Art meets...

In this episode, the artist Kaldi Moss shares highlights from past and current projects and reflects their residency at Khoj in New Delhi.

Kaldi Moss is an eco-sexual artist and composer whose practice spans spatial sound, interactive installation, experimental concerts, video and browser-based art. Furthermore, they are interested in sense perception, networked systems, intelligence, collaboration and the experience of beings that are not human.

About Khoj:

Khoj (in English ‘to search’) is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation created in 1997 in New Delhi, India. Through international, on-site and off-site programmes and residencies, Khoj supports emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies that look at art and its various intersections with other disciplines such as gender, urbanisms, ecology, technology and social practice. The residency at Khoj provides time and space to the artists to engage, respond and present their work in a historical socio-economic context, allowing for inclusivity, participation, and artistic interventions.

In this episode, Pooja Sood, Director of Khoj, reflects on the beginnings of the contemporary arts organisation in New Delhi and its mission to support experimental creative practices. Akshay Pathak, former Head of Pro Helvetia New Delhi, shares his views on the art scene in South Asia and its inherent connection to science. He also provides insights into Pro Helvetia New Delhi's activities fostering cultural exchange and artistic collaboration between South Asia and Switzerland.

About Pro Helvetia New Delhi:

Established in 2007, the New Delhi liaison office of [Pro Helvetia] (Pro Helvetia New Delhi (https://prohelvetia.ch/en/our-offices-abroad/pro-helvetia-new-delhi/)) is committed to cultural exchange and artistic collaboration between Switzerland and South Asia. A team of local experts facilitates and supports professional encounters between artistic scenes in the disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia. Pro Helvetia New Delhi forges ties with event organisers and nurtures long-term partnerships with relevant platforms to support the promotion and dissemination of Swiss arts in the region. Pro Helvetia New Delhi’s grants enable residencies and research trips in both directions to foster cultural exchange.

More about Pro Helvetia’s support for residencies and research trips aimed at cultural practitioners from Switzerland and from South Asia:

Residency in Switzerland (for cultural practitioners from South Asia)

Residency in South Asia (for cultural practitioners from Switzerland)

Research trip to Switzerland (for cultural practitioners from South Asia)

Research trip in South Asia(for cultural practitioners from Switzerland)

About Khoj:

Khoj (in English ‘to search’) is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation created in 1997 in New Delhi, India. Through international, on-site and off-site programmes and residencies, Khoj supports emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies that look at art and its various intersections with other disciplines such as gender, urbanisms, ecology, technology and social practice. The residency at Khoj provides time and space to the artists to engage, respond and present their work in a historical socio-economic context, allowing for inclusivity, participation, and artistic interventions.

The episode was recorded during Indian artist Rohini Devasher’s stay at CERN in Geneva, in the context of the Connect India Residency, an international programme by Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia connecting the arts with fundamental science. Rohini gives insights into her practice strongly influenced by science. She talks about why she aims to incorporate scientific knowledge into her artistic practice and how she acquires this knowledge on site.

Rohini Devasher completed her Connect India residencies between April and July 2023.

Rohini Devasher is an artist and an amateur astronomer. Her films, prints, sounds and drawings map the complexities of time and space. Following the open call for applications for Connect India, she was invited to carry out a four-week residency at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) in Bengaluru, followed by a three-week residency at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva. In a Mirror, Darkly, Devasher’s project for the Connect India residency, provides close readings of the methods and interactions of observation in fundamental physics through the lenses of wonder and ‘the strange’.

About Connect: Residencies by Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia

Launched in 2021, Connect is a collaboration between Arts at CERN and Pro Helvetia that promotes and supports dialogue between artists and scientists within the Laboratory’s context. Connect offers a national and an international format, both open to art practitioners from all disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia.

Past editions of Connect: Connect India 2024, Connect Chile 2023, Connect South Africa 2021, Connect 2023, Connect 2021

About Khoj:

Khoj (in English ‘to search’) is an autonomous not-for-profit contemporary arts organisation created in 1997 in New Delhi, India. Through international, on-site and off-site programmes and residencies, Khoj supports emerging, experimental and transdisciplinary creative practices and pedagogies that look at art and its various intersections with other disciplines such as gender, urbanisms, ecology, technology and social practice. The residency at Khoj provides time and space to the artists to engage, respond and present their work in a historical socio-economic context, allowing for inclusivity, participation, and artistic interventions.

