[ISEA2008] Ian Clothier – On integrated systems: hybrid culture and nonlinearity

Abstract

 

My work is driven by two themes – cultural hybridity and nonlinearity. When I began researching these subjects, I viewed them as entirely separate however a key conceptual focus presently is the interconnection between the two – one related to cultural process, the other a feature of physical systems. The two can be united under the rubric of integrated systems.

The presentation will use documentation of projects in various media, first discussing nonlinear aspects and then returning to the works to discuss aspects of hybridity. Projects have involved the use of media such as augmented reality, movement sensors, moving image, information collection via online form, data analysis and visualisation, with robotics being explored currently. Contexts for hybridity include the cultural engineering project the District of Leistavia whose constitution was defined by the audience, James Joyce’s Ulysses, the intercultural notion of Seven Sisters, text and image based works, and also my cultural affiliation. Many projects involve collaboration.

The creative works and interrelated thematics have also been mapped in various academic papers. An interrelationship between the rhizome as evidenced by the internet, and hybrid cultures was outlined in my paper ‘Created identities: hybrid cultures and the internet’ in Convergence Vol 11 No. 4 (Sage Publications); an approach to cultural hybridity and nonlinearity was made in ‘Forms of Representation: Hybrid cultures, nonlinearity and creative practice’ in Kultureller Umbau: R’ume, Identit’ten, Re/Pr’sentationen (Cultural Reconstruction: Spaces, Identities, Re/Presentations, Transcript 2007) and a paper for the Feb 2008 issue of Leonardo called ‘Leonardo, nonlinearity and integrated systems’, further addresses the notion of integrated systems.

These themes will be mapped in a presentation of work that is a reflection on the interrelatedness of hybrid cultural processes and nonlinearity in particular, and integrated systems generally.

 

Ian Clothier (New Zealand) Biography

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