N C T U
presents
[S - Chatten]
[S_Chatten]
In 2007, the National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan, one of the participating universities of the “Pursuing Excellence Project” for the goal of “striving toward the top 100 universities in the world” set by the Ministry of Education, submitted an art proposal to “Kulturamt der Stadt Köln (Cultural Office of Cologne City)” and “Kölner Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (Cologne Association for New Music)” in Germany. In the proposal, a multimedia interactive project “S_Chatten”, which means “chatting with light and shadow,” was proposed for consideration. After a few revisions, the proposal was accepted and the opening date and location were finalized on September 6th, 2008 at Deutzer Bridge, Köln, Germany. A budget proposal was then written up for applying university funding, albeit partial funding was guaranteed by the Cultural Office of Köln City. A cross-disciplinary team consisting of 4 faculty and 9 graduate students from art, music, and architecture areas was formed after the university funding was secured.
Project S_Chatten is an interactive installation interwoven with live music and performing arts held in a tunnel-like space of 500-meter-long by 10-meter-wide under Deutzer Bridge. To accomplish this large-scale project within two years and under a total budget of 73,500 US dollars, the university faculty and students have had to work closely and creatively to fulfill the project goal. The goal was to achieve an idiosyncratic interpretation and artistic expression of light and shadow within the geographical and cultural contexts of the Rhine River in Köln City, and the island of Taiwan located on the Pacific Ocean.
This project imparts many dimensions of innovative teaching and learning experiences, which include a full range of concerns from budget management, team coordination, technological integration, publicity, to intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship development. All of the above teaching and learning opportunities are manifested in a unique context of an interdisciplinary and transnational art project. The faculty and students have learned communication skills and knowledge from other team members with specialties as diverse as musical composing, performing arts, architecture, psychology, design and visual arts.
The aim of our proposed presentation is to share and disseminate the innovative teaching and learning experiences that have occurred in a non-classroom-setting. While executing this transnational multimedia project has provided sustenance for our growth, it has also posed many challenges for the faculty and students. For example, the organizational plan required to execute this project has involved intricate coordination of practicing artists and musicians from Germany and Taiwan. A documentary film of the project will be shared with the audience and the following questions will be addressed in this presentation: What key steps need to be taken to allow the project coordinator, faculty, and students to work together seamlessly? How does a transnational project keep communication venues open and effective among three disciplinary areas and project sponsors from two countries? What things can be done when unexpected spending occurs and the budget is not adequate? Besides gaining more professional experience and knowledge, what does innovative teaching and learning mean in a multimedia interactive project?
Connector
(Realisation: Institut for Architektur NCTU)
Transcenden-Tor
(Realisation: Institut für Musik NCTU)
Die Schatteninsel
(Realisation: Institut für Angewandte Kunst NCTU)
