Studio enquiry and new frontiers of research

Given the growing complexity of human existence, there is a need for new ways of representing ideas and of illuminating the world and domains of knowledge. A growing recognition of the limits of traditional ways of representing the world has given rise to a search for alternative approaches to transform and represent the contents of consciousness or what can be known of lived experience. Researchers are recognising that scientific inquiry is just one type of research and that &lsquo;research is not merely a species of social science&rsquo; (Eisner 1997: 261). Dissatisfaction with positivism and behaviourism as reductive modes of knowing has also come from within the science disciplines themselves. In his work entitled, The Discontinuous Universe, (1972) Werner Heisenberg states that the knowledge of science is applicable only to limited realms of experience and the scientific method is but a single method for understanding the world. Moreover, the notion of scientifically-based knowledge as statements of ultimate truth contains an inner contradiction since &lsquo;the employment of this procedure changes and transforms its object&rsquo; (Heisenberg 1972: 189). The work of Heisenberg and others including: Lincoln and Denzin (2003), Schwandt, (2001) and Schon (1983) reveals that knowledge is relational and that different models of inquiry will yield different forms of knowledge.<br /

Audiences and public : when cultural engagement matters for the public sphere

Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere, edited by Sonia Livingstone, is reviewed.<br /

What does it meme? The exegesis as valorisation and validation of creative arts research

This paper will draw on Richard Dawkin\u27s idea of the \u27meme\u27 to discuss how the creative arts exegesis can operate as valorisation and validation of creative arts research. According to Dawkins, the rate and fecundity of replication permits an artefact to achieve recognition and stability as a meme within a culture. The value and application of traditional forms of research is underpinned by a secondary order of production, publication, that establishes visibility of the work and articulates its empirical processes and findings as sources of social benefit and cultural enhancement.In the arts, conventional modes of valorisation such as the gallery system, reviews and criticism focus on the artistic product and hence, lack sustained engagement with the creative processes as models of research. Such engagement is necessary to articulate and validate studio practices as modes of enquiry.A crucial question to initiate this engagement is: \u27What did the studio process reveal that could not have been revealed by any other mode of enquiry?\u27 Re-versioning of the studio process and its significant moments through the exegesis locates the work within the broader field of practice and theory. It is also part of the replication process that establishes the creative arts as a stable research discipline, able to withstand peer and wider assessment. The exegesis is a primary means of realising creative arts research as \u27meme\u27. <br /

Reconciling difference: art as reparation and healing

This paper demonstrates the way shamanism and psychoanalysis are deeply related as first signalled by Claude L&eacute;vi-Strauss. It then creates a context in which the question of body and mind, creativity and healing is discoursed in an interdisciplinary manner. An exposition of thinkers emerging from disparate disciplines will be used to show how aesthetic experience (both the production and the reception of art) results in reparation and healing. This relationship is not only relevant in therapeutic terms, but can also be extended to aesthetic practices which involve possible reconciliation of inner and outer conflict. The therapeutic involves an understanding of ways in which aesthetic practices recast western notions of the relationship between body and mind.<br /

The Effect of Workspace Layout on Individual Perceptions of Creativity Across Generational Cohorts

Organizations strategically design the physical work environment to enhance employees\u27 creativity. Understanding the impact of workspace layout on individual perceptions of creativity across generational cohorts can be vital to sustaining organizational competitiveness. Researchers have theorized that workspace layout affects employees\u27 perceptions of creativity; however, few studies have looked at the effect of generational cohort on this relationship. A quantitative study was conducted to examine the effect of workspace layout on individual perceptions of creativity across generational cohorts. A sample of 162 participants completed an online demographics questionnaire as well as aKEYS, a modified version of the KEYS to Creativity and Innovation instrument. An ANOVA was used to determine whether generational cohort and workspace layouts affected the participants\u27 individual perceptions of creativity. Results did not support the theory that workspace layout and generational cohort affected individual perceptions of creativity. However, these nonsignificant results can be used strategically by organizations to design physical workspaces that foster individual perceptions of creativity in order to attract and retain a diverse workforce by accommodating employees equally rather than on generational cohort membership. Social change implications are that the results can provide organizations with an understanding of ways in which they can effectively treat and meet the needs of the workforce as a whole, rather than develop strategies based on generational cohort membership