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Short abstract:

AT-LAB 1 creates an interactive sound and light installation with real-time health data. This case study probes the artist's dynamic role in interdisciplinary collaboration. It navigates the intricate project layers, exploring how diverse knowledge production aligns with outreach goals.

Long abstract:

The AT-LAB 1 of Work Package 2: Social Humans (WP2), of the multidisciplinary consortium project Healthy Living as a Service (HLaS), NWO/KIC (Netherlands Research Council), was an artistic research intervention that took place in the locality of t'Zandt, Province of Groningen, The Netherlands. It consisted of a new media art installation that leveraged the real-time data collected from health sensors to translate them into an immersive and interactive sound and light art experience for the region’s inhabitants. This research project forms the first field intervention of the trajectory of the professional doctorate program Kunst + Creatief, investigating digital literacy and empowerment in rural communities.

This case study shares the experience of embedding artistic practice within a large scientific consortium project. Which roles and positions did the artist have to occupy in interdisciplinary collaborations with scientists, engineers, and relevant stakeholders? How were these tensions managed? Furthermore, it will discuss how a specific methodology was chosen for this project that embraces a multi-sited, participant-observant artist as a researcher role. The results and research findings grapple with the multi-layered nature of the project. How can different cases and modes of knowledge production be encompassed within one language that responds to the project’s outreach demands and objectives?

Artistically, it proposes a more-than-human collaborative experience through its immersive qualities, but how does it breach the distance between making and reflecting?