant feedback on and a discussion of the tasks. Most of the participant comments and questions focused on Sha and Vasquez's methodologies and their aplicability to other artistic and cross-disicplinary areas. The participants appreciated the originality of Sha and Vasquez's approaches and the opportunity to ask about how some of these methodologies can be applied in their own work. This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) was that the workshop had a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-kuai-shen-sha-xin-wei-emiddio-vasquez/ |
Description | Ludic Technologies: A Dance with Complexity workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Professional practitioners from the UK, Asia and Australia attended the Ludic Technologies: A Dance with Complexity workshop, organised by the Aberystwyth and Nottingham Universities and delivered online on the 29th of July 2021. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.ntail.org/workshops |
Description | RRR Rhythm Relations Resistance - a hands-on virtual workshop and talk by Kuai Shen |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This hands-on workshop, whose purpose was to disseminate artistic findings, methodologies and technical expertise, had a limit of 20 participants. It was followed by an artist's talk which drew 26 audience members. Most of the workshop participants were professional artists at different stages of their career. Several were MA and UG students. In addition to the hands-on tasks, the workshop was designed to facilitate large-group and smaller-group discussions. The participants reported a high level of engagment; they were very positive about Shen's work methodologies; and appreciative of the digital sound and image mixing techniques the second part of the workshop was dedicated to. They also appreciated the opportunity to exchange opinions and share practices and techniques. This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) was that the workshop had a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-kuai-shen-sha-xin-wei-emiddio-vasquez/ |
Description | The Brain without Organs: Art and Indeterminacy - a workshop and talk delivered by Warren Neidich |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | In the workshop, which had a limit of 20 participants, Neidich engaged professional practitioners (from a range of artistic media) and students in individual tasks and small-group and plenary discussions. The workshop showcased Neidich's methodologies used in recent work presented at the Venice Bienale. Neidich discussed the use of media and diagrammatic concepts (like Deleuze's body without organs) in the practice of art making. Both his workshop and talk addressed neuroplasticity which many participants found particularly useful (because of Neidich's use of practical examples). This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-jon-cates-warren-neidich/ |
Description | The Burst of Surprise: Indeterminacy and the Viral Politics of Covid-19 - a worskhop and talk by Btihaj Ajana |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This workshop created a platform for discussing civic structures and mechanisms. The workshop's focus on the current pandemic and immunity (in all senses of the word) afforded an oportunity for artists, theorists and educators to exchange experiences, opinions and discuss policies. The workshop participants were particularly appreciative of the small-group discussions where themes and approaches relevant to their work were discussed in depth. This workshop was intially supposed to take place live and have a longer duration. Although shorter, the benefit of the virtual workshop (the Covid19 solution) was a wider geographical reach - participans from all over the world were able to take part in the workshop and attend the accompanying talk. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://indeterminacy.ac.uk/virtual-workshops-with-rosa-menkman-and-btihaj-ajana/ |
Description | What is Bio-Medial-Politics? The Paris Institute for Critical Thinking, np, 22 Oct 2022. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The article was published in late Oct 2022 and has, so far, been read by over 1600 readers. The Paris Institute for Critical Thinking is a general public-orientated institute. The primary participants (in talks, seminars and workshops) are (non-academic) professionals and artists. Texts published on the Faculty Lounge page serve as a connection between the talks organised by the Institute and educational activities (classes and workshops). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://parisinstitute.org/what-is-bio-medial-politics/ |