21st to 23rd November 2012

International Conference on Research Creativity – Praxis 2012

Event Details

As our societies are increasingly reliant on technology, what becomes obvious is the unique contribution that corporeal experience plays in creativity, and creativity plays in research. Scholarship in art creation is equal to that in scientific research. Art creation in some cases may also be the result of research.

Exploring the borders in art, science and technology, the International Conference on Research Creativity: Praxis seeks to define this relationship beyond human geography. Networks that are sites of research and practices embedded in a larger context are often cross-connected with social movements of locally and globally networked societies.

Following the success of AVA’s inaugural conference ‘Opportunities and Challenges – Visual Arts Education in Asia’ in 2009, this year we bring some of the world’s leading creative thinkers together in Hong Kong to delve deeper into the notion of Praxis. How can we avoid falling into the trap of being pragmatic when undertaking research, so that poetics are nourished and supported rather than stifled by the need to articulate/publish, so that entrenched research paradigms do not stifle new modes of research that can be supported to emerge from artistic fields? Creative research adopts the language of the times, modeled upon the digital networks and the electronic circuitry of our age, rather than the mechanical factories designed in the industrial age.

We have the ability to use the affordances of the body to explore post-modernity’s alternative geographies. International Conference on Research Creativity – Praxis is about mapping this new terrain for research.

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Program

Day 1 (21^st Nov, 2012)

10:00am Registration

10:30am- 12:00pm Opening and Keynote address

10:30 AM – Welcoming by Prof. Martha CHEUNG, Fellow of Institute of Creativity/Director Centre for Translation/ Chair Prof. Translation.
10:40 AM – Welcoming by Prof. John AIKEN, Chair/Prof Fine Art/ Director Academy of Visual Arts HKBU.
10:50 AM – Welcoming by Dr. Patricia Flanagan Chairperson International Conference on Research Creativity: Praxis.

11:00am – 12:00pm Keynote address
Making Magic Machines
By Kristina Anderson, Amsterdam – STEIM (the studio for electro-instrumental music)/ Founding Fellow of the Research Institute in the Converging Arts And Sciences (ICAS) University of Greenwich United Kingdom.

12:00 – 1:00pm Plenary Session One
Networks as sites of research

12:00 PM • Ms. Katherine OLSTON, Australia – Articulating networks: Collaboration in the project Nocturne.
12:30 PM • Ms. Celina ALVARADO, Spain/United States of America – Caught My Wink.

2:00pm – 3:45pm Plenary Session Two
Body, move, play – Haptic praxis, sensibility, practice led/practice based research

2:00 PM • Prof. Kanta KOCHHAR-LINDGREN, USA – Haptic Play: Materials, Bodies and Architectures in Dance and Design.
2:30 PM • Dr. Gavin SADE, Australia – Intractable differences: Artistic research and the problem of practice.
3:00 – 3:15 PM Tea Break
3:15 PM • Mr. Tom GREK, United Kingdom – The Mind-Body Interface: Hypnosis and direct experience.

7:00pm Opening of HIF Exhibition/welcoming party
Venue: Koo Ming Kwon Exhibition Gallery

Day 2 (22^nd Nov, 2012)

9:45am – 10:45am Keynote address
Inner Technologies and the Field of Freedom
By Shelly SACKS, United Kingdom/ South Africa – Professor of Social Sculpture at Oxford Brooks University, Oxford, United Kingdom/ Director Social Sculpture Research Institute/ Social Sculpture Practitioner.

10:45am – 11:00am Tea Break

11:00am -1:00pm Plenary Session Three
Thinking through the body (Practice as thinking/thinking as practice)

11:00 AM • Prof. Anne GRAHAM, Australia – The Illusory Vitality of Objects.
11:30 AM • Ms. Dawn-Joy LEONG, Hong Kong/Australia – Creating Mutual Platforms from Parallel Universes – can Neurodiversity show the way Forward in Artistic Research and Practice?
12:00 PM • Dr. Roger NG, Hong Kong – Praxis of Creativity Mining in Tibetan Buddhism.
12:30 PM • Dr. Elizabeth SHAW, Australia – Hand Making Community.

2:00pm – 4:45pm Plenary Session Four
Collaborative and inter-disciplinary creativity (Breaking down silos/ creative community)

2:00 PM • Dr. Carol ARCHER, Australia/Hong Kong – Fair Play: Contemporary Collaborative Painting.
2:30 PM • Dr. Patricia FLANAGAN, Australia/Hong Kong – Culture, Art and transformation.
3:00 PM • Dr. Allison HUI, United States of America/Hong Kong – Arts machines, cultural probes and academic practices.
3:30 – 3:45 PM Tea Break
3:45 PM • Mr. Jonathan JAMES, Australia – Old Media, New Media and the Organic Body.
4:15 PM • Dr. Christopher KELEN, Australia/Macau – Poetry and Translation – Collaborative Practice and Creative Outcome.

