The primary aim of this workshop is to advance the integration of the arts and humanities with science in the interest of addressing complex ecological and social-ecological challenges. This effort is emerging organically from the recent groundswell in arts and humanities activities associated with many different research sites of long-term inquiry such as those encompassed in the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS), National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML), Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and and an array of other organizations active in art and science integrative research.

 

In this workshop, our goal is to expand and engage productive new partnerships across disciplines, encourage the core problem-solving capacity of both art and science, and to design the mechanisms required to stabilize and institutionalize the art/science relationship at place-based field research facilities over the lengthy time-spans required for this mode of inquiry. 

 

Cortada will join a small group of ~25 highly qualified and diverse attendees that span art and scientific institutions with substantive histories and perspectives on these issues, as well as land managers, individual artists, scientists, philosophers and social scientists working in these arenas, representatives from major funding agencies in the arts, humanities and sciences, and graduate students working on related multidisciplinary career trajectories.

 

A major outcome of the workshop will be the preparation of a Research Coordination Network (RCN) proposal to NSF by our team of organizers. This future RCN project (pending funding) aims to provide a roadmap forward in which the integration of arts, humanities and science can be applied to address diverse local manifestations of global social ecological challenges. We are also hopeful that some publications might emerge from the work presented and/or discussions held at this workshop.

 

Our organizational team includes:

 

Co-chairs:

·       Mary Beth Leigh: University of Alaska Fairbanks, Bonanza Creek LTER, Fairbanks, AK

·       Faerthen Felix: University of California, Berkeley – Sagehen Creek Field Station, Truckee, CA; Organization of Biological Field Stations                

 

Coordinator and Primary Contact:

·       Annie Duffy, Ph.D. student and Artist, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

 

Organizing Committee:

·       Frederick Swanson: Oregon State University and USFS, H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest and LTER, Corvallis, OR

·       Lindsey Rustad: USFS, Northern Research Station, Durham, NH, Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and LTER.

·       Jeff Brown: UC Berkeley, Central Sierra Field Research Stations; Organization of Biological Field Stations/National Association of Marine Laboratories

·       Bill Fox, Colin Robertson and Sara Frantz: Nevada Museum of Art, Center for Art + Environment, Reno NV

SCHEDULE

— Friday, June 19th —

2:00 – 4:15 pm                        Workshop Registration and Nevada Museum of Art Visit (on own)

§ Check in to register for the workshop and pick up workshop   materials.

§ Receive museum passes and visit exhibits before reception begins.

4:30 – 6:00 pm                        Reception with Refreshments, Nevada Museum of Art

§ Introductions and discussion of goals for the meeting.

§ Discussion item: How do we blend the creative discovery processes of art and science to address ecological questions and their social ramifications, using field research stations as the catalyst?

4:30 – 4:45 pm                        Workshop Welcome
Bill Fox, Director, Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art

4:45 – 4:50 pm                        What is a Research Coordination Network (RCN)?
Lindsey Rustad, Team Leader and Research Ecologist, Center for Research on Ecosystem Change

4:50 – 5:05 pm                        What is a Field Station?
Jeff Brown, Director, UC Berkeley -­‐ Central Sierra Field Research   Stations

5:05 – 5:20 pm                        Overview of the Current and Past State of Arts at Field Stations
Fred Swanson, Geologist, US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station

5:20 – 6:00 pm                        Reception Social Time, Meet Fellow Attendees

6:00 – 8:00 pm                       Dinner at Chez Louie, Nevada Museum of Art

— Saturday, June 20th —

8:00 – 9:00 am                        Breakfast in Founder’s Room, Nevada Museum of Art
Theme: Why are we here?

9:00 – 9:15 am                        Workshop Introduction and Refresher on Goals, Framework, and Questions 9:15 – 9:30 am
Overview of the Recent National Academy of Science Publication on the Future of Field Stations and Marine Laboratories (FSMLs)
Jerry Schubel, President and CEO, Aquarium of the Pacific

§ Why are field research stations even interested in art?

9:30 – 9:45 am                        Overview of the Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design (SEAD) Network
“Steps to an Ecology of Networked Knowledge and Innovation” Publication
Amy Ione, Artist and Educator

§ What are the issues around integrating art and science?

9:45 – 10:30 am                      Discussion
Theme: Neuroaesthetics, Creativity, and the Discovery Potential of Art and Science

10:30 – 10:45 am                   The Pliability of Perception
Art Shimamura, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley

§ Does art make us see the world differently than science   does?

