Undergraduate Course: Imagination Across Art and Technology (EFIE10007)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | We need new ways of thinking, acting and learning to respond to long-term and global challenges and to imagine possible futures that move us to act on them in the present. In the 'Imagination across Art and Technology' course, we examine what imagination is and how it can be put to work and create transformative change. We explore individual and collaborative imagination across art and technology in several contexts like contemporary public art, AI and robotics, climate change and others chosen every year based on students' interests. |
| Course description |
A multitude of social, economic and ecological challenges we are facing - racism, poverty and climate change to name just a few - have emerged from the normalized understandings and practices that trap our capacity to imagine otherwise and to enable social action and transformative change. In this course we examine imagination in action across art and technology and how individual and collaborative imagination can be fostered and mobilized to pursue and create desirable futures.
Most creative manifestations of imagination are the result of human interaction with art or technology, or both. Moreover, imagination is not only required in the production of art and technology but also in experiencing and using them. Art and technology can shape and foster our imaginations. For instance, AI seems to challenge what we define as (good) art and who or what can make art. At the same time art-based ways of thinking and acting often challenge, question and offer alternatives to values and norms informing AI and other technologies. Hence, AI not only offers an example of how technology can impact art, and art can shape technology, but is also a productive setting to explore imaginative practices in action.
The course is composed of four parts that are organised in ten weekly sessions. The first part opens the course with an introduction to the nature of imagination, its various forms and relation with creativity. Then the sessions in the second part will explore imagination first in the context of art and technology separately, and then across them. The third part discusses how we can start to re-imagine and open new possibilities for innovation, entrepreneurship, and futures-making by fostering collaborative imagination and experimenting with imaginative practices and methods. The last part closes with a session on important emerging issues around fostering interdisciplinary imagination to create transformative social change.
The course is delivered through a combination of interactive lectures and seminars throughout the ten weeks of the course. The students will be required to read and prepare materials for the lectures and seminars in advance and are expected to discuss them in class. The seminars will include a blend of activities to support multiple ways of learning, including discussions, workshops or other interactive whole class or small group formats. Activities in the seminars will also inform students' work on the individual report for the research project of their choice on which they will be assessed. The course will use talks from guest speakers, visits to organizations and other activities to expose students to imaginative practices across art and technology.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and critical understanding of key concepts, theoretical frameworks, methods and practices of imagination and related topics discussed during the course.
- Apply these concepts, frameworks, methods and practices within a range of situations and organisational settings to generate original insights and reflect on appropriate imagination approaches and practices.
- Work both independently and collaboratively to communicate issues through multi-modal formats and audiences (e.g., academic, professional and general audiences).
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Essential Reading:
Books:
Gosetti-Ferencei J. (2023). Imagination. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Kind A. (2022). Imagination and Creative Thinking. Cambridge University Press.
Hopkins R. (2019). From what is to what if: Unleashing the power of imagination to create the future we want.
Chelsea Green Publishing.
Chapters:
Blok V. (2021). Handbook on Alternative Theories of Innovation. Edward Elgar. Chapters: 2. Imaginaries of
innovation (Harro van Lente); 3. Theories of innovation (Benoît Godin).
Kind A. & Langkau J. (2024). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Imagination and Creativity. [Forthcoming].
Chapters: 1. Introduction: Reclaiming the creative Imagination (Amy Kind & Julia Langkau); 5. Non-Western
Treatments of Imagination (Reza Hadisi & Jing Iris Hu) 6. Non-Western Treatments of Creativity (Nicolas B.
Verger & Vlad Glaveanu); 26. Imagination, Creativity, and Artificial Intelligence (Peter Langland-Hassan).
Academic Articles:
Born G. & Barry A. (2010). Art-science: From public understanding to public experiment. Journal of Cultural
Economy, 3(1), 103-119.
Galafassi D., Tàbara J.D. & Heras M. (2018). Restoring our senses, restoring the Earth. Fostering imaginative
capacities through the arts for envisioning climate transformations. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 6,
69.
Greene M. (1995). Art and imagination: Reclaiming the sense of possibility. The Phi Delta Kappan, 76(5), 378-
382.
Gümüsay A. A. & Reinecke J. (2022). Researching for desirable futures: From real utopias to imagining
alternatives. Journal of Management Studies, 59(1), 236-242.
Laba N. (2024). Engine for the imagination? Visual generative media and the issue of representation. Media,
Culture & Society, 46(8), 1599-1620.
Mager A. & Katzenbach C. (2021). Future imaginaries in the making and governing of digital technology:
Multiple, contested, commodified. New Media & Society, 23(2), 223-236.
Moore M. L. & Milkoreit M. (2020). Imagination and transformations to sustainable and just futures.
Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 8(1), 081.
Thompson N.A. (2018). Imagination and Creativity in Organizations. Organization Studies, 39(2-3), 229-250.
Van Lente H. & Peters P. (2022). The future as aesthetic experience: imagination and engagement in future
studies. European Journal of Futures Research, 10(1), 16.
Weiss T., Eberhart R., Lounsbury M. Nelson A., ... & Aldrich, D. (2023). The social effects of entrepreneurship
on society and some potential remedies: Four provocations. Journal of Management Inquiry, 32(4), 251-277.
Others, including essays, reports, blogs, websites, films, and documentaries. For instance:
Black, S., Bilbao, S., Moruzzi, C., Osborne, N., Terras, M., & Zeller, F. (2024). The Future of Creativity and AI:
Views from the Scottish Creative Industries. Available at: 10.5281/zenodo.10805253
Le Guin, U. K. (2004). A Rant about 'Technology'. Ursula K. Le Guin archived website. Available at:
http://www.ursulakleguinarchive.com
Recommended Reading:
Jacob, M. J. (2020). Dewey for artists. University of Chicago Press.
Jasanoff, S., & Kim, S. H. (2015). Dreamscapes of Modernity: Sociotechnical Imaginaries and the Fabrication of
Power. University of Chicago Press.
Miller, A. I. (2019). The artist in the machine: The world of AI-powered creativity. MIT Press.
Mulgan, G. (2022). Another world is possible: How to reignite social and political imagination. Hurst
Publishers.
Wapner, P. K., & Elver, H. (Eds.) (2016). Reimagining climate change. Routledge. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1) Creativity - ability to generate and develop ideas, innovate and being able to disrupt conventional patterns.
2) Openness and learning mindset - having a mindset of curiosity and a willingness to be vulnerable and embrace change and grow.
3) Perspective - skills in seeking, understanding and making use of insights from contrasting perspectives.
4) Interdisciplinary work - ability to combine insights from different disciplines and different sources of knowledge in the framing and solving of problems.
5) Cooperation in (heterogeneous) groups - ability to learn from others; understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others; relate to and be sensitive to others, deal with conflicts in groups; and facilitate collaborative and participatory problem framing and solving.
6) Communication - ability to really listen to others, to foster genuine dialogue, to advocate own views skilfully, to manage conflicts and tensions constructively and to adapt communication to diverse groups and audiences. |
| Keywords | Imagination,Art,Technology,Creativity,Innovation,Entrepreneurship,Organisation,Futures |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Piera Morlacchi
Tel:
Email: piera.morlacchi@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Matt Bryant
Tel:
Email: Matt.Bryant@ed.ac.uk |
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