Axon: Creative Explorations

Building on previous work developing a methodology for art/science collaborations deemed ‘undisciplinary research’, this paper considers the role of a place – and the names we give to spaces – in how the knowledge produced there is shaped. Through a series of events and dialogues among knowledge practitioners from multiple disciplines, I explore the differences in how people work when located in a lab versus when they are placed in a studio. I consider how interdisciplinary research is constrained by Western disciplinary conventions, including the language employed, and the acculturation of labs, studios, schools, and offices. This paper is concerned with the nature of this place and space for research and includes a consideration of a precedent initiative, the Indonesian collective ruangrupa; an analysis of a discussion I facilitated with participants at The Soil Factory, an interdisciplinary arts/science community/research space, about how the place within which they work forms the knowledge they produce there; as well as a view of current undisciplinary research as it is conducted at The Soil Factory.