Collaborative research in art, design and new media - challenges and opportunities

Collaboration between the arts and the sciences has a long history of tension and antipathy, and also, paradoxically, interdependence. Artists such as Leonardo da Vinci were involved with the creation of artistic works and also novel inventions that were intended to serve a purpose in the natural world. More recently the rapid advances of technology underpinning new media have facilitated both the collaboration of artists in virtual spaces and the use of new media to create, view, and interact with artistic works. Technology and applications are changing the way ideas are formed and the way research is developed and advanced. In addition, the ubiquity of new media has facilitated its use to support and develop a number of application domains. This paper explores the relationship between creativity, collaboration, and artistic works, and their interaction and interplay with social media.