Creative ecologies in action: technology and the workshop-as-artwork

A shift is occurring, particularly evident in art-and- technology practice, in which the artist-led-workshop is transformed into an distinct and distinguishable artistic form. Resulting from, and contributing to, the new access and relationships people have to information, creative culture, materials and like-interested individuals, the "workshop-as-artwork" is herein proposed and outlined. As a set of multiple artistic (material), social and learning agent interactions, thinking this new form as an ecology has shown benefits in terms of the aims and design of these new works, as well as their thinking, planning and execution. Further, from the artist-interventionist point of view, positing the workshop-as-artwork and ecological thinking seeks to update notions of legacy, consequence and significance for the art-and-technology practitioner and his or her audience. Particular attention is given to the links made between the workshop-as-artwork to other historical art forms, the potentials for these structures to provide a means of rendering technologies more convivial, as well as understanding the participative and performative interactions possible within such a form. We conclude with a set of reflections on the artistic context of this work, and possible directions and prospects arising from the "workshop-as-artwork".