Transnet: 2003-2005
Abstract
Transnet (Transdisciplinary Network for Performance and Technology) is an international network of artists, scholars, performers, educators, scientists, engineers, and community activists formed to explore notions of performance, especially in the arts and sciences. The network uses a transdisciplinary approach to analyse the intersection of diverse disciplines and knowledges and to examine how new research directions emerge from this confluence. Transnet suggests that performance, of people and of systems, is the primary activity in an exchange across societies and cultures, with new technologies and the human body as common denominators for these exchanges.
Transnet - where contemporary art meets contemporary science to redefine notions of performance, and where disciplinary perspectives on the body are challenged. The network operates under the premise that, in an information-oriented age, new knowledge appears to emerge at the intersections of disciplines rather than strictly within them. A transdisciplinary approach therefore analyses how other knowledges intersect with one's own discipline and how this contact influences its field of research.
"The body reveals itself to the world and to itself through the intersection of a tactile sensation that is on the outside and a kinaesthetic sensation that is on the inside." - Merleau-Ponty, M
Objectives
To critically analyze and assess current research, as well as training and production methods for performance, especially movement-based, including their achievements, impacts, strengths and state of development.
To develop new research questions and/or proposals, and to investigate new models for collaborative research.
To explore new conceptual and methodological perspectives for practice-led research in the arts.
To establish and promote new environments that can foster collaboration and intellectual exchange between the arts, sciences and humanities, and among individuals and institutions locally, nationally, and internationally.
To develop a new Transdisciplinary Research Centre for Performance and Technology (TRansCPT) at the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, BC.
Collaborators
Resources + Links
Conference
Performing Art Performing Science Conference: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Performance
Hosted by The School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
Dates: June 16 - 18, 2005
In the arts, performance has traditionally implied a staged activity using a form like dance, music, and theatre. In the sciences, it has been the efficient operation of mechanical and/or technological systems and prototypes in specific goal-oriented tasks. This conference seeks to re-examine these seemingly disparate disciplinary perspectives as technology increasingly dictates their modes of presentation. Conference topics include: new media and performance; new visualization technologies; emergence and artificial life science; performance of self-organizing systems; genetic engineering; embodied knowledge; computing machines and the evolution of culture; the survival of performance disciplines in contemporary hypermedia and mass media contexts.
Equal Opportunities Policy
Transnet recognizes and values the diversity that exists in society and is committed to promoting equality of access irrespective of age, race, colour, ethnic or national origins, gender, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, income, education, religious beliefs and cultural heritage. Through it research and the productions of Full Performing Bodies, TransNet aims to draw attention to and challenge related issues. Transnet also seeks to collaborate with individuals and groups who are under-represented in all aspects of the arts.
