"Art and Science" Conference

The Art Encounters Foundation invites you on June 24, starting at 11:00 a.m., to the “Art and Science” Conference held under the auspices of the Art Encounters 2023 Biennial of Contemporary Art. Organised in collaboration with the ETH AI Center in Zürich and the Polytechnic University of Timișoara, the event will take place at the Conference Center of the Politehnica University of Timișoara – Auditorium Hall.

Through this conference, we wish to encourage the dialogue between art and science, bringing together representatives of both fields and curators, engineers, and other critical thinkers. The declared purpose of the event is the exchange of ideas, practices, and works. The artistic field’s interest in science and technology dates back several decades. Lately, however, these approaches have generated even more attention and turned art into a hot topic for scientific and technological research; for the development based on AI that has a significant impact on the entire human society.

The dialogues between artists and curators and the two presentations by an engineer and an artist/ quantum physicist will address specific topics regarding quantum theory, smaller particles, dark matter, time and space, DNA/RNA visualisation, AI, data, and many other attractive issues. 

The program of the “Art & Science” conference:

11:00 – 11:10: Introduction by Adrian Notz (Curator of the Art Encounters Biennial)

11:10 – 12:30: Monica Bello (ESP) and Anetta Mona Chișa (RO) in dialogue.

*Monica Bello is a Spanish curator and art historian concerned with the multidisciplinary perspectives and narratives of today’s techno-scientific culture.

*Anetta Mona Chișa is a visual artist of Romanian origin who lives and works in Prague and whose artistic practice usually takes the form of dialogue and collaborative works.

12:30 – 14:00: Lunch break

14:00 – 15:30: “Art & Science – speaking a common language” – Alice Sharp (UK) and Gregor Mobius in dialogue.

*Alice Sharp is a well-known British curator and lecturer on art, environment, and sustainability, founder and director of the art and environment organization Invisible Dust.

*Gregor Mobius is the artistic pseudonym of a theorist of visually expressible languages ​​who, since 1992, has explored the possible visual representations of DNA and RNA.

16:00 – 17:00: “Art Education Reinvented: How We’re Making It More Engaging and Inclusive” – Lecture by Andreas Guggenbühl (CH)

*Andreas Guggenbühl works at the ETH AI Center in Zürich in mechanical engineering and robotics projects and co-founded the ETH Entrepreneurs Club, the largest Swiss student start-up association.

17:00 – 18:00: “Inadequate Representations & Imagination: Quantum Computing and Art” – Lecture by Libby Heaney (UK)

*Libby Heaney is considered the first female artist to use quantum computing as an operating artistic medium, a multi-award-winning personality who makes impressive explorations of the complex relationship between technology’s creative and destructive potential.

18:00 – 18:30: Final remarks

Free access. The event will be held in English.

We, therefore, welcome you to an exceptional event of the Art Encounters Biennial, My Rhino is Not a Myth, an edition dedicated to exploring the potential of art, science, and fiction to reclaim reality as a web of complex processes. It is a fluid exchange between scientific and artistic approaches that respond to changes in our lived realities, marked by environmental and social transformations.

The Art Encounters Biennial is organised by the Art Encounters Foundation, being financed by the Municipality of Timișoara through the Timișoara Center for Projects and co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and AFCN, with Raiffeisen Bank as the main partner and ISHO, Tazz, MEWI, and Dacoart as sponsors.

*The project is part of the National Cultural Programme “Timisoara – European Capital of Culture in 2023” and is funded under the European Echoes programme, implemented by the Center for Projects of the Timișoara Municipality, with sums allocated from the state budget, through the Ministry of Culture budget;