Mentioned in this episode:

In the first season of this podcast (Episode ‘Art meets astronomy’) artist Rohini Devasher discusses with astrophotographer Ajay Talwar the expeditions they have undertaken together and the challenges of their collaboration in the field.

In this episode, the artists Jorgge Menna Barreto (BRA) and Maya Minder (CH), the scientists Martina Peter (CH) and Patricia Silva Flores (CHI) and the curators Lilian Fraiji (BRA) and Irène Hediger (CH) look back on their joint research in the Amazon. The artists and scientists describe how their perspective on the forest and fungi has changed due to the use of the approaches from each other's discipline. The curators share their expectations for the upcoming field trips and reflect on the potential outcome of the project.

In her work, scientist Martina Peter (CH) explores the symbiotic interaction between forest trees and fungi, the so-called ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. She studies the neutral and functional diversities of mycorrhizal fungi in forests and their role in forest ecosystems in a changing environment.

Patricia Silva Flores (CHI) is a fungal and mycorrhizal ecologist and currently an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Católica del Maule in Talca, Chile. Her work focuses on mycorrhizal ecology research, student formation in this field, and scientific outreach, particularly in fungal and mycorrhizal science.

Jorgge Menna Barreto, Ph.D. (BRA) is an artist and educator, whose practice and research have been dedicated to site-specific art for over 20 years. He approaches site-specificity from a critical and South American perspective, having taught, lectured, and written extensively on the subject.

Maya Minder (CH) is an artist, curator and chef working in the field of Eatart. She uses storytelling, performance and installation as a way to unite people around a table. As a specialist in lacto-fermentation, she works with bacteria, fungi, plants, and algae and applies biological knowledge to her culinary and artistic creation.

Lilian Fraiji (BRA) is a curator and producer based in Manaus, Brazil. She is the co-founder of Labverde, a platform dedicated to developing multidisciplinary content involving art, science and ecology.

Irène Hediger (CH) is the Head of the artists-in-labs program (AIL), Department of Cultural Analysis at the Zurich University of the Arts. She curates and promotes inter- and transdisciplinary exchange and practices at the interface of art, science and technology in the fields of environmental science, astrophysics, biology, neuroscience and medicine.

About Fungi Cosmology:

Fungi Cosmology is a long-term project revolving around the fungi kingdom and fostering the dialogue between art and science. Bringing together science and arts professionals from Brazil, Chile, and Switzerland, the research includes lectures, workshops, and expeditions, in Manaus (Brazil), Tierra del Fuego (Chile), and the Alps (Switzerland).

Fungi Cosmology is a project co-created by LabVerde (BRA), CAB Patagonia (CHI), artists-in-labs program (CH), and foodculturedays (CH).

Artists: Jorgge Menna Barreto (BRA), Maya Minder (CH), Seba Calfuqueo (CHI), Valentina Serrati (CHI)

Scientists: Juli Simon (BRA), Patricia Silva Flores (CHI), Martina Peter (CH), Benjamin Dauphin (CH)

Please note: When this episode was recorded, only the first of three field trips (Brazilian Amazon, March 2023) had been completed. It was followed by a field trip to Chilean Patagonia in March 2024, and a final field trip in the second half of 2024 to Vevey (Switzerland).

In this episode, the curators Lilian Fraiji (BRA), María Luisa Murillo (CHI) and Irène Hediger (CH) talk about their ambition to bring artists and scientists together. They discuss the challenges and opportunities of creating a space where experts with diverse backgrounds and from different disciplines can meet on a common ground.

Lilian Fraiji (BRA) is a curator and producer based in Manaus, Brazil. She is the co-founder of Labverde, a platform dedicated to developing multidisciplinary content involving art, science and ecology.

Irène Hediger (CH) is the Head of the artists-in-labs program (AIL), Department of Cultural Analysis at the Zurich University of the Arts. She curates and promotes inter- and transdisciplinary exchange and practices at the interface of art, science and technology in the fields of environmental science, astrophysics, biology, neuroscience and medicine.

María Luisa Murillo (CHI) is an artist, curator and cultural manager. She is the director of the CAB — Casa Museo Alberto Baeriswyl in Tierra del Fuego and head of the CAB Art, Science and Humanities Residency programme, where she links the dialogue between art and science through meaningful collective experiences of knowledge transmission, exploration and creation in the southern territory and Tierra del Fuego.

