The third annual CSNI Summer School took place at the Jerwood Space, London on 13 June with twenty-six research affiliated delegates in attendance. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners examining the rapidly changing and expanding nature of the networked image and how collaborative partnerships in the arts are an increasingly successful model of research.
The day was organised in three sessions, reflecting the centre’s current concerns, curating the networked image, practice as research, and collaborative research modeling.
Beatrice Fazi, a research fellow at Sussex University Media Lab, introduced the day by highlighting relevant issues from her book, Contingent Computation: Abstraction, Experience, and Indeterminacy in Computational Aesthetics (2018).
In session one CSNI researcher Gaia Tedone gave a summary of her thesis, ‘Curating the Networked Image: Circulation, Commodification and Computation’ followed by Nicolas Malevé who focused upon the use of Imagenet in training algorithms of vision. Session two exampled practice-based research and CSNI associate researcher Simon Terrill used his recent Melbourne exhibition based upon his long standing work on Crowd Theory, to focus in upon the stages of his thinking about objects in public/private space. Dr.Elena Marchevska from the Centre for Digital Storymaking at LSBU, discussed the politics of migration in performance practice in a talk entitled, ‘Displacement and Privilege: Who tells your story?’ Iñigo Guerrero Martín a visiting Phd student gave a presentation on his research entitled, ‘Improving contact: behavioural intention and perceived closeness with stigmatized immigrants using testimonial messages’
The afternoon was introduced by Ruth Catlow, founding co-director of the art organisation Furtherfield and a writer and artist. Ruth outlined the key aims, principles and ethics of Furtherfield collaborative partnerships. Following Ruth’s setting of the scene were three ‘case studies’ of collaborative PhD projects. Lozana Rossenova, an AHRC funded scholar at CSNI working in collaboration with the new media organization Rhizome in New York, articulated the different roles and tensions in grappling with real world problems, whilst retaining research independence is prototyping a new interface for their ArtBase, an archive of digital born artworks.
Alessio Antonelli, Director of the art organization, Gasworks, Professor Victoria Walsh, head of the Royal College of Art’s Curating Contemporary Art programme discussed the early stages of a collaborative research project with CSNI Student Rosie Hermon. The aim of the research is to investigate current and future uses of online media as a basis for new democratic, non centralized collectivities within the Triangle Network, a global network of artists and visual arts organisations founded in 1982.
The final case study was introduced by Ben Vickers, Chief Technology Officer of the Serpentine Galleries, who is leading a research project on modeling early stage R&D in art and technology. The project involved a collaborative PhD partnership with CSNI researcher Victoria Ivanova, looking at the interrelationships between organizational change, art policy and curatorial practice. Ben gave an analytical perspective on how Sepentine Galleries are placed and operate within the art field and how art and technology research might be situated at a more leading organizational edge.
The CSNI directors would like to thank all of those who attended and participated in the highly fruitful discussions which followed the presentations.