Onderzoeksbureau DOSIS
'De invloed van abstracte stimuli op groepsfunctioneren'
Research center DOSIS
'The influence of abstract stimulants on group functioning'
Research / exhibiton
november 8 - december 2 2007
NP3, Groningen, The Netherlands
Research centre DOSIS (Dynamics of Otiose Social and Interactive Structures), is concentrating on the peripheral area between the (visual) arts and science. It was founded in .September 2007 by Maarten Kastelijns (scenographer), Jasper Smit (audiovisual artist), Jan Willem Romeijn (philosopher) and Willem Besselink (visual artist). DOSIS’ ambition is to provide insight into the always expanding streams of data, like to ones encountered in information science and formal scientific research. It is in visualizing such vast amounts of information that art and therefore DOSIS, can contribute in the representation of formal scientific research.
In NP3, an exhibition space in Groningen/NL, DOSIS researched “the influence of abstract stimulants on the functioning of groups”. The aim was to find out how groups function together in a totally empty space with just minimal stimulants, how they move, what positions they take in, how they communicate, etcetera.
To that purpose DOSIS invited 64 volunteers in groups of 6-9 people to take part in 60 minutes research sessions, 9 in total. Each session had three parts, 15 minutes each. Before each session volunteers were asked to fill in a questionnaire and to put on an overall in a distinctive colour. This took place in a waiting room. From there they moved into the actual research-space which was a perfect white cube. This space was equipped with all sorts of cameras, in order to observe the volunteers. At the end of each part, lasting 15 minutes each, participants temporarily moved back into the waiting room, during which the research space was adapted for each new part of the session.
The first part, the space was kept completely empty, thus the group was left completely to itself. For the second part, after a 5 minutes break, the floor of the space was covered with 100 small wooden cubes, painted white, that might or might not trigger group action. Finally, during the third part, sounds were played, volume and pitch depending on the volunteers’ movements.
After a two week period of researching DOSIS started to process the observation data thus gathered into lists, graphs, drawings, and videos. The DOSIS researchers looked for similarities and differences between the groups. This eventually resulted in an exhibition showing the results, and a seminar featuring lectures on philosophical and psychological aspects of the experiments. This seminar was attended by some 50 people, both participants of the experiments and other interested parties.