Arts and Technology: The role of the arts in democratic policy making

1. Background
2. Speaker Profiles
3. Recommended Resources
4. Audio Links

Background

Clicking on any of the thumbnail images will open up full size versions of the photos. 

BioCentre’s fourth and final symposium of its 2008 series People Power for the Third Millennium: Technology, Democracy and Human Rights saw a variety of different speakers coming together to speak on the topic Art & Technology: The role of the arts in democratic policy making. This event was held on 14th October 2008 at the National Theatre on the Southbank. This was a new location for BioCentre and it provided a great setting for this symposium.

As well as a panel of speakers, this symposium had on display through out the afternoon 'The Art of Bioethics II' exhibition convened by the Arts Bioethics Network in conjunction with BioCentre. This exhibition included work by Revital Cohen, Chamundeeswari Kuppuswamy, Deborah Robinson and Material Beliefs. The guests at this event were able to browse this display before the speeches began and during the break. This allowed an excellent opportunity to see examples of how the arts are engaging with technology and policy making.

The event was chaired by Dr. Rob La Frenais, the guest chair for the afternoon and curator of The Arts Catalyst – the science art agency. Dr La Frenais is a curator and critic, living in London and Ambialet, France who has curated and produced interdisciplinary and visual art projects since 1987. Dr La Frenais helped to encourage discussion between those present and to integrate issues raised by the art exhibit with those discussed by the speakers.

 The first speaker of the afternoon was Dr. Andy Miah who is a Reader in New Media & Bioethics at the University of the West of Scotland. His presentation served as an excellent introduction to the afternoon. Dr. Miah spoke about the ‘truth’ and the ‘hype’ of scientific progress. He pointed out that they are not necessarily opposed, but that it was important address the hype that was coming both from the scientific community and from various media sources. His talk was clearly communicated with well chosen and entertaining illustrations and video clips. The issues raised in his talk helped to frame the discussion for the afternoon, and many people referred back to the examples that he used in the course of symposium.

This was followed by a talk from Paul Meade, a writer, director, actor and joint artistic director of Gúna Nua theatre. Paul Meade has recently won the Irish Council for Bioethics National Playwriting Competition, and has been commissioned to write a play called Begotten Not Made. It was his experiences writing on a play that seeks to engage in the Bioethics debate that he spoke about, and the competing expectations that he, as a playwright, and the Council, as policy-makers, brought to the project. The difficulties that he faced in this collaboration highlighted many of the issues being discussed throughout the afternoon.

After the break Dr. Chamu Kuppuswamy, a Lecturer at the Law School, University of Sheffield, and co-coordinator of the Arts Bioethics Network, spoke about her work in exploring the power of the Arts to enlighten bioethics debate. Dr. Kuppuswamy as a lecturer in Law, a trained Bharathanatyam dancer /choreographer and an artist was well placed to discuss the interactions between science, policy and art; and the barriers that often prevent this dialogue from taking place.  She spoke about the bias towards visual arts and the example of the smell that could not be a trademark was a helpful demonstration of this.

The final talk of the afternoon was by Justina Robson, a writer who has published seven books, most of them Science Fiction.  She has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Arthur C Clarke, British Science Fiction Association Best Novel and Philip K Dick awards and was the winner of the amazon.co.uk Writer’s Bursary in 2000. She was able to speak from the perspective of someone who was attempting to engage people with science with her writing. Her talk was an honest and entertaining discussion of the difficulties of writing about science with integrity.

Following this Dr. La Frenais chaired a question and answer session involving all four speakers giving those present the opportunity to engage with the speakers on the issues that were raised in the course of the afternoon, and by the artwork on display. The speakers and guests then went on to the Lyttleton suite where they were able to continue their discussions over drinks while enjoying the live jazz music being played on the main concourse of the National Theatre.

 Photographs of 'The Art of Bioethics II' exhibition

 

Speaker Profiles

Guest Chair: Dr Rob La Frenais
Curator, Arts Catalyst, the science art agency

Dr Rob La Frenais is a curator and critic, living in London and Ambialet, France who has curated and produced interdisciplinary and visual art projects since 1987. Since 1997 he has worked with the Arts Catalyst, the science-art agency. Before that he was a freelance curator and organiser working in a European context in various countries, including being the Chief Executive of the Edge Biennale Trust in London and Madrid and the Artistic Director of the Belluard-Bollwerk International in Switzerland.

In 1979 he founded the ground-breaking Performance Magazine which continued as an authoritative cultural voice in Europe until 1992. He has a PhD in curatorial practice across disciplines and is an honorary Doctor of Arts at Dartington College of Arts.

Rob La Frenais's personal website can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Andy Miah
Reader in New Media & Bioethics at the University of the West of Scotland

Speaking on: Art in an age of uncertainty

Dr. Andy Miah is a Reader in New Media & Bioethics at the University of the West of Scotland, Fellow of the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, and Fellow in Visions of Utopia and Dystopia, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

His research is informed by an interest in applied philosophy, technology, and culture and writes broadly about emerging technological cultures. This includes the implications of pervasive wireless connectivity and the convergence of technological systems and the modification of biological matter through nanotechnology and gene transfer. Many of these studies are increasingly transdisciplinary and being characterised as NBIC (nano-bio-info-cognitive) inquiries.

