Anne Galloway, Carleton University (Canada)
Towards Issues-based Art and Design Research

Building on critical cultural and historical approaches to public space and public participation, issues-based art and design research involves bringing people and things together around shared concerns. My research addresses some of the complex issues related to wireless and mobile technologies situated within broader social and cultural contexts—and how explicitly attending to these concerns both supports and limits multi-disciplinary and collaborative practice.

By focussing on the ways in which social and cultural research, art and design already work with tangible combinations of ethics and aesthetics, it becomes possible to explore the ways in which mobile and wireless technologies both shape, and are shaped by, these practices. Ultimately, a variety of methods for doing collaborative and multi-disciplinary issues-based art and design research are assessed and trajectories for future practice are presented for discussion.

Fondée sur des approches culturelles et historiques critiques en matière d'espace public et de participation publique, la recherche en art et design axée sur les enjeux implique le regroupement des gens et des objets ensemble autour de préoccupations communes. Ma recherche aborde certains des enjeux complexes associés aux technologies sans fil et mobiles qui se situent au sein de grands contextes socio-culturels ainsi que la façon avec laquelle le fait de s'occuper expressément de ces préoccupations à la fois soutient et restreint la pratique multidisciplinaire et collaborative. En mettant l'accent sur les manières avec lesquelles l'art, le design et la recherche socio-culturelle travaillent déjà avec des combinaisons tangibles d'éthique et d'esthétique, il devient possible d'explorer les méthodes employées par les technologies mobiles et sans fil pour façonner, et être façonnées par, ces pratiques. Au bout du compte, une gamme de méthodes pour mener une recherche en art et design collaborative et multidisciplinaire axée sur les enjeux sont évaluées et les trajectoires de la pratique à venir sont présentées aux fins de discussion.

Anne Galloway is a social researcher working at the intersections of technology, space and culture. A lecturer and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow in Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University, Anne is currently finishing her PhD on the social and cultural dimensions of mobility, and the design of mobile technologies and locative media for urban public spaces. Anne's research has been presented to a wide variety of international audiences, as well as published in academic journals and industry magazines, and she enjoys teaching undergraduate courses in critical cultural theory and social studies of science and technology. In her spare time Anne can be found hanging out with her cat, reading comics or writing at www.purselipsquarejaw.org and www.spaceandculture.org.