New book – Artscience: A Curious Education

I am writing to announce the publication of my first book, which is ironically, is a tradebook based on research done over the past 10 years. There is an upcoming online book talk to accompany its soft launch, organized by the English Department of Universiti of Malaya where I am now based (although I am attached to Creative Arts). The time might be too late/early for many of the members here as it would be at 3pm, GMT+8 on April 23, though suitable for those based in Australasia. Therefore, let me attach the abstract of the book as it most aptly describes the book.

” Bees, mirror neurons, Frankenstein, curiosity cabinets, colonial eclipse watching, anonymous artists, indigenous folktales, Chinese fantasy video game turned xian xia drama, shadow puppet play, Einstein, time travel, media physics, particle physics, quantum informatics, instruments of knowledge popularization….these are all just some of the characters and scenes that made their appearances in the recently published Artscience: A Curious Education by Gerakbudaya. Clarissa Lee will talk about how her book is informed by her decision to couple each of the main seven essays in the book to an exercise aimed at inviting the reader to participate in the unfinished story begun in each essay through the fictive universes constructed via each exercise, not merely for the reader to complete as one would expect of exercises in a book, but rather, to create their own speculative narratives, theories, and even creative/imaginary products. There is no definite outcome, and each outcome is shaped by the cognitive and creative zones that the reader possesses, and which the reader may choose to reshape. Clarissa will discuss her decision to turn what would have been a set of linear theoretical arguments into a maze of narrative puzzles that draws from an eclectic collection of subjects that are seemingly worlds apart, but which could come together to produce the emergent and the unfathomable. All of these are done through the jurisdiction of an epistemic practice called artscience, a practice that catalyses old narratives with fresh conjectures, while kindling new discoveries for experimental play.“

Here is the link to the blogpost with more details on the book.  I will also be putting up details on the talk on my blog when it is ready, and also repost it here.

The book is only available in Malaysia at this moment, as a print copy, although we are working to find agents in other countries who would be willing to distribute the book (if you know of any, please let me know), and also negotiating for the possibility of an e-book. We are also interested in getting institutions to purchase this book if they think it might be useful for their collection, and as a teaching and learning resource.

Clarissa