Performing arts as a tool for university education during a pandemic: Moving from an in vivo to an in vitro modality

aper analyses how a course on improvisation and collective creation in engineering addressed to master’s students in Switzerland moved online. The course offers an experience in the field of performing arts, through embodied and situated activities, and the opportunity to reflect on the process of collective creation, a fundamental aspect of engineering practice often neglected in engineering training. The restrictions imposed by the 2020 pandemic forced its migration to an online format. We explore whether it is possible to maintain online a pedagogical proposal centered on embodied and face-to-face interaction, and what such a course might bring to the students. Using data collected during Spring 2020 (especially a focus group, video-recorded feedbacks and reflective diaries written by the students), we analyze the continuities and discontinuities between the two modalities. We show how the socio-material transformations im plied by the online interactions altered the interactions taking place, discuss the resultant opportunities and novelties offered by the online modality. We highlight that the apparent success of this migration to an online format overshadows the strong collective efforts needed from both students and teachers to maintain the key features of the course (playful experimentation, being inspired by others, horizontality of relations, trust, collective practice, improvisation).

SPATIAL SELECTION OF HERITAGE AND TRANSFER OF LOCAL IDENTITY: A DUAL CASE STUDY BASED ON TWO HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL DISTRICTS IN CITY F, CHINA

By comparing the successive development, government planning, and public expectations of two landmark historical and cultural districts in F city, this paper attempts to explore the state’s selection and cultural setting of heritage spaces, as well as the identity transfer of local residents in individual memory and collective creation. With case studies on historical districts of S and Y neighborhoods, this paper argues that the selection of heritage spaces is actually a borrowing of local history and culture by the state’s modernization tendency. With the extinction/reformation of the medium of identity, the aborigines struggle with disappearance of their place and the affirmation of heritage, eventually extending the boundaries of the meaning of “place” and shifting local identity to national and ethnic identity.

Soundpainting Sign Language: Possibilities and Connections with Tactileology

This article introduce and expose the language of Soundpainting (SP), its background, and how this artistic tool is being used as a language of communication and creation. It also presents the real-time composition and its peculiarities and the power of collective creation as a creative tool and interaction between artistic disciplines. As there are several cases of sensitive and creative languages, such as Soundpainting, that are used to communicate with artificial intelligence, finally, it expose two of them, which are both still in their embryonic state. Both are collaborations and research between SP sign language and Tactileology. Both can lead to creative results that contribute to new ways of perceiving living art, in a sensitive, social and inclusive way.

Co-Creative Problem Solving to Support Rapid Learning of Systems Knowledge Towards High-Tech Innovations: A Longitudinal Case Study

This article explores co-creative problem solving to support rapid learning of systems knowledge in the concept phase towards innovation. We introduce the term co-creative problem solving to describe the act of collective creation between systems engineers and stakeholders during problem solving. The context of this research is a mature Norwegian industry accustomed to efficiency and risk aversion, challenged by late validation of systems design due to poor utilization of systems knowledge. We have explored co-creation between systems engineers and stakeholders such as project managers, business developers, and subject-matter experts through a longitudinal in-depth industry case in the energy domain. The primary outcome is insights into how co-creative problem solving supports rapid learning of systems knowledge in the industry case. We propose a method building on the findings from the research results to support systems engineers in similar contexts facing similar challenges.

A sustainable career for interim managers: the role of career communities

PurposeThis study examines how the collective construction of career sustainability takes place through a career community of interim managers.Design/methodology/approachWe draw on 31 interviews with interim managers who are part of a career community in the form of a professional association of interim managers in France.FindingsThe findings show the importance of career communities as a vehicle through which to create a sustainable career. More specifically, we show that occupational career communities provide mutual and reciprocal career support, collective being and belonging through sense-making as well as collective learning leading to the collective creation of a sustainable career.Originality/valueWe add to the literature on sustainable careers by providing a collective community-level analysis and make a theoretical contribution by using the concept of career communities in shedding light on the career sustainability of interim managers. In the light of the increase in non-standard forms of employment, career communities might become an interesting vehicle for career management and development.

Moments of entanglement

This paper investigates the sociomateriality of collective creation in the context of a design studio project. Grounded in a relational approach that has influenced a multitude of studies in various fields, the notion of sociomateriality accounts for the constitutive entanglement of the social and the material in practice. How this entanglement occurs or what exactly is subjected to it, however, remains largely unarticulated, especially in studies where the handling of materials lies at the heart of the research process. By adopting a relational approach operationalized through qualitative network analysis, we traced the sociomaterial trajectories of a studio project to identify the moments in which various actors were entangled. The resulting network visualizes these moments and assists in explicating how they enabled the instantiation of intersubjective design ideas.

Diverse Values and a Common Utopia

Plural valuation of nature is key for inclusive and fair sustainability policies. Although there is a growing awareness of the importance of incorporating multiple values of nature in decision making, inclusive processes of this type are rare, limited to consultations, or have little transparency regarding their translation into public policy. Especially in nature conservation schemes such as protected areas, the integration of values from local communities is much needed. In this article, we analyze the experience of the Forest Stewards Network in Xalapa, Mexico, to show how plural valuation and the recognition of the inseparable link between the values of nature and the values that shape social organization can contribute to environmental decision making. We present the method of collective creation of utopias by drawing-telling as a practice to elicit and integrate multiple values in decision-making processes. We applied a participatory art-based plural valuation approach, structured in five stages: (1) a collective diagnosis of the problem(s), (2) creating individual utopias through drawings and narratives, (3) integrating values in collective utopia, (4) strategic planning, and (5) collective action. This method led to significant results in relation to learning, values, decision making, and action, fostering mutual understanding and diversity as principles for a more horizontal organization. We conclude by highlighting the importance of learning and experimenting around inclusive decision-making processes at all levels, as well as the significant contributions of grassroots organizations to this matter.

Teaching through performing arts in higher education: Examples in engineering and psychology

This paper introduces two courses making use of performing arts at university level. The first course, taught by Prof. Simon Henein and his colleagues, called Improgineering, aims to teach collective creation through improvisation to master’s degree students in engineering at the EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland). The second course, taught by Prof. Laure Kloetzer and her colleagues, aims to introduce the Psychology of Migration via a sociocultural approach to bachelor’s degree students in psychology and education at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). After briefly introducing the topic of performing arts in higher education (section 1), the paper offers a description of the two courses (sections 2 and 3). These are complemented by teachers’ and students’ impressions of the course, as analyzed from individual interviews, focus groups and students’ learning diary entries (section 4). The conclusion presents some reflections on the convergences of the pedagogical designs of the courses, drafting a pedagogical model for using performing arts within higher education (section 5).