10:45 – 11:00 am                   The Emerging Field of Neuroaesthetics and Why the Linkage Between Arts and Sciences Actually Engages our Brains in a Different Way
Michael Casey, James Wright Professor, Depts. of Music and Computer Science, Dartmouth College

§ What is the nature of creativity?

11:00 – 11:15 am                   Art Experience vs. Science Experience
Brandon Ballengée, Artist and Biologist

§ Can this difference allow art to make useful discoveries about the world (vs. traditional outreach and illustration)?

11:15 – 12:00 pm                   Discussion

12:00 – 1:00 pm                      Lunch Buffet in Nevada Museum of Art (per diem)
Theme: Arts Projects, Funding, and Metrics

1:00 – 1:15 pm                        Art of the Anthropocene
Bill Fox, Director, Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art

§ What are artists already doing at field sites? Why are they doing   it?

1:15 – 1:30 pm                        Panel Discussion: Arts Funding
Bill O’Brien, Senior Advisor for Innovation to the Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts and Janet Brown, President and CEO Grantmakers in the Arts

§ What are the mandates that drive environmental (and other) art? What are the metrics for success? What’s the future?

1:30 – 2:00 pm                        Discussion

2:00 – 2:30 pm                        Coffee break, fruit and cheese
Theme: Effective Execution of Art/Science Hybrids

2:30 – 2:45 pm                        How Do You Work the Art/Science Interface and Get to Impact? The Green Heart Project.
Helen and Newton Harrison, Artists

2:45 – 3:00 pm                        Humanities in Action

Michael Nelson, Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources, Oregon State University

§ A look at work at the science/philosophy interface to promote social action.

3:00 – 3:30 pm                        Complex Program Case Study:
Master Class on How to Create and Build an International Arts-­‐Science-­‐Technology Program Putting Them on the Same Level, Using Arts@CERN as an Example.
Ariane Koek, Founder of Arts@CERN

3:30 – 4:00 pm                        Discussion
Theme: Fleshing Out and Integration of Concepts

4:00 – 5:30 pm                        Guided Discussion

§ Where do we want to be in 5 years? Who else should we be talking to, and why them?

§ Framing unified mission and aims – what opportunities exist to create connections and partnerships between arts, humanities and field science (AHS)?

§ How do you institutionalize art at field research sites?

§ Best practices. How do you connect art and science at field research sites? How do you measure success?

§ Roadmap forward.

6:00 – 8:00 pm                        Dinner at Heritage, Whitney Peak Hotel Restaurant (per diem)

 

— Sunday, June 21st —

8:00 – 9:00 am                        Breakfast in Founder’s Room, Nevada Museum of Art Pick Up Sack Lunch (per diem)

9:00 – 10:00 am                      Travel to Sagehen Creek Field Station
Theme: Effective Execution of Art/Science Hybrids

10:00 am – 2:00 pm              Sagehen Creek Field Station Case Study

§ Meetings and lunch in field.

§ Discussion with artists Newton Harrison and Seung Teak Lee, and scientist Vladimir Pravosudov.

§ Visit to project sites.

§ Continue work on previous day topic areas.

§ Wrap-­‐up, and follow-­‐up plan.

2:00 – 3:00 pm  Return to Reno

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| Xavier Cortada, artist and activist |

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* * *List of Workshop Products

• Proposal (NSF DEB-1543827) | Participant packet | Photos | Workshop report
• Workshop presentation and interview videos (above)
• Press:
  • Reno Gazette-Journal
  • UC Natural Reserve System News:
    • Invisible Barn Materializes
    • Why Art at Reserves?
  • LTER Network Newsletter, 7/7/15
  • Psychology Today blog post
  • Grantmakers in the Arts blog post
  • OBFS/NAML Art@FSMLs blog post
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Coordination Network (RCN) grant proposal
• Archive of #ArtSciConverge materials at the Nevada Museum of Art – Center for Art + Environment
• ArtSciConverge listserve created
• Planned products:
  • Workshop report (2015)
  • Artist/Scientist collaborations at field research sites (2015-)
  • Facilitate scientist participation in artist residencies (2015-)
  • Grantmakers in the Arts meeting (2016)
  • Clore Fellow art/sci program feasibility study (2016)