Research-Creation in Creative Media

Description

Research-Creation is an emerging category within the humanities that integrates the making of an artistic artwork as part of a larger area of study. Specifically, media experiences are proposed as an integral step in the overall research methodology and agenda; to include an aesthetic ‘moment’ along the greater path of understanding, augmenting new knowledge with emotion. The grant will support students to research extreme weather through scientific datasets, imagery and site visits but also to add an objective to extract a creative visualization as they focus on climate change in the Anthropocene. Their projects will intersect art practice, theory and research, with emphasis on artmaking as a transdisciplinary research process rather than a result or output of their study. Through a strategic agreement with the Hong Kong Observatory, art and design students from the School of Creative Media will have access to vast digital resources including dozens of animations, datasets and imagery regarding extreme weather in the Hong Kong region (e.g. lightning strikes, typhoons, temperature spikes, etc.). Additionally, HKO has offered visits to physical sites in the region related to weather collection including radar stations, weather balloon launchpads, and field stations. SM3733 Special Topics in Creative Media will be structured as scientific research into how weather is predicted, tracked and documented, with the creation of an artwork being an integral step in the process of learning. Our students will utilize the HKO materials and data to support the university’s global sustainability agenda. By using emerging technologies and creative strategies they will transform critical environmental data into new media artworks. Collectively, the meaningful student projects will address climate change issues and sustainability within both urban and natural contexts and present them to the public through a range of innovative media materials and outreach platforms including an exhibition at the Hong Kong Observatory during their open house day in March 2019, reaching tens of thousands.The course will also contribute to a journal paper in progress that explores Research-Creation as a strategy in pedagogy that the PI has investigated in two previous education initiatives—Extreme Environments and Skunkworks. The results of this course will add to the case studies for practical applications of artmaking as a beneficial phase within a research methodology.