An interview with Jacques Rancière : on medium-specificity and discipline crossovers in modern art

Jacques Rancière's work on aesthetics has received a great deal of attention in recent years. Given his work has enormous range – covering art and literature, political theory, historiography, pedagogy and worker's history – Andrew McNamara and Toni Ross (UNSW) explore his wider critical ambitions in this interview, while showing how it leads to alternative insights into aesthetics. Rancière sets aside the core suppositions linking the medium to aesthetic judgment, which has informed many definitions of modernism. Rancière is emphatic in freeing aesthetic judgment from issues of medium-specificity. He argues that the idea of autonomy associated with medium-specificity – or 'truth to the medium' – was 'a very late one' in modernism, and that post-medium trends were already evident in early modernism. While not stressing a simple continuity between early modernism and contemporary art, Ranciere nonetheless emphasizes the on-going ethical and political ramifications of maintaining an a-disciplinary stance.

The development of a virtual reality environment to model the experience of schizophrenia

Virtual Reality (VR) techniques are increasingly being used for education about and in the treatment of certain types of mental illness. Research indicates that VR is delivering on its promised potential to provide enhanced training and treatment outcomes through incorporation of this high-end technology. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder affecting 1-2% of the population, and it is estimated 12-16% of hospital beds in Australia are occupied by patients with psychosis. Tragically, there is also an increased risk of suicide associated with this diagnosis. A significant research project being undertaken across the University of Queensland faculties of Health Sciences and EPSA (Engineering, Physical Sciences and Architecture) has constructed a number of virtual environments that reproduce the phenomena experienced by patients who have psychosis. Symptoms of psychosis include delusions, hallucinations and thought disorder. The VR environment will allow behavioral, exposure therapies to be conducted with exactly controlled exposure stimuli and an expected reduction in risk of harm. This paper reports on the current work of the project, previous stages of software development and the final goal to introduce VR to medical consulting rooms.

Cameron's hot air. Pollution, fraud and the politics of carbon emissions

It is widely recognised that exposure to air pollutants affect pulmonary and lung dysfunction as well as a range of neurological and vascular disorders. The rapid increase of worldwide carbon emissions continues to compromise environmental sustainability whilst contributing to premature death. Moreover, the harms caused by air pollution have a more pernicious reach, such as being the major source of climate change and ‘natural disasters’, which reportedly kills millions of people each year (World Health Organization, 2012). The opening quotations tell a story of the UK government's complacency towards the devastation of toxic and contaminating air emissions. The above headlines greeted the British public earlier this year after its government was taken to the Court of Appeal for an appalling air pollution record that continues to cause the premature deaths of 30,000 British people each year at a health cost estimated at £20 billion per annum. This combined with pending legal proceedings against the UK government for air pollution violations by the European Commission, point to a Cameron government that prioritises hot air and profit margins over human lives. The UK's legal air pollution regimes are an industry dominated process that relies on negotiation and partnership between regulators and polluters. The entire model seeks to assist business compliance rather than punish corporate offenders. There is no language of ‘crime’ in relation to UK air pollution violations but rather a discourse of ‘exceedence’ (Walters, 2010). It is a regulatory system not premised on the ‘polluter pay’ principle but instead the ‘polluter profit’ principle.

Contemporary Australia : women, Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane 21 April–22 July 2012

'Contemporary Australia: Women' is the second in a series of triennial exhibitions at the Gallery of Modern Art in Queensland, providing a survey of contemporary art practices across the country. This exhibition's focus on women artists comes in the wake of a number of high profile international exhibitions looking at women artists in both contemporary and historical contexts. This review situates the exhibition within this field and considers its significance.

"What is contemporary art? A review of two books by Terry Smith'

What is contemporary art and what are the key components of contemporary culture? This review demonstrates where Terry Smith provides important answers to this question. The books thus help to improve understanding of how art has changed in recent decades and how a global culture now shapes its parameters. This review does not however concur that Smith provides a convincing case for a complete cultural paradigm transformation.

