The 2009 conference is hosted by The Science Shop, Queen's University Belfast

Creating debate about science and emerging technologies through spatial installations

Inspired by more than a decade of critiquing the deficit model and by calls for dialogue and engagement, this paper describes the creation of a spatial installation about the social and ethical aspects of stem cell research.  The installation was an experiment with social science communication and a result of cooperation between a spatial designer and a social scientist.  The aim of the experiment was to engage the visitors in dialogue about social scientific knowledge concerning the regulation of science and emerging technologies.  The installation was therefore designed to

•   make the communication dialogical and interactive

•   communicate research-based problematics, rather than ready-made ‘packages of knowledge’

•   communicate with more than words and let visitors choose their own way of engaging with the issues

•   create engagement, irritation or curiosity rather than just understanding

 The experiment led to the creation of the installation ‘the Stem Cell NetWork – a Social Science Lab’. The installation was designed as a three dimensional gaming board (of approximately 80 square metres), where visitors could move between a series of small rooms.  Each of these rooms thematised a particular social issue connected to the development of stem cell research, which led to certain questions and forms of interaction.  Visitors could think of themselves as their own gaming piece in this gaming board.

 Throughout the installation they were confronted with a number of different problematics and encountered different types of choices through physical meetings with different scenarios.  The dialogical form was supported by the fact that the appearance of the installation changed in accordance with the different choices made by visitors.  The installation was therefore not just a means for individual reflection and opinion formation.  It was also a way of inviting visitors to become co-creators of its messages.

Theme:  Knowledge exchange, transfer or exploitation?

Presenters Name: Maja Horst

Presenters Institution: Copenhagen Business School

Presenters Biography:

Maja Horst is Associate Professor at the Copenhagen Business School.  Her research interests include science communication, public understanding of science and political debates about science and emerging technologies.  She has also been trying to take her own medicine of engagement and dialogue through the creation of interactive installations communicating her research in experimental ways.