iDARE RMIT Workshop 2016 – CREW

Creative Research Ethics Workshop

_MG_4929
NoArk II, The Tissue Culture & Art Project (Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr). 2008-2010. Photography: Pete Waters.

We are calling for Melbourne-based creative practitioners operating in a university setting (staff researchers and/or research candidates), who are interested in being part of the CREW – a two month workshop series focused on collective, generative experimentation with ethics + creative practice.

Running from early August through late September, 2016
Activities will occur in multiple locations in the Melbourne CBD/inner north 

Interested in participating?
Let us know by Monday July 18, 2016. 

The framework

Could the development of ethical expertise be framed as integral to creative practice research? How best might we tailor a process of creative, ethical deliberation? And, could this leverage an enduring cultivation of ethical know-how?

The starting point in pursuing these questions is based on the premise that creative reflection-in-action and the development of ethical know-how are operationally similar. As such, bought together they might mutually enhance and intensify one another to affirmative ends.

The CREW will involve opening up our practices to one another, discussing our approaches and the implicit or explicit ethical dimensions therein. Across the workshop series process, our aim will be to provoke, speculate upon and generate affirmative approaches to the intersections of creative practice research and ethical review.

The structure

Phase 1: intensive (1 meeting + 2 full days)

August 3rd – info and intro
August 15 & 16 all day.

An initial meeting to discuss and prepare for what’s ahead will be convened, with some selected readings distributed.

The CREW will then gather for two days at a given cultural site (details tbc) where we will engage in a series of generative, creative practice workshop activities. This will involve core CREW members each offering a 15-20 minute account of their creative practice in terms of how they feel that questions of an ethical nature are raised by their research. The group will discuss issues raised by each practitioner.  These activities and conversations become the shared groundwork for what is to follow.

Phase 2: ethics-in(-creative)-action (2 hours a week across 5 weeks)

Building on phase 1, the group will establish a shared understanding through discussions around key texts concerning ethics, connecting back into creative practices across the group, and beyond.  This will lead into the presentation of propositions for action, either in groups or individually.

The task will be to propose creative projects/events/artefacts/activities, undertaken solo or collaboratively, that enable a process of reflection-in-action, wherein practitioners implicitly and/or explicitly explore the development of ethical know-how.

The group will meet for roughly two hours a week across five weeks. Discussion may be fostered between gatherings, via group email and/or the website, should this become productive.

Indicative dates only:
August: Tuesday 23rd, Tuesday 30th
September: Tuesday 6th, Tuesday 13th, Tuesday 20th
(exact times and days can be negotiated amongst the core group once established)

Phase 3: reflection

iDare conference @ VCA,  Southbank, September 27-28 2016

The final phase involves a process of reflection on the previous phases. At a minimum, this will involve a symposium at the the iDare conference to present, discuss and collectively reflect upon what has happened, with responses from conference keynotes.

For those interested, this phase may be extended beyond the conference into the production of a series of texts for publication.

The background

This CREW is part of an Office of Learning and Teaching project – Developing new approaches to ethics and research integrity training through challenges posed by Creative Practice Research
 http://idare.vca.unimelb.edu.au.

Some documentation of the workshop is likely to appear on the iDARE web site, with relevant permissions.  The CREW is steered by A/Prof Pia Ednie-Brown (RMIT University), and developed in partnership with iDARE project colleagues Prof. Barbara Bolt (UMelb) and A/Prof Kate MacNeill (UMelb).

The workshop occurs within the ambit of RMIT’s AELab – aelab.org – an RMIT research laboratory dedicated to research as acts of creative occupation. Approaches outlined on the AELab website give an indication of how this workshop will be oriented. Documentation of the workshop is likely to appear on The AELab web site, with relevant permissions.

inflatable inside 2
Building Movements 3 installation, Chris Cottrell, Scott Andrew Elliott, and Olivia Pintos-Lopez with RMIT architecture and interior design students, 2013. Photography: Georgina Matherson.

EOI
What should I do to be part of the CREW?
Send an email to mcpherson.m@unimelb.edu.au with the following:
– a 100-200 word statement indicating your interest in being involved in this project.
Additionally, please confirm whether you are able to commit to the two full days of the intensive (Phase 1), and what days/times of the week you would be available for the five weekly gatherings in Phase 2 of the process. If unable to commit to the entire process across the three phases, but would like to offer some engagement, please let us know.
– A 100-150 word bio, (and cv if desired).
– a sample of your work, either as a pdf document or a link to a website/s.

Expressions of interest are due by midnight, Monday July 18, 2016.  

If interest exceeds viability, the group will be selected by iDARE researchers with an attention to the dynamics of difference across the group. The aim is to assemble a core group of around 8 – 10 practitioners able to commit to the entire two month workshop series process. We are, however, also open to others joining activities and conversations where viable.

There is no cost involved in participation. OLT project funding supports all three phases. 

Questions?
email iDARE Project Manager, Megan McPherson:
mcpherson.m@unimelb.edu.au

Download the pdf EOI_CREW_FINAL