Scientific research is a collaborative affair. Teams from across academia and industry work in partnership to solve problems and test new methods. The European Union’s major research programme – Horizon 2020 – which is allocating €80-bn to research that aims to strengthen the EU’s position in science, foster industrial innovation as well as research that addresses major social concerns. The six works of art in this exhibition are directly the result of EU-funded research into new and emerging technologies, which seek to solve diverse problems from carbon capture to monitoring pollution.
What role can artists play in collaborative scientific research? The FEAT project – Future Emerging Art and Technology – has paired artists with FET research consortia across Europe. The goal: to explore unconventional ways of thinking and technology. The result: works of art that may be in keeping with the artists’ own ways of working, but on radically different topics than we usually think are the concern of artists, from quantum physics to supercomputing.
The exhibition asks the visitor to understand the content of complex research projects from the perspective of the artist. It also suggest the potential of involving artists in scientific research projects to create engaging, persuasive and experimental reflections on the bigger picture – the real-world implications of that research, at a human scale.
The artists whose work is included here are some of the most exciting working today. Through their explorations – most shown here for the first time – it is hoped that a greater awareness of new technologies ensues, and new societal discussions are opened up.
Artists:
Evelina Domnitch & Dmitry Gelfand, Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman & Joe Gerhardt), Špela Petrič and Miha Turšič, Anna Dumitriu, Boredomresearch (Vicky Isley & Paul Smith), Pinar Yoldas.
Brussels
BOZAR. Centre for Fine Arts
FEAT. Future Emerging Art and Technology
14th September – 30th September 2017
Related articles:
London, The Blyth Gallery - Imperial College. Anna Dumitriu, Microbe Stories
Amsterdam, Zone2Source. Pinar Yoldas, Carboniferous
