Merging Technology with Art to Explore Hidden Ecologies

Merging Technology with Art to Explore Hidden Ecologies
swissnex San Francisco - swissnex
A sculptor at CERN, a sound artist in a neuroscience lab, an architect embedded in the department of psychology. The results of these unlikely pairings make up the exhibition, Think Art - Act Science, which showcases eight works developed during a nine-month residency called artists-in-labs, which places, you guessed it, artists, in scientific settings such as research institutes and university science departments.

The exhibition is built around three main themes: Ecology and Environment, Spatial Awareness and Emotions, and Exploration of New Technologies. In parallel with Think Art - Act Science, swissnex San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute host a series of lectures, conferences, and workshops to discuss and deepen the partnership between science and the arts.

Artists-in-labs began in 2003 to broaden dialogue, generate ideas, and raise awareness of the creative solutions artists and scientists can find to today’s challenges. To date, 28 artists have worked alongside scientists and scholars as part of the Artist in Lab program at institutions including CERN, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, and the artificial intelligence lab at the University of Zurich.

Think Art - Act Science is an initiative of the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts at the Zurich University of the Arts. The exhibition has been shown in Switzerland and in Barcelona, Spain. The San Francisco installation is made possible by Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council and is a project of the U.S.-wide program ThinkSwiss-Brainstorm the Future. As a leading country in science, research, and technology, Switzerland is working with its American counterparts to address key global topics such as sustainability to better understand trends and arrive at solutions.