How I became an art[scient]ist : a tale of paradisciplinarity
Coordinator : François-Joseph Lapointe, Université de Montréal
In 1992, I earned a PhD in evolutionary biology. In 2012, I obtained a PhD in dance. It took me 20 years to become an art[scient]ist. In the process, I have encountered many pitfalls and roadblocks, but also greatly benefited from remarkable opportunities. In this paper, I reflect on my own experience to present an insider’s view of artscience, the rare tale of a scientist venturing in the field of art. I propose a roadmap for achieving paradisciplinarity; the parallel and symmetric practice of scientific and artistic activities. Namely, I present a list of sufficient and necessary (desirable) conditions for the making of a true paradisciplinary art[scient]ist. This list [incomplete] includes: give scientific talks at arts conferences; show art/performance works at scientific conferences; obtain grants from scientific and arts agencies; obtain joint faculty appointments in science and art departments; teach science to artists and art to scientists; supervise graduate projects in artscience; publish in art, science, and artscience journals (Leonardo). This paper is not about collaborative artscience projects involving scientists and artists working on a common subject/object, it precisely concerns individuals who want to become successful art[scient]ists with dual careers, both as working scientists and performance/exhibiting artists.
I’m one of these as well, and my experience has been that there is as yet no place into which I fit. There are also many of us around and I’d be very interested in other peoples experiences. My experience has been that my working environment determines whether collegues regard me as artist or scientist.