Date of Award

Spring 5-5-2023

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Interdisciplinary Program

Advisor

Susan Smith

Second Committee Member

Sheridan Adams

Third Committee Member

Walter Tisdale

Additional Committee Members

Bernie Vinzani

Gretchen Faulkner

Abstract

Art-At-Work describes the tools, vocabularies, strategies and experiences that render the emergent spaces of collaborative interdisciplinary research. This body of work generates a story board for the unfolding narrative of a studio-laboratory practice where artists research with scientists and scientists create with artists. The long-term goals and short-term deliverables of this research focus attention toward the process of building connection, tools and space for future work that creates channels for collaboration among disciplines. With each conversation, concept map, prototype, reflection and iteration, creatives and researchers are exploring the spaces among fields of practice by generating ways of sharing experiences that enrich our academic community and establish connections for future inquiry. Creativity and social practice inform the ways that art has engaged with science throughout this work and as this practice among fields continues to evolve, they will remain critical elements of future collaborations, research and development. The scope of the presented research is immersed in the growing dialogue between art and science and is undertaken with the intention of building capacity for practitioners to generate inter-inquiry agency and investigate the possibilities of working across studios, laboratories and knowledges. Activating different configurations of qualitative insight highlight the role that art can have in the development of transdisciplinary language and methodologies as well as the potential to consider outcomes that are informed by these processes. The findings of this research outline the critical role that time, space and support play in establishing ground for creatives and researchers to engage in the work that builds this new environment. While the disciplines discussed in this research include art and science, collaborative interdisciplinary research is not limited to these domains. Inquiry, creativity and iteration are connective elements among many disciplines and this research will ask readers to consider how innovative we dare to be through growing interdisciplinary collaborative activity by accepting the invitation to practice art at work.

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