7:30pm Conference dinner
Chi Lin Vegetarian, 5 Chi Lin Drive, Diamond Hill, Kowloon

Day 3 (23^rd Nov, 2012)

Keynote address 9:45 – 10:45 AM
New Maps for New Spaces: The poetics of creative knowledge
by Elizabeth Grierson, Australia – Professor of Art and Philosophy at RMIT University, Research Leader of RMIT Design Research Institute, 2005 – 12 Head of the School of Art at RMIT University Melbourne.

10:45 – 11:00 AM Tea Break

11:00 AM – 1:30 PM Plenary Session Five
Research about creativity/ creativity as research

11:00 AM • Dr. Frank VIGNERON, France/ Hong Kong – Theory as Practice and Practice as Theory – Praxis and the PhD in art.
11:30 AM • Ms. Marian TUBBS, Australia – Radical Finitude: Difference as a strategy.
12:00 PM • Prof. Daniel GILGEN, Germany – 7 Typical Hurdles in Teaching Creativity at Art Schools and how they can be Overcome.
12:30 PM • Ms. Katia VEGA, Peru – Blank Model Prototyping for creating Wearable Computers in Multidisciplinary teams.
1:00 PM • Dr. Sophia Suk-mun LAW, Hong Kong – Image Writing – Research on the Expressive and Communicative Power of Art.

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Panel discussion

Kristina ANDERSON, Netherlands – STEIM (the studio for electro-instrumental music)
Prof. Shelly SACKS, United Kingdom/ South Africa – Professor of Social Sculpture at Oxford Brooks University
Prof. Elizabeth GRIERSON – Professor of Art and Philosophy and Head of the School of Art, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Dr. Jack LEE, Hong Kong – Assistant Professor Visual Culture, Art Criticism, HKBU
Dr. HO Sui Kee, Hong Kong – Associate Director and Programme Director of MVA Sculpture, Body Aesthetics, HKBU
Dr. Roger NG, Hong Kong – Institute of Textiles and Clothing Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. LEUNG Mee Ping, Hong Kong – Assistant Professor Cultural Studies, Integrated Creativity, HKBU
Dr. Vivian TING, Hong Kong – Assistant Professor Material Culture, Museum Studies, HKBU
Dr. Patricia FLANAGAN, Australia/Hong Kong – Assistant Professor Wearables Lab, Academy of Visual Arts HKBU
Dr. Anson MAK, Hong Kong – Lecturer Moving Image and Sound Art, HKBU
Ms. Emma WATTS, United Kingdom/Hong Kong – Lecturer Art History, Visual Culture, HKBU

Call for Papers

Submissions are invited on significant, original, and previously unpublished cases and research in the following areas:

Thinking through the body (practice as thinking and thinking as practice)
Body, move, play (Haptic praxis, sensibility, and practice-led/practice-based research)
Networks as sites of research
Collaborative and inter-disciplinary creativity (Breaking down silos and connecting creative communities)
Research about creativity and creativity as research

Please submit an abstract limited to 500 words and a bibliography not later than 23^rdJuly 2012.

The accepted abstracts will be invited to submit a full paper of maximum 4,000 words length that will be peer reviewed prior to confirmation of the final speakers list. The accepted papers will be published in the conference proceedings. The authors will then be invited to make a 20-minute presentation at the conference.

Committees

Chairman
Dr. Patricia Flanagan – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

Organizing Committee
Dr. Ho Siu Kee – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Dr. Victor Lai – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

Programme Committee
Dr. Vivian Ting – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Dr. Jack Lee – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Dr. Bryan Chung – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Ms. Mariko Takagi – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University
Ms. Emma Watts – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

Steering Committee
Dr. Danielle Wilde – Art and Design Technology Research and Education, Australia
Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren – Director of Folded Paper Dance, Director of the 2013 Innovation Forum: Engaging Design, Associate Professor of Performance Studies, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences University of Washington, Bothell
Dr. Hugo Fuks – Departamento de Informática at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro

Peer reviewers
Dr. Bruce Barber – Professor Media Arts/ Historical and Critical Studies MFA Director, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada.
Dr. Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren – Associate Professor, School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, University of Washington, Bothell, USA.
Dr. Hugo Fuks – Associate Professor Department of Informatics, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio De Janeiro, Brasil.
Dr. Megan K. Blake – Visiting Associate Professor, Geography, Hong Kong University, Senior Lecturer Geography, University of Sheffield, UK.
Dr. Jack Barbalet – Head and Professor Department of Sociology, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.
Dr. Leonard Steinbach – Principal of Cultural Technology Strategies, Zanvyl Krieger School of art and Sciences, John Hopkins University, Washington DC, USA/ Visiting Fellow, City University, Hong Kong.
Dr. Patricia Flanagan – Assistant Professor Wearables Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong.