About Fungi Cosmology:

Fungi Cosmology is a long-term project revolving around the fungi kingdom and fostering the dialogue between art and science. Bringing together science and arts professionals from Brazil, Chile, and Switzerland, the research includes lectures, workshops, and expeditions, in Manaus (Brazil), Tierra del Fuego (Chile), and the Alps (Switzerland).

Fungi Cosmology is a project co-created by LabVerde (BRA), CAB Patagonia (CHI), artists-in-labs program (CH), and foodculturedays (CH).

Artists: Jorgge Menna Barreto (BRA), Maya Minder (CH), Seba Calfuqueo (CHI), Valentina Serrati (CHI)

Scientists: Juli Simon (BRA), Patricia Silva Flores (CHI), Martina Peter (CH), Benjamin Dauphin (CH)

Please note: When this episode was recorded, only the first of three field trips (Brazilian Amazon, March 2023) had been completed. It was followed by a field trip to Chilean Patagonia in March 2024, and a final field trip in the second half of 2024 to Vevey (Switzerland).

In this episode, several participants of the project ‘Fungi Cosmology’ - scientists Martina Peter (CH) and Patricia Silva Flores (CHI) and the artists Jorgge Menna Barreto (BRA) and Maya Minder (CH) - recall their experience during their field trip to the Brazilian Amazon. From 13 to 23 March 2023, the group visited Manaus (Amazonas) and entered the forest via trails and boat trips to explore the main ecosystems of the region: Igapó, Terra Firme, and Várzea.

In her work, scientist Martina Peter (CH) explores the symbiotic interaction between forest trees and fungi, the so-called ectomycorrhizal symbiosis. She studies the neutral and functional diversities of mycorrhizal fungi in forests and their role in forest ecosystems in a changing environment.

Patricia Silva Flores (CHI) is a fungal and mycorrhizal ecologist and currently an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Católica del Maule in Talca, Chile. Her work focuses on mycorrhizal ecology research, student formation in this field, and scientific outreach, particularly in fungal and mycorrhizal science.

Jorgge Menna Barreto, Ph.D. (BRA) is an artist and educator, whose practice and research have been dedicated to site-specific art for over 20 years. He approaches site-specificity from a critical and South American perspective, having taught, lectured, and written extensively on the subject.

Maya Minder (CH) is an artist, curator and chef working in the field of Eatart. She uses storytelling, performance and installation as a way to unite people around a table. As a specialist in lacto-fermentation, she works with bacteria, fungi, plants, and algae and applies biological knowledge to her culinary and artistic creation.

About Fungi Cosmology:

Fungi Cosmology is a long-term project revolving around the fungi kingdom and fostering the dialogue between art and science. Bringing together science and arts professionals from Brazil, Chile, and Switzerland, the research includes lectures, workshops, and expeditions, in Manaus (Brazil), Tierra del Fuego (Chile), and the Alps (Switzerland).

Fungi Cosmology is a project co-created by LabVerde (BRA), CAB Patagonia (CHI), artists-in-labs program (CH), and foodculturedays (CH).

Artists: Jorgge Menna Barreto (BRA), Maya Minder (CH), Seba Calfuqueo (CHI), Valentina Serrati (CHI)

Scientists: Juli Simon (BRA), Patricia Silva Flores (CHI), Martina Peter (CH), Benjamin Dauphin (CH)

Please note: When this episode was recorded, only the first of three field trips (Brazilian Amazon, March 2023) had been completed. It was followed by a field trip to Chilean Patagonia in March 2024, and a final field trip in the second half of 2024 to Vevey (Switzerland).

This episode is recorded on site in Val d’Hérens (CH), where Dr Gianalberto Losapio and his scientific team installed their camp for several weeks and were joined by artist Maëlle Cornut. During a hike, the tandem discusses field work from a scientific and an artistic perspective and shares some of their joint activities such as the installation of camera traps to spot animals, the collection of samples and the use of microphotography. Dr Gianalberto Losapio talks about Maëlle Cornut’s impact on his perception of colour and the artist explains how the use of macrophotography has changed her perspective on plants and objects. Arriving at the Mont Miné glacier, Maëlle Cornut contemplates the discrepancy between our collective imagination of glaciers and their rocky reality.