The Effective and The Evocative : A Spectrum of Creative Practice Research

In the expanding literature on creative practice research, art and design are often described as a unified field. They are bracketed together (art-and-design), referred to as interchangeable terms (art/design), and nested together, as if the practices of one domain encompass the other. However it is possible to establish substantial differences in research approaches. In this chapter we argue that core distinctions arise out of the goals of the research, intentions invested in the resulting “artefacts” (creative works, products, events), and the knowledge claims made for the research outcomes. Moreover, these fundamental differences give rise to a number of contingent attributes of the research such as the forming contexts, methodological approaches, and ways of evidencing and reporting new knowledge. We do not strictly ascribe these differences to disciplinary contexts. Rather, we use the terms effective practice research and evocative practice research to describe the spirit of the two distinctive research paradigms we identify. In short, effective practice research (often pursued in design fields) seeks a solution (or resolution) to a problem identified with a particular community, and it produces an artefact that addresses this problem by effecting change (making a situation, product or process more efficient or effective in some way). On the other hand, evocative practice research (often pursued by creative arts fields) is driven by individual pre-occupations, cultural concerns or human experience more broadly. It produces artefacts that evoke affect and resonance, and are poetically irreducible in meaning. We cite recent examples of creative research projects that illustrate the distinctions we identify. We then go on to describe projects that integrate these modes of research. In this way, we map out a creative research spectrum, with distinct poles as well as multiple hybrid possibilities. The hybrid projects we reference are not presented as evidence an undifferentiated field. Instead, we argue that they integrate research modes in deliberate, purposeful and distinctive ways: employing effective practice research methods in the production of evocative artefacts or harnessing evocative (as well as effective) research paradigms to effect change.

The fragmentation pathways of protonated Amiton in the gas phase : towards the structural characterisation of organophosphorus chemical warfare agents by electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry

Amiton (O,O-diethyl-S-[2-(diethylamino)ethyl]phosphorothiolate), otherwise known as VG, is listed in schedule 2 of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and has a structure closely related to VX (O-ethyl-S-(2-diisopropylamino)ethylmethylphosphonothiolate). Fragmentation of protonated VG in the gas phase was performed using electrospray ionisation ion trap mass spectrometry (ESI-ITMS) and revealed several characteristic product ions. Quantum chemical calculations provide the most probable structures for these ions as well as the likely unimolecular mechanisms by which they are formed. The decomposition pathways predicted by computation are consistent with deuterium-labeling studies. The combination of experimental and theoretical data suggests that the fragmentation pathways of VG and analogous organophosphorus nerve agents, such as VX and Russian VX, are predictable and thus ESI tandem mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for the verification of unknown compounds listed in the CWC. Copyright (c) 2006 Commonwealth of Australia. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Cybercrime attribution : an Eastern European case study

Phishing and related cybercrime is responsible for billions of dollars in losses annually. Gartner reported more than 5 million U.S. consumers lost money to phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in September 2008 (Gartner 2009). This paper asks whether the majority of organised phishing and related cybercrime originates in Eastern Europe rather than elsewhere such as China or the USA. The Russian “Mafiya” in particular has been popularised by the media and entertainment industries to the point where it can be hard to separate fact from fiction but we have endeavoured to look critically at the information available on this area to produce a survey. We take a particular focus on cybercrime from an Australian perspective, as Australia was one of the first places where Phishing attacks against Internet banks were seen. It is suspected these attacks came from Ukrainian spammers. The survey is built from case studies both where individuals from Eastern Europe have been charged with related crimes or unsolved cases where there is some nexus to Eastern Europe. It also uses some earlier work done looking at those early Phishing attacks, archival analysis of Phishing attacks in July 2006 and new work looking at correlation between the Corruption Perception Index, Internet penetration and tertiary education in Russia and the Ukraine. The value of this work is to inform and educate those charged with responding to cybercrime where a large part of the problem originates and try to understand why.

Between rocks and hard places

A travel article about the Aland Islands, Finland, that discusses the mix of Swedish, Finnish, and Russian cultural influences in the area. On the map, Finland seems to end in fragments. The gods have stomped their heels on the southwestern corner, and between the cities of Helsinki and Turku it is jagged, rocky islands that form the final landmarks...

“Conversations Before the End of Time” : Refuturing Applications of a New Media Praxis

This chapter examines how the methods, outcomes and transformative potentials of my new media arts praxis have been understood by a range of critical commentators from disciplinary perspectives outside of my own ‘home territory’ of media arts. By drawing upon perspectives from Human Computer Interface Design, Engineering, Sustainability Design, Tertiary Education, Communication Design and Public Librarianship I demonstrate how ideas from my arts disciplines have had tangible ‘external’ significance and application.

