Philippe Sormani - Practicing Art/Science: Experiments in an Emerging Field

Over the last two decades, multiple initiatives of transdisciplinary collaboration across art, science, and technology have seen the light of day. Why, by whom, and under what circumstances are such initiatives promoted? What does their experimental character look like and what can be learned, epistemologically and institutionally, from probing the multiple practices of art/science at work?

In answer to the questions raised, Practicing Art/Science contrasts topical positions and insightful case studies, ranging from the detailed investigation of art at the nanoscale to the material analysis of Leonardos Mona Lisa and its cracked smile. In so doing, this volume brings to bear the practice turn in science and technology studies (STS) on the empirical investigation of multifaceted experimentation across contemporary art, science, and technology in situ. Against the background of current discourse on artistic research, the introduction not only explains the particular relevance of the practice turn in STS to tackle the interdisciplinary task at hand, but offers also a timely survey of varying strands of artistic experimentation.

In bringing together ground-breaking studies from internationally renowned scholars and upcoming researchers in sociology, art theory and artistic practice, as well as history and philosophy of science, Practicing Art/Science will be essential reading for practitioners and professionals in said fields, as well as postgraduate students and representatives of higher education and research policy more broadly.

Philippe Sormani is Board member of the Science and Technology Studies Lab at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and affiliated researcher at the Institut Marcel Mauss, EHESS, in Paris, France.

Guelfo Carbone holds a PhD in Philosophy and History of Philosophy (Sapienza University of Rome), and is a member of the Editorial Board of the philosophical journal Plemos. Materiali di filosofia e critica sociale.

Priska Gisler is head of the research cluster Intermediality at University of the Arts, Bern, Switzerland, and board member of the Swiss Artistic Research Network (SARN).

Routledge Advances in Sociology

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com/series/SE0511

Video Games as Culture

Considering the Role and Importance of Video Games in Contemporary Society

Daniel Muriel and Garry Crawford

The Sociology of Central Asian Youth

Choice, Constraint, Risk

Mohd. Aslam Bhat

Indigenous Knowledge Production

Navigating Humanity within a Western World

Marcus Woolombi Waters

Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies

Edited by Natascha Mueller-Hirth and Sandra Rios Oyola

Practicing Art/Science

Experiments in an Emerging Field

Edited by Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone and Priska Gisler

The Dark Side of Podemos?

Carl Schmitts Shadow in Progressive Populism

Josh Booth and Patrick Baert

Intergenerational Family Relations

An Evolutionary Social Science Approach

Antti O. Tanskanen and Mirkka Danielsbacka

Performing Fantasy and Reality in Contemporary Culture

Anastasia Seregina

The Philosophy of Homelessness

Barely Being

Pau Moran and Frances Atherton

Practicing Art/Science

Experiments in an Emerging Field

Edited by
Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone and Priska Gisler

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 selection and editorial matter, Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone & Priska Gisler; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone & Priska Gisler to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Sormani, Philippe, editor. | Carbone, Guelfo, 1983- editor. | Gisler, Priska, editor.

Title: Practicing art/science : experiments in an emerging field / edited by Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone & Priska Gisler.

Description: New York : Routledge, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017060793 | ISBN 9781138039414 (hardback)

Subjects: LCSH: Science and the arts. | Interdisciplinary approach to knowledgeCase studies.

Classification: LCC NX180.S3 P73 2018 | DDC 700.1/05dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017060793

ISBN: 978-1-138-03941-4 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-315-17588-1 (ebk)

Bernhard Bhm Centre for Research on Architecture, Society & the Built Environment (ETH, Zrich) CH-8093 Zrich, Switzerland

Serena Cangiano University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)

Guelfo Carbone Sapienza University of Rome

Fernando Domnguez Rubio University of California, San Diego 2 Park Drive, Milton Park, San Diego, CA 95000, United States

Davide Fornari ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne (HES-SO), Switzerland

Priska Gisler Bern University of the Arts, Fellerstrasse 11, CH-3027 Bern, Switzerland

Nathalie Heinich French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) 22 Place de la Nation, F-75012 Paris, France

Yal Kreplak Institut Marcel Mauss, Centre dtude des mouvements sociaux, School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris

Michael Lynch Department of Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University, 312 Morrill Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States

Johanne Mohs Bern University of the Arts Hochschule der Knste Bern, Fellerstrasse 11, CH-3027 Bern, Switzerland

Hans-Jrg Rheinberger Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin Boltzmannstr. 22, D-14195 Berlin, Germany

Azalea Seratoni University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI)

Dirk vom Lehn Kings Business School, Kings College London, 30 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BG, United Kingdom

Mick Wilson University of Gothenburg, Box 132, Akademin Valand, S-40530 Gothenburg, Sweden