Maëlle Cornut is a visual artist, arts researcher and graduate of the Haute école d’art et de design in Geneva (CH). Her practice focuses on feminist and gender issues while her research attempts to understand what connects us to the world around us and how we interact with it. As part of the PolARTS programme Maëlle Cornut produced ‘Glacier companion species’, which is part of the exhibition ‘Watching the Glacier Disappear’ taking place throughout summer 2024 in various locations in Switzerland.

Dr Gianalberto Losapio is an environmental scientist with a PhD in Ecology from the University of Zurich, previously Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is principal investigator of the Biodiversity Change group at the University of Lausanne and Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Milan.

About PolARTS:

Mentioned in this episode:

’Intertwined destinies: glaciers and their companion species’: The blog documents the collaboration of Dr Gianalberto Losapio and Maëlle Cornut and the different stages of the project.

In this episode, Maëlle Cornut (visual artist) and Dr Gianalberto Losapio (environmental scientist) talk about their upcoming field trips to the glaciers of the Ferpècle region in the Swiss Alps, their points of contact with each other's discipline, and their strong interest in art-science collaboration. In their project ’Intertwined destinies: glaciers and their companion species’ they look at the consequences of glacier extinction on ecosystems, analysing the network of interactions between the intertwined organisms and glaciers.

Maëlle Cornut is a visual artist, arts researcher and graduate of the Haute école d’art et de design in Geneva (CH). Her practice focuses on feminist and gender issues while her research attempts to understand what connects us to the world around us and how we interact with it. As part of the PolARTS programme Maëlle Cornut produced ‘Glacier companion species’, which is part of the exhibition ‘Watching the Glacier Disappear’ taking place throughout summer 2024 in various locations in Switzerland.

Dr Gianalberto Losapio is an environmental scientist with a PhD in Ecology from the University of Zurich, previously Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford University and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). He is principal investigator of the Biodiversity Change group at the University of Lausanne and Assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Milan.

About PolARTS:

PolARTS is a joint initiative of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and the Swiss Polar Institute to stimulate exchange and foster collaboration between art and science. Past and current editions of PolARTS: Selected tandems 2022, Selected tandems 2024.

Mentioned in this episode:

Donna Haraway: The American professor emerita has made significant contributions to the fields of science and technology studies, feminist theory, and ecofeminism. Her work critiques anthropocentrism, emphasises nonhuman processes, and explores ethical relations between culture and nature.

‘The Struggle for Existence’ (1879), by painter George Bouverie Goddard (1832–1886)

In this episode, Seraina Rohrer (former Head of Innovation & Society at Pro Helvetia) and Danièle Rod (Executive Director Swiss Polar Institute) talk about the two institutions’ collaboration in the PolARTS programme. They explain why they initiated the programme and outline the conditions for fruitful collaborations between the arts and science.

About PolARTS:

PolARTS is a joint initiative of the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and the [Swiss Polar Institute to stimulate exchange and foster collaboration between art and science. Past and current editions of PolARTS: Selected tandems 2022, Selected tandems 2024.

Mentioned in this episode:

‘flüchtiges eis –nachrichten von morgen’ by the artists Regula Imboden and Sabine Harbeke. The play was produced as part of the collaboration between the artist Sabine Harbeke and the scientist Margit Schwikowski in the PolARTS programme 2021. In season one of this podcast (‘Art meets polar sciences’), author Sabine Harbeke and scientist Margit Schwikowski recall their collaboration in the PolARTS programme 2021.

This episode is the first encounter between the duo AATB and Hannes Mayer, after several exchanges of discussions. They meet at the ETH Zurich, where Hannes is Senior Researcher and member of the board of Gramazio Kohler Research - Chair for Architecture and Digital Fabrication.

AATB is a practice for Non-Industrial Robotics, founded by Andrea Anner and Thibault Brevet. Andrea Anner was born in Zurich, graduated from ECAL in 2012 with a MA in Art Direction: Type Design, and in 2008 from ZHDK with a BA in Visual Communication. Thibault Brevet was born in Lyon, France, graduated from ECAL in 2015 with a MA in Visual Arts and in 2012 with a BA in Graphic Design. AATB experiments with industrial robotic systems such as robotic arms and industrial automation processes and develops works

Projects discussed during the episode: