In this paper we outline an interdisciplinary collaborative
approach to problem solving that can
... more In this paper we outline an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to problem solving that can be characterised as performative as both the goals and solutions develop over time through an open-ended process of trial-and-error. We describe two projects where this methodology has been successfully applied. We first give an overview of the CELL project where the performative approach led to a significant change in the way that scientist Neil Theise investigated stem cells. The success of this project directly led to the work which is the main focus of this paper: the design of Net Work, an interactive artwork that consists of a grid of autonomous buoys that emit different coloured light in response to the environment and the state of neighbouring buoys. We describe our performative approach to building the Net Work prototype and describe in detail its control system which is based on Ashby’s homeostat model. The paper concludes with a short discussion of some of the benefits and pitfalls of an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to problem solving. Keywords: interactive artwork, interdisciplinary, performative, problem solving, trial-anderror
We are part of a multi-disciplinary team investigating new understandings of stem cell behaviour,... more We are part of a multi-disciplinary team investigating new understandings of stem cell behaviour, and specifically looking novel ideas about how adult stem cells behave and organise themselves in the human body. We have used different methods and mechanisms for investigating and interpreting these new ideas from medical science. These have included mathematical modelling, simulation and visualisation as well as a series of art pieces that have resulted from looking at the overall nature of our combined multi-disciplinary attempt to investigate new theories of biological organisation. In this paper we look at several issues relating to our project. First, we provide reasons for why formal models and simulations are needed to explore this growing area of research. Is there an argument to suggest that we need simulations as a way in to understanding various properties of stem cells that are observed in wet lab experiments? Next, an introduction on current theoretical models of stem cells is presented along with an outline of some of the problems and limitations of these approaches. We then provide an overview of our agent-based model of stem cells, and discuss strategies for implementing this model as a simulation and its subsequent visualisation. Then we discuss the role of the artist (the second author) in developing our model and simulation and the influence of the artwork/exhibition on the other members in our team. Our premise is that artists can conceptualise scientific theories without the standard discipline-specific constraints, and thereby potentially influence the development of scientific theories, their mathematical formulation; and their associated aesthetics. Finally, we argue that for the field of bioinformatics to move forward in a holistic and cohesive manner more multi-disciplinary efforts such as ours would be of significant benefit to this research area [20]. This paper might be viewed as an advert for the benefits of multi-disciplinary teams in understanding new experimental data in medicine and biology. Keywords: Novel tools applied to biological systems, self-organizing, self-repairing and self-replicating systems, new technologies and methods, cellular automata, art, interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
Abstract. We are part of a multi-disciplinary team investigating new understandings
of stem cell ... more Abstract. We are part of a multi-disciplinary team investigating new understandings of stem cell behaviour. The project is a collaboration between an artist (Jane Prophet), a mathematician (Mark d’Inverno), a stem cell researcher (Neil Theise), an Artificial life (Alife) programmer (Rob Saunders), and a curator/producer (Peter Ride). Theise has novel ideas about how adult stem cells behave and organise themselves in the human body, in order to investigate methods and mechanisms for investigating and interpreting these new ideas. These have included a formal mathematical model, simulations, visualisations that have been developed with the stem cell researcher as well as a series of art pieces that have resulted from looking at the overall nature of our combined multi-disciplinary attempt to investigate new theories of biological organisation. In this paper we look at several issues relating to our project. First, we provide reasons for why formal models and simulations are needed to explore this massively growing area of research. Next, an introduction on current theoretical models of stem cells is presented along with an outline of some of the problems and limitations of these approaches. We then provide an overview of our agent-based model of stem cells, and discuss strategies for implementing this model as a simulation and its subsequent visualisation. Then we discuss the role of the artist in developing our model and simulation and the influence of the artwork/exhibition on the other members in our team. Our premise is that artists can conceptualise scientific theories without the standard discipline-specific constraints, and thereby potentially influence the development of scientific theories, their mathematical formulation; and their associated aesthetics. Finally, we argue that for the field of bioinformatics to move forward in a holistic and cohesive manner more multi-disciplinary efforts such as ours would be of significant benefit to this research area [18]. Indeed, this paper can be seen in part as an advert for the benefits of multi-disciplinary teams in bioinformatics research. keywords: novel tools applied to biological systems, self-organizing, self-repairing and self-replicating systems, new technologies and methods, cellular automata, art, interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
