In 2009, a treasure chest lands on the beach of western culture - a chest that has been in the ocean for two centuries: namely the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the first publication of On The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection. Darwin's theory of evolution remains a landmark of western intellectual endeavour, yet was controversial and contested at the time. Although the context of controversy has changed within evolutionary thinking, contemporary science, religion and culture still actively engage with Darwinism, whether in the spirit of opposition, modification or refinement. This proposal seeks to undertake exploratory research in order to achieve a set of qualitatively original and exemplary outputs (exhibitions, interventions, a website and set of related publications) around Darwin related themes, guided by set objectives and a rigorous academic process. Rather than repeat tried and tested formulae of art/science collaboration resulting in contemporary art commissioning, in this case improved forms of interdisciplinary collaboration and arts commissioning should arise if this speculative phase is successful. Evolutionist thinking has permeated many disciplines from biology, botany, psychology, economics, neurology, philosophy and politics to name a few. This project asserts the potential for contemporary art practice to re-imagine Darwin's work within a current context, to draw out, in particular, some of the most significant ideas embedded in his thought and of others. Such themes include: The Scientific: how Darwin's theory of evolution built on and differs from competing theories at the time (from the Great Chain of Being and Creationism to morphogenesis) and how subsequent theories, particularly based on Mendel's genetics and a resurgence of 'creationism' under the term 'intelligent design' has battled with Darwinism. The Philosophical: how the theory of evolution can be seen as a reflection on larger philosophical and poetic considerations, such as how any discrete entity in any field is born, changes and dies. The Ethical: how speciesism and hierarchies between humans and animals is defended, and how an 'evolution of ideas' since 1859 might be seen to develop out of concepts such as altruism, rights and respect, i.e. that animal rights issues can be explored through contemporary arts practice. In order to carry out this speculative programme, the model adopted is one inspired by Darwin's famous voyage on the Beagle (1831-6), where a small interdisciplinary team of subject specialists work within a tight structure to bring new insights into the field of the natural sciences and arts. Contemporary participants will navigate, through dialogue, around this extraordinary archipelago of ideas. They will bring their own disciplinary research methods with them, but adjust and communicate their knowledge amongst each other. Consequently, willingness to communicate and share ideas at 'entry level' will be encouraged throughout. The processes and outcomes will be recorded individually through the project website and publications. Subsequently, particular themes as developed in dialogue with contemporary artists will be developed imaginatively through the production of new work after this speculative phase. The outcomes will be publicly accessible models of interdisciplinary dialogue, at the highest level, on a subject of vivid contemporary concern. The exhibitions, interventions, website and publications should embody creative research from a wide range of specialisms normally hidden within academic disciplinary boundaries, yet through art practices, particularly the visual arts and poetry, be readily, available to more general audiences. There is great potential application and benefit to such a project, given the amount of attention there will be on Darwin-related issues in 2009, and the popularity and persistence of arts and science based projects in areas of wide cultural interest (particularly exhibition displays in museums and galleries, and off-site projects).

The principle aim of the research project is to provide a platform to allow memories to be attached to objects that already exist in the world. The project identifies a significant gap in the emerging aspect of the digital economy known as the 'internet of things', which as new objects are tagged there is a real danger that old ones will not be. The TOTeM project is concerned with the memory and value of 'old' objects. It has been suggested that people surround themselves with between 1,000 and 5,000 objects. Of those thousands of objects many of them are probably not truly cared for and end up in rubbish bins or in storage. But for every owner, in almost every household there are a selection of objects that hold significant resonance, and will already connect them to an Internet of memory and meaning. An intrinsic human trait is the process of imbuing meaning onto objects so that they provide connections to people, events and environments. Artefacts across a mantelpiece become conduits between events that happened in the past, to people who will occupy the future. These objects become essential coordinates across families and communities to support the telling of a stories and passing-on knowledge.The TOTeM project is located within the emerging technical and cultural phenomenon known as 'The Internet of Things'. The term is attributed to the Auto-ID research group at MIT in 1999, and was explored in depth by the International Telecommunication Union who published a report bearing the same name at the United Nations net summit in 2005. The term, 'internet of things', refers to the technical and cultural shift that is anticipated as society moves to a ubiquitous form of