This project was a series of ten webcasts in June through August 2002. During these two-hour webcasts, experiments in the spirit of Luigi Galvani's experiments in animal electricity were conducted. These experiments took Galvani's concepts of animal electricity, or galvanism, as a starting point to build web-controllable physical avatars, using nitinol, small-scale web servers, custom electronics, and dissection specimens. These experiments worked with taking small implantable web servers and enabling them to trigger physical activity in the bodies of worm and frog specimens, updating galvanism's electricity with network activity.
Internet, cybernetics, robotics, corporeality, physical avatar, visualization of network activity, miniaturization, telepresence, bioengineering, biomechatronics, technology and communication processes, golem, cyborg, Luigi Galvani.
Project Lab Camera Archive: http://www.conceptlab.com/galvanism/webcast_archive/
Ethology of Art and Science Collaborations: Research Ethics Boards in the Context of Contemporary Art Practice
G. D. Hertz [1], T. E. S. Dahms [2]
1. Department of Media Production and Studies, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2
2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Regina, 3737 Wascana Parkway, Regina, SK, Canada S4S 0A2
Frameworks for ethical review of scientific research are well established and documented; however, many interdisciplinary artists and art institutions are unfamiliar with these policies and procedures, as well as the potential benefits this process offers within emergent areas of collaborative research. In this paper, we will examine currently established models for ethical review of scientific research as they would apply to interdisciplinary fields. Using the Canadian system as a basis for discussion, a practical overview of its guiding principles, conducts, application processes, terms of approval and liabilities will be presented. Issues covered will include tissue culture, animal use, genetic modification and transgenics. Relevant highlights will be presented from the Interagency Advisory Panel on Research Ethics (PRE), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canada Council of Animal Care (CCAC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Examples of contemporary artworks will be explored as specific case studies in relation to the ethics review process. Proper navigation of these processes may offer guidance to artists and institutions that engage controversial subjects, use scientific facilities, or attempt to access funding traditionally oriented to scientific research.
This project is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, The Saskatchewan Arts Board and Soil Digital Media Suite.