Miah's work draws from literature in a range of areas, including law, philosophy, art, cultural studies, sociology and a range of sciences. Within his files, he tries to keep abreast of around 200 academic journals. To some extent, he endeavours to publish in each of these areas, though he does not consider himself a specialist in all of them. Nevertheless, he has given lectures for lawyers, scientists, artists, sociologists and philosophers, among others.

Concerning publications, he has published over 70 academic articles in refereed journals, books, e-zines, and national media press on the subjects of cyberculture, medicine, technology, and the Olympics. Recent publications include the Journal of Medical Ethics, CTHEORY, Culture Machine and Research in Philosophy, Technology. He has also written for leading newspapers, including The Observer, Le Monde, the Times Higher Education Supplement.

He has refereed book proposals for Routledge, Polity, Wiley and journal articles for Cultural Politics, Theory, Culture Society, Research in Philosophy and Technology and is an Associate Editor for ‘Studies in Ethics, Law & Technology’ (BEPress) and Editorial Board Member for ‘Genomics, Society & Policy and Health Care Analysis (Springer). Also, he has refereed submissions for the AHRC and The Wellcome Trust along with some other 15 journals including the Journal of Medical Ethics, Cultural Politics, Bioethics, and Public Understanding of Science.

His major publications are ‘The Medicalization of Cyberspace (with Emma Rich, Routledge February 2008) and ‘Genetically Modified Athletes’ (Routledge, 2004). Currently, he is working on a co-authored book titled ‘CyberSport: Digital Games, Ethics & Cultures’ (The MIT Press).

Dr. Miah is frequently invited to speak about the implications of new technologies for humanity (the individual) and society (the collective). He is also involved with various projects that study various non-sporting aspects of the Olympic movement and have been working in this area for 10 years. In relation to this, Miah is also co-editor of the online, academic serial ‘Culture at the Olympics’.

Regarding membership of groups and affiliations, Dr. Miah is a member of various academic associations and working groups, including the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Yale University Bioethics working group, the Society of Applied Philosophy, the British Society for Ethical Theory, the International Association of Bioethics, and the Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association, the Society for Social Studies of Science.

Andy Miah's website can be found here.

 

Paul Meade
Director and joint artistic director of Gúna Nua Theatre Company, Dublin and winner of the Irish Council on Bioethics arts competition

Speaking on: Begotten Not Made

Paul Meade is a writer, director, actor and joint artistic director of Gúna Nua theatre. Paul trained at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College, and later received an M.A. in modern drama from U.C.D.

Work as a writer includes Trousers and Scenes from a Water Cooler with David Parnell (winner Best Production 2001 Dublin Fringe Festival), Skin Deep, for which he  received the Stewart Parker Award and Thesis with Gerry Dukes and David Parnell. He has recently completed English language versions of the Romanian plays, Stop the Tempo by Giannina Carbinariu and Our Father Who Art in the Supermarket by Petra Barbu which are published in the anthology East of Eden (new Romanian plays.)

As a director Paul has directed Little Gem, Trousers (in Dublin and off-Broadway), The Real Thing, Taste and co-directed the award-winning Scenes from a Water Cooler for Gúna Nua. He has also directed Translations for Hands-turn Theatre, Medea for Threshold, Death and the Maiden for Mirage and The Second Shepard’s Play for Limerick Youth Theatre.

As an actor Paul has worked in film, television and theatre, touring to the U.K., U.S.A. and Australia.

Paul is currently under commission by Gúna Nua and the Irish Council for Bioethics.

Gúna Nua Theatre Company

Gúna Nua Theatre is an independent theatre production company based in Dublin, Ireland.  The company has a strong commitment to devising, producing new Irish writing and presenting radical interpretations of classic plays.  It has established a reputation for innovative, vital and exciting theatre which has received an overwhelmingly positive response from audiences and critics alike.  Founded in 1998 by Paul Meade and David Parnell, Gúna Nua has received numerous awards and nominations for its ground-breaking work, and is now firmly established on the Irish theatre landscape. 

Gúna Nua Theatre is grant-aided in Ireland by the Arts Council and by Dublin City Council.