From selfies to climate change : the #G20 debate on Twitter

The G20 Summit that brought many of the world’s most important leaders to Brisbane last weekend was also a major Twitter event. Australian and international users expressed their concerns over the appearance of Russian warships off the Queensland coast, shared selfies from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s impromptu visit to Brisbane’s Caxton St nightlife hub and called for action on issues ranging from Ebola to climate change...

Practice as Method : The Ex/centric Fixations Project

In this chapter, I consider the efficacy of creative practice as a research method, concentrating specifically on its applications in the performing arts, using one of my own recent projects, The Ex/centric Fixations Project (2009), as an example.

Uncertain species distribution: From interpolation to extrapolation

Species distribution models (SDMs) are considered to exemplify Pattern rather than Process based models of a species' response to its environment. Hence when used to map species distribution, the purpose of SDMs can be viewed as interpolation, since species response is measured at a few sites in the study region, and the aim is to interpolate species response at intermediate sites. Increasingly, however, SDMs are also being used to also extrapolate species-environment relationships beyond the limits of the study region as represented by the training data. Regardless of whether SDMs are to be used for interpolation or extrapolation, the debate over how to implement SDMs focusses on evaluating the quality of the SDM, both ecologically and mathematically. This paper proposes a framework that includes useful tools previously employed to address uncertainty in habitat modelling. Together with existing frameworks for addressing uncertainty more generally when modelling, we then outline how these existing tools help inform development of a broader framework for addressing uncertainty, specifically when building habitat models. As discussed earlier we focus on extrapolation rather than interpolation, where the emphasis on predictive performance is diluted by the concerns for robustness and ecological relevance. We are cognisant of the dangers of excessively propagating uncertainty. Thus, although the framework provides a smorgasbord of approaches, it is intended that the exact menu selected for a particular application, is small in size and targets the most important sources of uncertainty. We conclude with some guidance on a strategic approach to identifying these important sources of uncertainty. Whilst various aspects of uncertainty in SDMs have previously been addressed, either as the main aim of a study or as a necessary element of constructing SDMs, this is the first paper to provide a more holistic view.

The ultimate edge: The case for planning media for sustaining space communities

Governments and intergovernmental organisations have long recognised that space communities – the ultimate ‘settlements at the edge’ – will exist one day and have based their first plans for these on another region ‘at the edge’, the Antarctic. United States President Eisenhower proposed to the United Nations in 1960 that the principles of the Antarctic Treaty be applied to outer space and celestial bodies (State Department, n.d.). Three years later the UN adopted the Declaration of Legal Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space and in 1967 that became the Outer Space Treaty. According to the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, ‘the Treaty was opened for signature by the three depository Governments (the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States of America) in January 1967, and it entered into force in October 1967’ (Office for Outer Space Affairs, n.d). The status of the treaty (at time of writing) was 89 signatories and 102 parties (Office for Disarmament Affairs, n.d.). Other related instruments include the Rescue Agreement, the Liability Convention, the Registration Convention and the Moon Agreement (Office for Outer Space Affairs, n.d.-a). Jumping to the present, a newsagency reported in July 2014 (Reuters, 2014) that the British Government had shortlisted eight aerodromes in its search for a potential base for the UK’s first spaceplane flights which Ministers want to happen by 2018 (UK Space Agency, 2014). The United States already has a spaceport, in New Mexico (Cokley, Rankin, Heinrich, & McAuliffe, 2013)...

Plasmatic Transformation

The session examines the role of the metaphysical and physical in art and animation and how this relates to natural spaces. Soviet Russian film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein saw animation as possessing an ability called “plasmaticity”, the capacity for a being to assume any conceivable form dynamically. He saw each being as “primordial protoplasm, not yet possessing a ‘stable’ form, but capable of assuming any form” (Eisenstein 1989, 21). He was enamoured by the capacity of animation to transform and be liberated, of being able to escape from a fixed and static identity—to embody a "rejection of the once-­‐and-­‐forever allotted form" in which we are held (Eisenstein 1989, 21). Czech Surrealist animator Jan Švankmajer uses a metaphysical approach based on a belief in animism to art and animation. He believes that objects possess a conscious life or spirit, he says ‘Objects conceal within themselves the events they’ve witnessed. I don’t actually animate objects. I coerce their inner life out of them.’ (Švankmajer in Imre 2009, 214) In this animistic world there are no boundaries or rules, no physical or conceptual restrictions; anything is possible, with inanimate objects and places able to become animate and transact in a conscious relationship with humans and each other. This session invites artists, animators and theorists to discuss their conceptions and approaches to using visuals to promote and provoke transformation.