computing in which every device is 'on', and every device is connected in some way to the internet. The specific reference to 'things' refers to the concept that every new object manufactured will also be able to part of this extended Internet, because they will have been tagged and indexed by the manufacturer during production. It is also envisaged that consumers will have the ability to 'read' the tags through the use of mobile 'readers' and use the information connected to the object, to inform their purchase, use and disposal of an object.The implications for the Internet of Things upon production and consumption are tremendous, and will transform the way in which people shop, store and share products. The analogue bar code that has for so long been a dumb encrypted reference to a shops inventory system, will be superseded by an open platform in which every object manufactured will be able to be tracked from cradle to grave, through manufacturer to distributor, to potentially every single person who comes in to contact with it following its purchase. Further still, every object that comes close to another object, and is within range of a reader, could also be logged on a database and used to find correlations between owners and applications. In a world that has relied upon a linear chain of supply and demand between manufacturer and consumer via high street shop, the Internet of Things has the potential to transform how we will treat objects, care about their origin and use them to find other objects. If every new object is within reach of a reader, everything is searchable and findable, subsequently the shopping experience may never be the same, and the concept of throwing away objects may become a thing of the past as other people find new uses for old things.Spimes are manufactured objects whose informational support is so overwhelmingly extensive and rich that they are regarded as material instantiations of an immaterial system. Spimes begin and end as data. They're virtual objects first and actual objects second. Bruce Sterling, Shaping Things, (2005)

The research poses the following primary research questions:\nWHY? / Given the agreed need for wider social participation in the design process, why is there limited communication between research into and practice of the subject?\nWHO? - Who gets involved and how does the user/architect role affect the client/architect role, and within this the client-user relationship?\nWHAT? / What activities in design are participated in, and to what extent does the architect see this role as guiding the user as opposed to investigating the user's existing interests/awareness?\nHOW? / How social and technical tools for participation can be used. How can non-specialised language and tools be used to communicate more openly in the process, and how will this affect use of resources?\nWHERE? / Which types of buildings might be more or less suited to participation of users and the general public in the design process?\n\nThe research questions identified above will be investigated through:\n- a review of past and current trends and examples in wider social engagement in the architectural design process, whether 'community', 'individual' or other \n- identification of key social and technical methods of widening participation, drawing from allied areas of the built environment \n- identification of good practice case studies and key informants referring to a Steering Group\n- identification of key institutions with potential interests \n- isolating good practice and possibilities/constraints for wider social involvement in the architecture design process, through case studies\n- identifying implications of the research findings for the profession, institutions and the wider public, including issues for future development\n- making specific recommendations for research development activities and assisting in setting agendas for future activities to promote more systematic and wider social involvement in the architecture design process\n\nThe research methods include:\na) setting up a participatory process, based on a steering group, for confirmation of key issues, identification of case studies and relevant techniques\nb) undertaking an international literature review of participation in design of the built environment;\nc) implementing in-depth investigation of representative case studies from a broad initial sample where user or wider public participation has been engaged in the architectural design process across the UK, using semi-structured interviews and focus group meetings to identify how these have been assessed\nd) undertaking a review of visualisation techniques currently used or in development and their actual / potential role in widening participation in building design \ne) implementing a series of interviews with relevant organisations engaged in issues of public interest in design for new and existing buildings concerning initial findings.\n\nThe research is speculative in that it seeks to establish a consensual agenda for future research and action by Government and professional bodies. The proposal is essentially exploratory, but the outcomes have the potential to be of particular value to the research community as well as other relevant audiences and constituencies. The study may well assist in challenging existing models of architectural design and perceptions of how wider social participation can be incorporated into these, or change these. In addition it will permit an assessment of the feasibility of tools and techniques (some new and some relatively new to architecture). Finally it is seen as a scoping study for further development work, including research possibilities as well as practical application in the profession.