We are part of an interdisciplinary collaboration that has been investigating new
theories about ... more We are part of an interdisciplinary collaboration that has been investigating new theories about stem cells. Medical research into stem cells has increased significantly in recent years and there are now major efforts worldwide to understand stem cells, and harness their potential capacity to proliferate and produce any specific type of cell that might be required in order for the adult human body to survive. There is no doubt that a greater understanding of the behaviour of the entire set of stem cells in the adult body may give us insights into how we combat diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s. Radical new theories of stem cells have seriously challenged commonly held views within the medical community, and our team was charged with a simple aim, namely to discuss and investigate them. Our project had no set objectives, and as such the research was process-based (a radical departure for some of the scientists on the team). It was an exploratory activity that started by looking at two specific areas of scientific and artistic innovation, and as such it is as much about the nature of discovery and how philosophies change as it is about specific areas of research. To progress the project we used the skills and methods from our various disciplines to collectively undertake a sustained enquiry into this field. Throughout our many encounters, that took different forms from phone calls, to emails, to face to face meetings, several key issues arose continually over which there was much debate and conflict. This conflict challenged many of the pre-conceptions that were an implicit part of our respective disciplines and in this paper we identify some of these, and consider them in some detail.
The cutting edge digital environment, TechnoSphere, was launched in 1995 as an Arts Council of En... more The cutting edge digital environment, TechnoSphere, was launched in 1995 as an Arts Council of England funded website created by Jane Prophet and Gordon Selley. In 1998 Mark Hurry, Director of Digital Workshop Ltd, joined the team to develop the real-time 3D version. The TechnoSphere concept is unique in its combination of artificial life, the Internet, and in its latest version, real-time 3D graphics. It has already attracted over 650,000 users who have created over a million creatures. The web-based version of TechnoSphere is an award winning interactive computer-based 'virtual world', populated by artificial life forms created by users of the World Wide Web. Since its inception TechnoSphere has been internationally recognised. In 1997 the website won an award in Prix Ars Electronica, and went on to be chosen as one of the works for the Department of Trade and Industry and British Council international touring show High Definition: British Design for a Digital Future, launched in Hong Kong. In the same year TechnoSphere was shortlisted for Cap Gemini’s Imaginaria: Digital Art Awards and shown at Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. In 1999 it was recognised by the international jury for Life 2, and as "one of the first examples of an online Alife ecosystem, received a special mention for pioneering work in the area."
Sordid Sites: voyeurism and exhibitionism in The Internal Organs of a Cyborg
Sordid Sites - The Internal Organs of A CyborgThe Internal Organs of a Cyborg is a CDROM artwork ... more Sordid Sites - The Internal Organs of A CyborgThe Internal Organs of a Cyborg is a CDROM artwork by Jane Prophet which offers cyborg bodies for the voyeuristic gaze. It presents the user with a photostory narrative that combines the visual approaches of the photo love magazine with the science fiction graphic novel or comic (Fig 1). A text narrative is fused onto scrolling pages of full colour photographs using ready-made images from Photodisc's stock photography CD-ROMs. The stock photographs are largely taken from Photodisc's "Health and Medicine" and "Modern Technologies" archives. The material has been cropped, distorted and montaged to tell the story of virtual lovers from different sides of the tracks whose paths cross in the emergency room.
This image and text piece presents some of the issues which preoccupy me in my role as an artist ... more This image and text piece presents some of the issues which preoccupy me in my role as an artist working with video and digital media. Most of my works are concerned with ways in which new media technologies are changing relationships between audience, artefact and gallery. Representations of the body and its virtual and/or remote presence are central to a number of these projects, and build on my early background in installation and performance work.
Sublime ecologies and artistic endeavours: artificial life, interactivity and the internet
TechnoSphere is an on-line project which enables users to design artificial life-forms and send t... more TechnoSphere is an on-line project which enables users to design artificial life-forms and send them into a 3D virtual world where they interact with life-forms designed by other users of the Website [1]. The 3D world has fractally generated terrain, trees self-seed at certain heights to make forests (Fig. 1) and there are desert and mountainous regions in which the cyber beasts artificially ‘live’. The current version is a prototype written between March and September 1995 with funding from the Visual Arts and the Film and Video boards of The Arts Council of England, Film and Video Umbrella, Cambridge Darkroom Gallery, with additional support by Digital Workshops Ltd.
TechnoSphere has been produced by a team of people and is made up of four components: I am responsible for managing the project and for the Website design, which has CGI commands written by Tony Taylor-Moran. The artificial life engine has been designed and written by Julian Saunderson from the Centre for Electronic Arts at Middlesex University, the rendering engine has been written by Gordon Selley [2] from London College of Printing and Distributive Trades and the email engine has been written by Selley and Saunderson. Andrew Kind, a computer graphics animator, models the component parts for the creatures.
Prophet, Jane and Ride, Peter (2004) Active daydreaming: the nature of collaboration. In: Fusco, ... more Prophet, Jane and Ride, Peter (2004) Active daydreaming: the nature of collaboration. In: Fusco, Maria, (ed.) Wonderful: visions of the near future book. UNKNOWN, pp. 66-70. ... Full text not available from this repository. ... WestminsterResearch is powered by EPrints 3 ...
Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics, University of Sussex, UK
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... Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics. Download: http://www. informatics.sussex.... more ... Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics. Download: http://www. informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/inmanh/r CACHED: Download as a PDF. by GabrielaOchoa , Inman Harvey , Hilary Buxton. Add To MetaCart. ...
Taste, teaching and the Utah teapot Creative, gender, aesthetic and pedagogical issues surrounding the use of electronic media in art and design education, with …
One Person’s Everyday Creativity is Another’s Extraordinary Insight
ABSTRACT
In collaborative work across disciplines, observing and discussing the difference betwee... more ABSTRACT In collaborative work across disciplines, observing and discussing the difference between individuals’ everyday creativity can provoke insights. What might a heart surgeon and an artist have in common, how might a biomimetic engineer and an artist work differently to creatively solve a problem of structure? This keynote is an illustrated account of two collaborative projects that seeks to show that there may be an advantage to learning about the patterns that others’ see when engaged in their everyday creativity. Author Keywords biomimetics, collaboration, creativity, drawing, imaging, interdisciplinarity, pattern recognition, rapid prototyping, sculpture, selective advantage, surgery, taxonomy, video ACM Classification Keywords Design, Documentation, Experimentation, Measurement Miscellaneous. General Terms Design, Documentation, Experimentation
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Papers by Jane Prophet
approach to problem solving that can
be characterised as performative as both the
goals and solutions develop over time through
an open-ended process of trial-and-error. We
describe two projects where this methodology
has been successfully applied. We first give an
overview of the CELL project where the performative
approach led to a significant change in the
way that scientist Neil Theise investigated stem
cells. The success of this project directly led to
the work which is the main focus of this paper:
the design of Net Work, an interactive artwork
that consists of a grid of autonomous buoys
that emit different coloured light in response to
the environment and the state of neighbouring
buoys. We describe our performative approach
to building the Net Work prototype and describe
in detail its control system which is based on
Ashby’s homeostat model. The paper concludes
with a short discussion of some of the benefits
and pitfalls of an interdisciplinary collaborative
approach to problem solving.
Keywords: interactive artwork, interdisciplinary,
performative, problem solving, trial-anderror
Keywords: Novel tools applied to biological systems, self-organizing, self-repairing and self-replicating systems, new technologies and methods, cellular automata, art, interdisciplinary research and collaboration.
of stem cell behaviour. The project is a collaboration between an artist (Jane
Prophet), a mathematician (Mark d’Inverno), a stem cell researcher (Neil Theise),
an Artificial life (Alife) programmer (Rob Saunders), and a curator/producer (Peter
Ride). Theise has novel ideas about how adult stem cells behave and organise
themselves in the human body, in order to investigate methods and mechanisms
for investigating and interpreting these new ideas. These have included a formal
mathematical model, simulations, visualisations that have been developed with
the stem cell researcher as well as a series of art pieces that have resulted from
looking at the overall nature of our combined multi-disciplinary attempt to investigate
new theories of biological organisation. In this paper we look at several
issues relating to our project. First, we provide reasons for why formal models and
simulations are needed to explore this massively growing area of research. Next,
an introduction on current theoretical models of stem cells is presented along with
an outline of some of the problems and limitations of these approaches. We then
provide an overview of our agent-based model of stem cells, and discuss strategies
for implementing this model as a simulation and its subsequent visualisation.
Then we discuss the role of the artist in developing our model and simulation and
the influence of the artwork/exhibition on the other members in our team. Our
premise is that artists can conceptualise scientific theories without the standard
discipline-specific constraints, and thereby potentially influence the development
of scientific theories, their mathematical formulation; and their associated aesthetics.
Finally, we argue that for the field of bioinformatics to move forward in a
holistic and cohesive manner more multi-disciplinary efforts such as ours would
be of significant benefit to this research area [18]. Indeed, this paper can be seen
in part as an advert for the benefits of multi-disciplinary teams in bioinformatics
research.
keywords: novel tools applied to biological systems, self-organizing, self-repairing
and self-replicating systems, new technologies and methods, cellular automata, art, interdisciplinary
research and collaboration.
theories about stem cells. Medical research into stem cells has increased
significantly in recent years and there are now major efforts worldwide to
understand stem cells, and harness their potential capacity to proliferate and
produce any specific type of cell that might be required in order for the adult
human body to survive. There is no doubt that a greater understanding of the
behaviour of the entire set of stem cells in the adult body may give us insights into
how we combat diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s. Radical new theories of
stem cells have seriously challenged commonly held views within the medical
community, and our team was charged with a simple aim, namely to discuss and
investigate them. Our project had no set objectives, and as such the research was
process-based (a radical departure for some of the scientists on the team). It was
an exploratory activity that started by looking at two specific areas of scientific and
artistic innovation, and as such it is as much about the nature of discovery and
how philosophies change as it is about specific areas of research. To progress the
project we used the skills and methods from our various disciplines to collectively
undertake a sustained enquiry into this field. Throughout our many encounters,
that took different forms from phone calls, to emails, to face to face meetings,
several key issues arose continually over which there was much debate and
conflict. This conflict challenged many of the pre-conceptions that were an implicit
part of our respective disciplines and in this paper we identify some of these, and
consider them in some detail.
The web-based version of TechnoSphere is an award winning interactive computer-based 'virtual world', populated by artificial life forms created by users of the World Wide Web. Since its inception TechnoSphere has been internationally recognised. In 1997 the website won an award in Prix Ars Electronica, and went on to be chosen as one of the works for the Department of Trade and Industry and British Council international touring show High Definition: British Design for a Digital Future, launched in Hong Kong. In the same year TechnoSphere was shortlisted for Cap Gemini’s Imaginaria: Digital Art Awards and shown at Institute of Contemporary Arts, London. In 1999 it was recognised by the international jury for Life 2, and as "one of the first examples of an online Alife ecosystem, received a special mention for pioneering work in the area."
TechnoSphere has been produced by a team of people and is made up of four components: I am responsible for managing the project and for the Website design, which has CGI commands written by Tony Taylor-Moran. The artificial life engine has been designed and written by Julian Saunderson from the Centre for Electronic Arts at Middlesex University, the rendering engine has been written by Gordon Selley [2] from London College of Printing and Distributive Trades and the email engine has been written by Selley and Saunderson. Andrew Kind, a computer graphics animator, models the component parts for the creatures.
Talks by Jane Prophet
In collaborative work across disciplines, observing and discussing the difference between individuals’ everyday creativity can provoke insights. What might a heart surgeon and an artist have in common, how might a biomimetic engineer and an artist work differently to creatively solve a problem of structure? This keynote is an illustrated account of two collaborative projects that seeks to show that there may be an advantage to learning about the patterns that others’ see when engaged in their everyday creativity.
Author Keywords
biomimetics, collaboration, creativity, drawing, imaging, interdisciplinarity, pattern recognition, rapid prototyping, sculpture, selective advantage, surgery, taxonomy, video
ACM Classification Keywords
Design, Documentation, Experimentation, Measurement Miscellaneous.
General Terms
Design, Documentation, Experimentation