EKSIG 2019: Knowing Together – experiential knowledge and collaboration

With the theme ‘Knowing Together – experiential knowledge and collaboration’ the conference aims to provide a forum for debate about knowledge generation in collaboration by professionals and academic researchers in the creative disciplines and beyond

Creative practice has transformed from one based on the production of material artefacts to one that engages expertise and knowledge from multiple disciplines. Recent research in the creative disciplines has revolved around the changing territorial context of ‘making’ and has increasingly involved professionals and academic researchers working collaboratively to explore an interdisciplinary inquiry. Collaboration in such research has therefore become vital. A research team may comprise different disciplinary experts, such as scientists, technologists, artists, designers, architects, psychologists, business strategists and policy makers, working across academic, commercial and public sectors. They may work with materials and/or non-materials. Examples include research the fields of New Materials, Smart Textiles, Virtual Materiality, Material Innovation, Embodied Ideation, and Participatory Practices in Business in which various partners are in dialogue with one another, developing, consolidating and enhancing knowledge while generating new opportunities for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange.

EKSIG 2019 aims to examine collaboration within research and commercial teams that comprise creative professionals/researchers (such as designers, artists, architects, etc.) and members with other diverse disciplinary expertise. This is to understand how individual experiential knowledge, or knowledge gained by practice, is shared, how collective experiential knowledge is accumulated and communicated in and through collaboration, and how it is embodied in the outputs and may be traced back to the origin of the practice. The conference also aims to illuminate ‘making’ as the action of change in which matter and materials are transformed through collaboration, interaction or negotiation between the collaborative team and their material and non-material environments.

The conference brought together 38 international researchers, designers and artists from 17 countries who were interested in the topic. There were 17 double-blind peer-reviewed paper presentations, showcases and demos, and a workshop included in the conference.

(see the conference summary)
(see the special interest group website)