ON INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS

BRONAC FERRAN14th December 2011

Interested very much in exchange Many years working in international

contexts Former Director of Interdisciplinary Arts at

ACE *where international was ‘good’ Had means to set things up and shape

programmes – and influence things accordingly, also diversity seen as a beneficial thing for innovation, etc

EG ACE/AHRC Research Fellowships (Art and Science) opened to international applicants

Current projects

A Guest Curator at the Ruskin Gallery at Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge working on a public art programme through to next summer

Also involved with the Creative Exchange Knowledge Hub at Royal College of Art

Writing texts – eg essay about Brazilian visual artist this week for visual arts catalogue

& likely to be a development consultant for Cultural Olympiad project for next September linking Preston in NW with Recife in NE Brazil (practice-led research meets public events)

Opening up the right context for interesting ideas emerging from research based practice ....Like magnetic fields

help foster the kinds of artists and arts organisations – who are continuously boundary-crossing: often just a case of setting them afloat ...pointing them at a horizon

ACE funded artists to do research abroad

International Fellowships programme Made successful arguments for ‘blue sky’ space

and time Lessons learnt from ACE/AHRC Art and Science

Research Fellowships programme - International Fellowships Programme - Interact art and industry placements programme

Ongoing process of trying things out...learning...feedback.....not high risk

Tried to open up opportunities – advertisements in Guardian etc....networking events to share

Artists ...like Semi-Conductor

Work emerged from a six month research residency at Berkeley Space Lab – was able To set this up due to long-term collaboration with Roger Malina, ed of Leonardo

Also Liliane Lijn – working on evolution of her research ....

Post ACE - Brazil and China

Involved in two events funded by AHRC in Brazil, 2007 and 2009 – knowledge transfer

Also PI and coordinated an event – a summer school about ageing and design funded by RCUK in China last year

Brazil

During Year of Science & Innovation in Brazil – Curated a symposium on Research & Knowledge Transfer in Innovation and Creative Industries – panel and thematic structures over two days with speakers from both countries....drew on self funded research the previous two years.....

Context RCUK-FAPESP (SAO PAULO STATE) RESEARCH FUNDING MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING

Signed two years later....whilst the event was politically driven there were real results in terms of influencing then embryonic approach to creative economy there

Second event in Sao Paolo 2009 Multi-agency,

complicated. AHRC only one of the partners. Was British Council generated and Dutch partners and funders. Mix of practice and research with overriding topic/theme ie ecology and media

Practice-led research/interdisciplinary formula different in Brazil....fascinating outcomes

My role –

Wrote a report evaluating it for British Council (and AHRC) – made some recommendations but feel limits to impact of learning from such events

One-off ...in nature... there are risks but also great advantages – not large amount of money ...spin-offs are inevitable if you bring right people together

PROCESS V PRODUCT

Summer School in Beijing...exciting but Went in with eyes

open - but still really difficult

challenges in terms of creating value beyond the short-term benefit of people encountering each other and getting to know each other’s work a little bit

Asymmetary: diff models of KT....

Hierarchies – important

Funds for UK not China Not limited by

willingness but very different systems of management and organisation!

Feedback

The inclusion of elderly knowledgeable professors from the institute really made this exchange of ideas realistic, relevant and significant. It was inspiring and humbling to hear retired professors speak with such passion and conviction.

It is quite difficult to really know the true picture; we rely on demographics and statistics to inform us but meeting the relevant people in their environment is much more powerful.

Eg of feedback to RCUK

HOW WILL YOU USE THIS LEARNING IN FUTURE?

It is hard to know at this point, except that I feel better-equipped to understand the pressures and needs of international students at the RCA, to understand the role of China in world affairs and I know who to contact for future collaborative projects, both within the RCA and at Tsinghua

WHAT DID YOU FEEL THE RCA CAN LEARN FROM DOING SUCH EVENTS - ESPECIALLY IN CHINA?

Need to identify individuals in the ‘host’ team, perhaps a simple buddying system that would create a network / connection between people who might not otherwise spend time together – it’s always easier to ‘clump’ with people you know

Need to practice speaking with a translator

Need to identify clearer outcomes and schedule – Western culture is much more comfortable with loose framework, where I sensed Chinese find that a bit embarrassing / risky

FOR THE FUTURE

How to manage long-term research within short-term programmes?

Identifying ways of sharing knowledge and learning between and across projects?

Being highly selective about priorities for international exchange...trying to deepen not spread too thin...

Bridge building and boundary-spanning (ugh term)Need investment in the infrastructure to facilitate international exchange...

...Perhaps we should review models of investment....networking and research collaboration not as easy as it sounds....many disparities of development...different agencies have different agendas.

If the reason for working across international boundaries is about difference?And the value emerging from the intersections then we need to find ways not to just try to replicate our own structures elsewhere? And that’s the primary challenge.