Stone is a fundamental material upon which human culture has evolved over millennia. Yet stone as a creative material has become image, surface and a tool of 'spin'. A senior group of artist-researchers consider the heritage of stone, and question whether this shift from structure to meaning has to be the inevitable course of stone into the future. \n\nWe propose to research relevant stone craft skills - a rich repository that, like the material itself, has accumulated over a long timescale. Many traditional stone working techniques and attitudes are in danger of being lost. Is the material of stone destined to become culturally peripheral, or can it be revisited and invigorated in new ways? Our focus is to examine stone's potential for future use in our environment. To do this effectively, we will look back and forward, to energise the project in two directions. This will involve archiving traditional skills, and so create an accessible legacy for future generations.\n\nThe project will be led by three experienced artist-researchers, supported by a research assistant and PhD student. Over a three-year period, our research proposal will be rolled out in phases, each exploring related and interconnected facets of stone carving. \n\nFirstly, we will visit quarries and stone-working locations world-wide to identify a broad range of practice and lineage, and so capture some of the varying attitudes toward stone in cultures such as Japan, China, South America, South Africa Italy and India. (From the Mahabalipurum craft-workers of India whose approach to carving stone is essentially abrasive, to Japan where there is a tradition of using the chisel to explode individual crystals in granite.) Informed by the research process, the researchers will invite 10 artists of cultural diversity with varied stone working approaches, to engage in the research project. In all cases, they will be artists with acknowledged reputations and expert stone technique. The artists will be invited at the end of the first year to study our accumulated research material, and consider new ways of how stone might be reinvigorated in art and the contemporary environment. Following this event the artists will return to reflect on the research and develop a stone artwork proposal.\n \nSecondly, Edinburgh College of Art will host a month long event entitled 'The Big Carve', within the environs of eca. The selected artists will come to Edinburgh to make 10 new innovative artworks / thereby creating a new research community, through the amplification of each other's energies and enthusiasms. 'The Big Carve' will inject energy into contemporary stonework made by relevant, articulate artists.\n\nWe are not aware of precedents elsewhere in the world that focus on stone in this particular way and address themselves to artists at this level. (Although minor carving symposia exist worldwide, they tend to cater toward younger or more traditional artists, who work for free and leave their stones behind.) \n\nThe quarried stone used will be sourced from the UK and Ireland and that broadly incorporates all major stone categories (i.e. slates, granites, sandstones, limestone). Synchronising the event with the Edinburgh International Festival is considered an additional catalyst in recruiting high quality artist participation and knowledge transfer to an international audience. As a focus and counterpoint for the material-driven activities central to 'The Big Carve', the event will also be underpinned by a series of 10 cross-disciplinary lectures and discussions, led by philosophers, scientists, anthropologists, historians, palaeontologists, archaeologists, and poets.\n \nLastly, the research project will culminate in a series of outputs that will address the research questions, aims & objectives, through travelling exhibitions; an illustrated publication; documentary films; a permanent STONE archive; a website; and a successful PhD award.

Imagine how fantastic it would be to be able to make a tangible three dimensional 'sketch' of a design concept. An outcome of the Tacitus Research Project is a prototype '3D sketching' software application using the Reachin Haptic (touch) system which gives users real experience of working within a more natural environment where they can 'feel' virtual objects. The creative process, particularly germinal phase activities (sketching, modelling, playing, exploring) and "intelligent making" (formal/tacit knowledge, physical and mental skill, contextual awareness, personal creative autonomy), is central to the aim of improving the experience of computer aided designing through combining a more intuitive expressible interface, and the benefits that haptics (touch) and computing offers. Artist Claude Heath was Invited to experiment with the '3D sketching' application to create a 3 dimensional interactive sketch of Ben Nevis which was premiered at the Tacitus 2004 Symposium 'Creative Digital Interactions' held in Sept 2004. He demonstrated the sketch's true 3 dimensional qualities by fully rotating the projected image, panning, zooming and flying around and through the sketch using a mouse. In addition to achievements regarding human interaction Issues, this was a very exciting event particularly as the consensus of the delegates was that the composition Claude had created was, in an entirely aesthetic sense, a work of art in its own right regardless of how technologically it had been produced. How fantastic then to be able to make a tangible three dimensional 'sketch'. Aims of the proposed activity: discover scope and potential for creating new 3D designs and producing real tangible objects by fusing two technologies - digital 3D sketching and rapid prototyping (RP) use activity to inspire new groups of designer makers/young creatives to engage with design, technology and digital media illustrate how new virtual media and RP technology offers not only new tools but also the prospect of entirely new ways of thinking and working Objectives: to generate genuine high quality, exciting three dimensional digital sketches 3D digital sketches with prototyping potential '3D sketched' objects made tangible through rapid prototyping technology documentation on the creation processes 6 designers will be invited to create sketch designs (using the 3D sketching application/Reach in haptic system). Approximately 6 will be prototyped as objects. Dissemination activities: 1. Exhibition (display objects, project 3D sketches for interaction, illustrate process with story boarding/video). 2. Conference paper and presentation, tutorials/discussion forums (designers, teaching/research staff, students).