transdisciplinarians convene in turkey

This summer (2014) I had an adventure of a lifetime attending the Third International Conferecne on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture: Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics in Istanbul, Turkey. The aim of the conference, put together by Lanfranco Aceti, Edward Colless and Paul Thomas, was to bring together artists, theorists , scholars, scientists, historians and curators to present papers that respond to the themes of the cloud and molecular aesthetics in areas related to: Media Arts, Painting, Drawing, Curating Installation, Film, Video, Photography, Computer Visualization, Real-time Imaging, Intelligent Systems and Image Science. I was invited to present a paper on my topic: genetic data and the molecular gaze: a new portraiture.

Pera Museum, Istanbul, 2014 (photograph: Madeleine Preston)

The Operational and Curatorial Research in Contemporary Art, Design, Science and Technology (OCR) hosted the conference. OCR is a research center that focuses on research in the fine arts. Its projects are characterized by elements of interdisciplinarity and transdiciplinarity. OCR engages with public and private institutions worldwide in order to foster innovation and best practices through collaborations and synergies. OCR focuses on project development and hands on research. International conference partners include Leonardeo, The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, Pera Muzesi, National Institute for Experimental Arts, Sabanci University, Victoria College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Aalborg University of Denmark, Goldsmiths University of London, University of Copenhagen, COFA, University of New South Wales and others. The range of fields analyzed spans from visual culture to fine art, computer science to curatorial and museum studies, from artists moral rights and intellectual property to cultural industries and new economic business models in the arts.

This conference attendees were in large part, art and scientific theorists. But there were also art practitioners, educators, designers and curators presenting their projects and pedagogy. This immersive experience allowed me to ignite new collaborative and transdisciplinary connections as well as extending my academic perspectives as an educator. I will feature some highlights from some of the presentations at the conference in additional blog posts…so stay tuned.