Art meets...

In this episode brings us at the heart of Jorge Viñuales, Professor of Environmental Studies and musician Sebastián Verea's collaboration: Sounds of the Anthropocene is a multimedia experience played by the Earth's rotation in real time, showing the new geological epoch we call the Anthropocene. The project aims to raise awareness of humanity's unprecedented footprint on the Earth.

Sebastián Verea works as an artist, educator, researcher, and cultural manager in Argentina. He is the Director of the Sound Arts Area at Mauricio Kagel Art Institute of the University of San Martín, Buenos Aires (UNSAM), where he also runs the post-graduate residencies programme Expanded Music and co-founded the Arts and Sciences Centre. His research focuses on the intersection between arts, science, and technology. In 2019, he was invited in a project of residency "Incidencias Sonoras" supported by Pro Helvetia and which is the new experimental music and sound art platform in connection with the South American programme COINCIDENCIA. Jorge Viñuales is a professor at Cambridge University and the founder of C-EENRG (Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Governance). He collaborates since their early childhood with Sebastian Verea on Art, Culture, Climate Change and since 2016, Sounds of the Anthropocene.

In this episode, Indian artist Yashas Shetty and Japanese bioengineer Sachiko Hirosue share a dialogue on their interest in critical territories where science intersects with society. They discuss the Scientist-in-Residency programme as well as bio-design and the Hackteria project on which they both collaborated. Their work together aims to understand and explore the artistic, social and political implications of technologies, creating spaces of dialogue and interaction between artists, designers and scientists.

Indian artist Yashas Shetty founded Hackteria back in 2009, together with Marc Dusseiller and Andy Gracie. Hackteria is a repository for Open Source Biohacking material, accessible to both scientists and artists. Pro Helvetia supported Yashas Shetty’s research trip to Switzerland in 2013, to continue his collaboration with Marc Dusseiller and the International Hackteria Society.

Sachiko Hirosue is a bioengineer, primarily interested in critical territories where science intersects with society. In practice, this translates to creating alternative spaces in dominant cultures to approach science and technology differently. In 2014, Dr. Sachiko Hirosue took part in HLab14, a project funded by Pro Helvetia. It was an immersive collaborative production workshop of interdisciplinary Swiss artistic research, bringing together artists, researchers, educators, and designers to work on issues of the local environment in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Additional link: The Biodesign for the real world Project

In this episode South African artist Miranda Moss talks to Swiss scientist Oliver Jäggi. They explain their passion for mechatronics or mechanical electronics and how they are both working on the same composition despite being geographically separated.

Miranda Moss is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Cape Town whose practice toys with the representation of nature as a pure and extra-cultural phenomenon. Her work and practice constantly challenge the boundaries of the art world. In 2017 she was the recipient of the Pro Helvetia / Artists-in-Labs residency in Zurich, where she was stationed in a phytopathology laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute for Snow, Forest and Landscape.

Oliver Jäggi is a Zürich-based chemist and synthesiser enthusiast, working in the water protection laboratory. Oliver Jäggi is currently the president of the Swiss Mechatronics Art Society where he met Miranda Moss and started their ongoing collaborative work.

Additional link: The Gallus Gallus Roboticus Project

Swiss author Sabine Harbeke and scientist Margit Schwikowski collaborated in the PolARTS programme. They discuss the challenges of working at very high altitudes and transferring the outcome of ice drilling into a play.

Sabine Harbeke works as an author, director, filmmaker, lecturer and leads the interdisciplinary, transcultural program "building bridges". She is the deputy head of BA & MA Theatre Directing program at the University of Arts in Zurich (ZHdK) and works as guest lecturer at different other universities.

Margit Schwikowski is an environmental Chemist and currently head of the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory at the Paul Scherrer Institute. Her projects explore the reconstruction of atmospheric and climatic conditions in the past using ice cores from high-mountain glaciers.

In this episode, Margit Schwikowski and Sabine Harbeke give insights into their joint research project “Flüchtiges Eis”, combining theatre and the polar sciences, and tell us how they became acquainted with each other’s methods and research worlds. Their collaboration started in 2020 within the frame of the PolARTS research grant by Pro Helvetia and the Swiss Polar Institute.

PolARTS is now open for applications until January 31th, 2022. For interested artists and scientists, a matchmaking event is organized on November 24 2021 in Zurich - Registration here.

Artist Isabel Lewis and smell researcher Sissel Tolaas discuss their long-standing collaboration and how they integrate scent into their performances and create unique experiences.

Isabel Lewis is a performance artist and choreographer trained in literary criticism, dance, and philosophy. She was born in the Dominican Republic, raised in the US and is currently based in Berlin. Her work and research practices take on many different formats and transdisciplinary approaches such as listening sessions, guided walks, or so-called “hosted occasions”. Isabel Lewis was part of the opening event of Salon Suisse at the 2019 Venice Biennale with her performance “Urban Flourishing”.

Sissel Tolaas is a Norwegian chemist, pioneer smell researcher and artist currently based in Berlin. With a background in chemistry, mathematics and linguistics, she developed a “library of smells” containing over 7000 smell samples. Supported by IFF International Flavours and Fragrances, Sissel Tolaas established the Smell Research Lab Berlin in 2004.

In this episode, Isabel Lewis and Sissel Tolaas find words for the invisible and talk about the process of developing the “hosted occasions” they create together, which are performances integrating all the senses, including smell.

Article about Sissel Tolaas’ scent archive and laboratory (SMELL Re_searchLab Berlin) in the Journal for Artistic Research

More information on Pro Helvetia’s focus “Art, Science and Technology”

In this episode, Rohini Devasher and Ajay Talwar recount various expeditions they have experienced together and the challenges of their collaboration in the field.

Rohini Devasher is a visual artist based in India. Her artistic practice explores the interface between the underlying laws and processes that govern growth and form in biological and physical systems. 2020, Rohini Devasher was selected by Pro Helvetia for a research trip in Switzerland, which could unfortunately not take place. Instead, she participated in two KIN-SHIP-PING events curated by Kadiatou Diallo in cooperation with the Centre for African Studies at Universität Basel.

Ajay Talwar is an Astro-photographer and amateur astronomer, observing and photographing the night sky since first seeing Halley’s Comet in 1986 – which makes him one of the very first astro-photographers in India. He regularly travels to remote locations to capture distant objects in the night sky.

Linjk to Rohini Devasher’s project “Archeologies of the Future”

More information on Pro Helvetia’s focus “Art, Science and Technology”

From artistic residencies to field trips to glaciers, from astronomical observatories to artist’s studios : join our conversations between artists and members of the scientific community and discover how these different fields collaborate and inspire each other.

« Art meets… » is the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s first podcast series : seven episodes offer seven different encounters between an artist and a scientist around themes like astronomy, smell research, polar science, environmental science, biohacking and robotics.

This podcast is launched within the frame of the Foundation’s « Art, Science and Technology» focus area for the time period 2021-2024, which supports the collaboration and production between the three fields, seeking to deepen the connection between scientific research and artistic practice.

The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia – Promotion, connection, impulse.