“Gúna Nua has been building a solid reputation for itself as an innovative and clever theatre company.” – The Sunday Tribune

Gúna Nua World Premieres:

• Little Gem (co-production with Civic Theatre) by Elaine Murphy.
• Unravelling the Ribbon (co-production with Plan B Productions) by Mary Kelly and Maureen White.  Project Arts Centre October 2007.
• Trousers (co-production with Civic Theatre Tallaght) by Paul Meade and David Parnell – “A comic gem ..” – The Irish Independent.  2006
• Thesis (co-production with Civic Theatre) by Gerry Dukes, Paul Meade and David Parnell - “Captures Ireland far better than any of the lumbering efforts of recent times.  Sophisticated, rich … a production that positively dances. Excellent”  **** -The Irish Examiner.  2006
• Skin Deep by Paul Meade - Stewart Parker award for Best New Play and nominated for two Irish Times/ESB theatre awards. 2003
• Taste by David Parnell – “Gloriously, wickedly accurate …” – Sunday Independent (Dublin). 2002
• Scenes From a Water Cooler by Paul Meade and David Parnell – Winner, Dublin Fringe Awards, Best Production and Best Actor (David Pearse). “Near perfect comic timing – every joke has a razor’s edge” – The Irish Times 2001
• Four Storeys by David Parnell – “as good a new play as you’ll see this year” – Irish Independent. 1998

Gúna Nua Irish Premiers:

• Dinner With Friends (co-production with Lane Productions.) by Donald Margulies – Irish Times/ESB theatre awards nomination, best set design, Ferdia Murphy – “Gúna Nua brings intelligence and sophistication to both its choice of plays and its production values” – Sunday Independent.  2004
• The Real Thing (in association with Andrew’s Lane Theatre) by Tom Stoppard – “a brilliant production … outstanding” – Irish Examiner.  2004

Gúna Nua Classic Presentations:

• Hamlet by William Shakespeare – “Gúna Nua has proved itself once again one of Ireland’s most original, even radical companies.”  – Sunday Tribune (Dublin).  2005
• The Importance of Being Earnest (co-production with Civic Theatre) by Oscar Wilde – Irish Times/ESB nomination for best supporting actress for Eithne Woodcock. – “Gúna Nua is a company that seems to be cornering the market on cool in Irish Theatre” – The Sunday Independent (Dublin).  2001
• Burn This by Lanford Wilson – “Must See” – Irish Times Dublin Fringe Festival Coverage.  2000.

 

Dr. Chamu Kuppuswamy
Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Sheffield

Speaking on: Bioethics policy making- Is there a role for the Arts?

Dr. Chamu Kuppuswamy is a lawyer with a background in International Law and Security studies, she completed her PhD analysing the response of international law to the challenge of governance in the area of genetic research and application.

She is a Lecturer at the Law School, University of Sheffield where she teaches property law, intellectual property law and international regulation in biotechnology. She is currently working on a manuscript to be published by Routledge in 2009 entitled ‘The International Legal Governance of the Human Genome’.

As a trained Bharathanatyam dancer /choreographer and an artist, Chamu is interested in exploring the power of the Arts to enlighten bioethics debate.  Artistic explorations can inform the notion of cultural rights and introduce diverse ethical concepts into the debate. They create awareness, promote understanding, and open creative possibilities in both science and ethics. Chamu is the co-coordinator of the Arts Bioethics Network and helps organise the Cafe Scientifique at Sheffield.     

 

 

Justina Robson

Speaking on: The Good, The Bad and The Indifferent: ethical explorations in Science Fiction.


Justina Robson is a writer who has published seven books, most of them Science Fiction.  She has been shortlisted for many awards, including the Arthur C Clarke, British Science Fiction Association Best Novel and Philip K Dick awards and was the winner of the amazon.co.uk Writer’s Bursary in 2000.  She has also been a judge for the Arthur C Clarke award on behalf of the Science Fiction Foundation and has recently been on the judging panel for their best essay award.  In 2002 she was invited to take part in the UK Government’s Foresight Project’s Cognitive Science brainstorming sessions. 

List of Works

Robson writes:

“All my work shares common themes of humans being transformed for good or ill by their exposure to technology of various kinds.  The transformations are usually across the board – involving physical, mental and emotional alterations.  I am particularly interested in the ways in which we choose to perceive and describe the world we create and live in and am presently working on a story which plays directly with notions of reality although it masquerades as a daring and sexy adventure series.  I was brought up in the tradition of science and rationalism, pursued a highly rational degree and am fuelled by the need to find a natural and complementary coexistence for the outscapes and inscapes we live in.  I have some vague and probably silly notion that a better comprehension of how we comprehend would save a lot of the pain we presently experience in the (for me) pointless struggle between art and science, science and religion, mysticism and empiricism.  For me physics is an outscape description and system whereas astrology and magic are inscape systems ...and so forth.  That’s where I am playing around at the moment.”

Silver Screen (1999).  (AI, cyborg systems, identity.)
Mappa Mundi (2001).  (Nanotechnology, cognitive theory, mind control.)
Natural History (2003).  (Human evolution, slavery.)
Living Next Door To The God Of Love (2005)  (Self determination).
Quantum Gravity 1: Keeping It Real (2006) (Cyborgs, elves, rock n roll).
QG2: Selling Out (2007) (Demons, physics, metaphysics, cyborgs, elves, rock n roll).
QG3: Going Under (2008) (Faeries, then as above).
QG4: Chasing The Dragon (in progress, featuring ghosts, death and introducing a physical/metaphysical GUT).

 

Resources

Art of Bioethics II exhibition catalogue

The Arts Catalyst - the science art agency

Arts and Bioethics Network

Material Beliefs

Human Futures: Art in an age of uncertainty

 

Audio

Audio recordings of this Symposium can be downloaded here