Risk Capital and the Myth of Two Cultures

Editorial by Patricia Olynyk Minding the Gap: Risk Capital and the Myth of Two Cultures Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology “Risk capital,” as defined in the world of finance, addressed the political dimension of the British edu- Volume 45 Number 1 2012 refers to funds made available for high-risk start-up cational system, but Snow’s ideas have since been ventures with exceptional growth potential. Human misconstrued to imply a significant gap between the resources and technical expertise are often made avail- overall worldviews of scientists on the one hand and able for such endeavors, which offer the chance of a artists and humanists on the other. What we need to probable positive outcome, or profit, along with the understand today is that “scientists, humanists and possibility of a less-favorable result, or loss. artists are fundamentally engaged in the same enter- What happens if we import the concept of risk capi- prise” [5] and that “this enterprise is at the heart of tal into the academic setting, not to address the recent what the university is about across all of its research trend within higher education to embrace the corpo- and teaching in all of its disciplines” [6]. The trade rate model and, in some cases, measure the value of between them “is not robust enough in either direc- creative work and research in direct relation to profit, tion” [7] and there should be no gaps. Scientists, but as a tool to tackle the systemic and structural humanists and artists must “vigorously assert that we obstacles that have historically inhibited discourse and are all one in the life of the mind” and committed to collaboration between the arts and other disciplines? the pursuits of “curiosity, imagination, and reflection It is productive to consider ways in which applica- for their own sake” [8]. tion of the risk capital concept could help research If one then accepts the premise of “one culture”— institutions committed to multidisciplinary, interdisci- of a shared overall worldview—and that the “life of the plinary, cross-disciplinary and transdisciplinary initia- mind” is the coin of the realm and our current preoc- tives support high-risk ventures—those that may not cupation with material goals is self-defeating, then produce immediate outcomes but that are nonethe- engaging risk capital in the academy could prompt less rich in potential. Could more unconditional forms not only a reevaluation of our target investments but of support for research and practice located in the also support for the most innovative, generative and so-called gaps between cultures—specifically between experimental thinking, research and creative work art and science—lead to the eventual enhancement emerging from the gaps between historically divided and reevaluation of outcomes, even in the absence of disciplines. In fact, filling the “gaps” with a little risk short-term gains? Can profit take the form of innova- capital might engender new emancipatory paradigms, tion, or simply of serendipitous conversations that mobilize intrinsic arguments and promote coopera- result in the productive exchange of ideas? tive interdependency between fractured academic The president of the Andrew W. Mellon Founda- domains, typically art and science, effectively eliminat- tion, Don Michael Randel, opened a recent keynote ing the myth of “two cultures” once and for all. address, “What Researchers and Artists Actually Do,” Patricia Olynyk at the conference The Role of Art-Making and the Chair, Leonardo Education and Art Forum Arts in the Research University, by cautioning against E-mail: <[email protected]> instrumental arguments, specifically with regard to References support for the arts. Arguments that “the arts contrib- 1. Chronicle of Higher Education, Arts & Academe blog, <http://chronicle. ute to the gross domestic product and are good for com/blogs/arts/mellon-foundation-president-asserts-1-culture-not-2/29304>. business” [1] are frequently used, but do not empha- 2. See Ref. [1]. size the more fundamental humanity of the arts. Nor 3. See Ref. [1]. should the arts be “pitched to monied interests” [2], 4. University of Michigan Arts Engine 2011 Conference program, <www.arts onearth.org/presentations.php>. he asserted, “something to make us seem cultured as 5. Don Michael Randel, keynote address, University of Michigan Arts Engine we concentrate on material goals” [3]. Randel fur- 2011 Conference, 4–6 May 2011. ther emphasized that, though his motives were good, 6. Randel [5]. “C.P. Snow did us a great disservice when he declared 7. Randel [5]. that there were two cultures” [4]. This notion largely 8. Randel [5]. 2 LEONARDO, Vol. 45, No. 1, p. 2, 2012 ©2012 ISAST Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/leon/article-pdf/45/1/2/1579953/leon_e_00318.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021.

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