Dwight Owens

and 8 more

\cite{a2021,Jung_2021}\cite{Jung_2022,r2014}\cite{a2022}Among the many benefits of ArtScience collaborations are the opportunities afforded to approach issues through the eyes of another. This might mean looking through a different disciplinary lens, engaging with unfamiliar individuals or communities, or deliberately seeking to open up intellectually and emotionally by diving into new perspectives. Through the universal language of art we illustrate such a process, using the "Exquisite Corpse" method to highlight different ways of interpreting extreme ocean events among an interdisciplinary group of artists and scientists. Over a six-week period, participants created series of three artworks inspired by a compilation of scientific imagery, data and news clips relating to the Hunga Tonga underwater volcano eruption in Tonga, 20 December 2021. At the end of each two week period, participants exchanged individual artworks, which served as inspirational seeds for subsequent interpretive creations, and thereby engaging participants in a process of deep reflection on one another's perspectives without need for translation between artforms. When each participant had completed three artworks, all participants met to view, discuss and celebrate the full collection. The wide variety of narrative and artistic approaches explored showcases the multiplicity of approaches for interpreting and connecting to this scientific topic. The various series of artworks that build on one another demonstrate how creating as a response to the art of another makes space for exploration of new ideas and ways of thinking in a fun and emotionally engaging way. They also demonstrate the importance of giving space to various narratives of connection, creating a plurality of stories, perspectives and insights. The "Exquisite Corpse" approach is a pathway to transdisciplinary collaboration that creates a holding space for the coexistence of multiple ways of observing, interpreting, understanding and relating that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Dwight Owens

and 7 more

c\cite{Beck_2021,Claudet_2020,Cunsolo_2018,Franke_2020,process,Jung_2022,Kemmis_2014} In 2021, and again in 2022, our globally scattered group of artists and scientists followed the Exquisite Corpse process for co-creating multiple threaded series of artworks inspired by extreme ocean events. In 2023 some members of our two groups convened a series of collaborative synchronous sessions to create a shared understanding of the paths we took to join this creative community and engage in this open ArtScience collaboration.Prompted by a sense of curiosity, a shared passion for the ocean and the will to collaborate, artists and scientists came together (virtually) to forge relationships around the shared intent to deepen our understanding of transdisciplinary ArtScience and how it can contribute to ocean knowledge. Discovering common ground (and creating a grounded commons) and mutual interests, we set forth on a path of curiosity into a formal Exquisite Corpse cycle. We created an array of art projects drawn from a semi-ambiguous “seed” within a semi-safe, not-always-comfortable space for experimentation and creation. Through cyclical introspection, enactment, opening, giving, and receiving, we developed our artwork series and relationships among our group. Finally, in the sharing of these series, we experienced new insights about our individual and collective perceptions of extreme ocean events, while simultaneously further deepening our relationships and appreciation for the potency of ArtScience collaborations.This poster was presented at the AGU23 Meeting in San Francisco, CA, on 13 December 2023. Conference abstract URL: https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm23/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/1266010

Julia Jung

and 4 more

Ocean governance is characterised by social-ecological complexity and divergence in stakeholder values and perspectives. Meeting the challenges set out in the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development will require transdisciplinary approaches that can embrace multiple ways of knowing to develop shared understandings within interdependent communities of practice and ensure they can be applied in interventions that are adaptive, proactive, socially just, critically reflexive and fit to meet the Decade’s challenges. We present the outcomes of an innovative participatory art process, the Exquisite Corpse Project, with the aim of highlighting multiple perspectives, and developing empathy between participants. We will engage a selected group of researchers from the emerging ‘Ocean Art-Ocean Science’ community to explore the topic of marine heatwaves and their impacts based on data collected in the Northeast Pacific by Ocean Networks Canada and other sources. Through a facilitated process, participants will create three pieces of art that will build on each other and will be exchanged between participants. At the end, all created artworks will be reviewed by the full group to explore emerging insights on marine heatwaves and to surface participants’ underlying values and emotions, which is rarely done in scientific circles where the main mode of discourse employs rational dispassionate exchange. By creating a fun, emotionally-engaging process, we aim to show how the Exquisite Corpse project can strengthen interpersonal bonds, build social cohesion, create opportunities to surface people’s values and perspectives, and develop new transdisciplinary insights in a non-confrontational way. This study is part of an ongoing process exploring transdisciplinary approaches for multidirectional art-science collaborations and developing new research methods for including artistic insight and expression within the scientific discovery process. Instead of the conventional ‘outward looking’ strategy of many art-science projects translating scientific outputs to new formats, our approach is primarily ‘inward looking’. We aim to provide an opportunity for scientists to create art, thus allowing them to explore their own emotions, values and experiences through different ways of knowing.

Dwight Owens

and 3 more

In 2017 Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a research infrastructure operator, sought to redefine its core reporting metrics. We asked, “which metrics should we hold as key, essential metrics to drive our organizational priorities and decision making?” This question helped us define a collection of eleven sets of yardsticks, some inward-looking, others squarely focused on societal outcomes. Here, we introduce the individual metrics adopted, insights they are helping us glean and some of their inherent challenges. ONC’s core funding agency, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), continues to emphasize scientific output as a primary criterion. We measure this by counting peer-reviewed presentations and publications resulting from use the facility and ONC’s data archives. But this seemingly clear-cut metric has been a thorny one to define, track and grow. Training and support for post-secondary students is another core reporting metric, however this measurement is also fraught with ambiguities. Some of the easier metrics to track are those specifically related to facility operations, such as reliability and user satisfaction. But we were perplexed by the question of how to measure “optimal use” of the facility, as mandated by CFI. Optimal use is hard to define for an underwater infrastructure design like ONC’s, which can be flexibly extended with no hard limits on hardware capacity, archive volume or data access. When it comes to societal benefit, our approach has been twofold. One set of metrics examines technology transfer, grants and contracts. Another set focuses on our engagements and active collaborations with governmental, indigenous and non-governmental organizations. However, some outcomes remain challenging to measure. While it is straightforward to count up our external interactions and collaborations, how can we quantify their current and future societal impact? These and related questions will be explored.