Secretariat
Law Bo Kent Kevin – Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University

Important Dates

July 23 – Deadline for submission of abstract
July 31 – Notification of acceptance of abstract
August 27 – Deadline for full paper submission
October 12 – Notification of acceptance of paper
October 22 – Deadline for final paper submission
November 21 to 23 – Conference Dates

Where and When

Multi-function Room, Level 2
Madam Kwok Chung Bo Fun Sports and Cultural Centre, 55 Renfrew Rd, Kowloon Tsai, Hong Kong

21st to 23rd November 2012

People Involved

Keynote Speaker
	Elizabeth Grierson Professor of Art and Philosophy, RMIT University Keynote Speaker Elizabeth Grierson Professor of Art and Philosophy, RMIT University Professor Elizabeth Grierson is Professor of Art and Philosophy at RMIT University, where she is a research leader of RMIT Design Research Institute, and from 2005-2012 Head of the School of Art at RMIT University Melbourne. Her PhD in Philosophy of Education and MA (1^st Class Hons) in Art History, and BA majoring in English language and literature are from University of Auckland NZ, and her fine art training was also in Auckland with twenty years or more of exhibiting in New Zealand galleries. Elizabeth has a long career in university education, has worked in universities in Australia and New Zealand, was a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Brighton in UK in 1997-98, and has undertaken many international assignments and research projects. Elizabeth has led many projects in the education and art fields. She is known internationally for her speaking and publications focusing on trans-disciplinary research in art and design, creativity and health, law and education, art education, aesthetics and philosophy of education. Over the past 3 years she has been working on a trans-disciplinary research project on art and medicine supported by Australia Research Council funding. The project,Designing Sound for Health and Wellbeing was undertaken by researchers from the School of Art at RMIT University with medical researchers from St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne. Elizabeth was also a leading member of a research team who won the Design Research Institute 2010, Design Against Crime Challenge, with the project TRUST: Interventions through Art. Elizabeth is frequently called upon to act as an academic referee, and judge of awards. She serves on several editorial boards, and is executive editor of the scholarly journal ACCESS: Critical Perspectives on Communication, Cultural & Policy Studies. She is the author of many books, book chapters, journal articles, and catalogue essays. In 2012 Elizabeth is working on a special project for the Vice Chancellor of RMIT University, the research and writing of a 2^nd edition of the book, A Skilled Hand and Cultivated Mind. A Guide to the Architecture and Art of RMIT University, 2^nd edition (RMIT Press). The 1^st edition was published in 2008. She is also continuing studies in law with a Juris Doctor at RMIT University with a particular interest in issues of art law, internet and copyright, and legal systems in education.
	Kristina Andersen Senior Researcher, Patchingzone Keynote Speaker Kristina Andersen Senior Researcher, Patchingzone Kristina Andersen is a researcher and storyteller based in Amsterdam. She is primarily concerned with how we can allow each other to practice at the future through the making of new exploratory objects. To do this she works with electronics and reclaimed materials to create unusual objects and workshop experiences. She holds a Cand. Arch. [wearable computers], a M.Sc [tangible objects in virtual spaces], and was a research fellow at the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea [IT]. She is a Founding Research Fellow of the Research Institute in the Converging Arts & Sciences (ICAS) at the University of Greenwich [UK]. She has been a mentor at DasArts, a thematic project leader at the Piet Zwart Institute/ MA in Media Design, an honorary visiting design fellow at the University of York [UK] and she has designed and hosted countless workshops. She is mentor and senior researcher at the Patchingzone and teaches the combined MA between STEIM and Sonology in Den Haag [NL] as well as maintaining her own practice.
	Shelley Sacks Professor of Social Sculpture, Oxford Brookes University Keynote Speaker Shelley Sacks Professor of Social Sculpture, Oxford Brookes University Shelley Sacks is social sculpture practitioner working with others to shape humane and viable ways of being in the world. Her writings, actions and projects explore dialogue processes, creative agency and the relationship of imagination to transformation, working across sectors and disciplines to facilitate creative exchanges that empower people and lead to new understandings of citizenship and forms of transformation. From 1970 to 1990, Shelley Sacks worked in South Africa, Germany and the UK, exploring new forms of creative practice and their relationship to the evolution of an ecologically just and democratic society. Her work includes more than forty live actions, site works, and installations; involvement in grass roots cultural and political organisations; facilitating cooperatives in the 1970’s and 1980’s in South Africa; and collaborating with Joseph Beuys for more than a decade in the Free International University. Now in the UK as Professor of Social Sculpture at Oxford Brookes University, Shelley coordinates the Social Sculpture Research Unit www.social-sculpture.org and the Masters Programme in Social Sculpture and Interdisciplinary Arts. Her acclaimed social sculpture, eco-citizenship projects such as Exchange Values with banana growers and consumers [www.exchange-values.org], University of the Trees www.universityofthetrees.organd Earth Forum are examples of a transdisciplinary, expanded practice that explores the relationship of imaginal thought and ‘new organs of perception’ to the shaping of an ecological and democratic society. She is currently working on a co-authored book on Aesthetic Education for Sustainability.