Faculty of Social Sciences
Department of Geography
Staff Profile
Angela Last
a.last@open.ac.uk
Research Student
Geography
Qualifications
BA Hons Fashion (University of Leeds), MA Fashion (Surrey Institute), MSc Human Geography Research Methods (Open University)
Research Interests
Mutable Matter - Can sensual engagement give rise to meaningful questions about the nanoscale and our relationship with it?
My project is about the relations between the space we can sense and the processes at the scale of atoms or molecules. Using the example of public engagement with nanotechnology I am pointing to the differences between policy-orientated and sci-art engagement in their approaches to matter.
‘Mutable Matter’ tries to bring public engagement with nanotechnologies and recent interactive sci-art exhibitions into dialogue with each other through a series of art practice based interactive ‘experiments’ which allow people to talk about and playfully explore the relations between those two scales. The aim of the resulting workshops is to go beyond the focus on risk thinking of public engagement with new technologies as well as to challenge the notion of creative hands-on engagement as ‘mere play’. Some questions that have emerged from my research are:
How can sensory engagement with the nanoscale help us make different connections to this space? Does engagement with this space enable us to see 'our' world differently and, if yes, what are the consequences of this? How can this kind of engagement inform geographical investigations into matter (and vice versa)?
Visit the project's Mutable Matter interactive weblog.
Recent Publications
Last, A. (2007) ‘Mutable Matter – Exploring the Physicality of the Nanoscale’ in Ramduny-Ellis, D., Hare, J., Gill, S., Dix, A. (eds) Proceedings of the second Workshop on Physicality, 2-3 September 2007, Lancaster University, UK.
Last, A. 6 July - 31 July 2007. The Animal Lab. Watford:WRAP exhibition@ ChaCha Café.
Last, A. 1 May - 9 May 2004. Mutation. London:TemporaryContemporary Gallery and
11 October – 12 October, Croydon: Heathfield Ecology Centre.