Über uns
The Swiss artists-in-labs Program is a collaboration between the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS and the Federal Office for Culture (FOC). The artists-in-labs program is a program devoted to the processes, participation, collaboration and documentation of shared experiences between the Arts and the Sciences. The headquarters are located at the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK, Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts ICS.
The artists-in-labs program is a cultural program that explores current debates and discourses that can help art and science to gain a closer understanding of each other. Our concept is to define the worldwide interest in art and science as a distinct curatorial and cultural practice that can engage the public through exhibitions, conferences and workshops. Our projects, research directives and residencies are designed to inspire artists to create new works of complexity and address the relevant issues about scientific discovery for society. We are also dedicated to help scientists explore more creative contemporary art approaches to the experimentation, interpretation and communication of their research.
Aims
- To support the existing Swiss artists-in-labs community that has been formed in Switzerland with more collaboration potentials between artists and scientists and offer artists the opportunity to deepen their own research through an increase of scientific understanding in nature, phenomenon, perception, data analysis and interactive relevance.
- To continue to create new opportunities for artists by collaborating with the departments of the Zurich University of the Arts, thereby encouraging an expansion of the art and science discourse on an theoretical and practical level.
- To give scientists the opportunity to learn more about art through workshops in contemporary art history, semiotics of the moving image, interactive art and social media.
- To further the discourse about applied trans-disciplinary art and science research on an international level and with local communities, through thematic discussions, exhibitions, know-how transfer, conferences and co-publications.
Current projects:
Our projects are educational and experiential in nature:
- Our Swiss residency projects will continue to award artists the opportunity to be immersed inside the culture of scientific research in order to develop their interpretations and inspire their content.
- Our exhibition projects are designed to feature the process of know-how transfer and the influences that artists and scientists can have on each other and the prototypes and resultant revelations that are produced.
- Our international exchange projects are based on the potentials of combining cultural residencies with art and science exchange and so far has included exchanges with China and India.
- Our research aims to evaluate and compare the results and the processes of these projects.
National history
This residency program started as a pilot project for international artists residencies in 2003, in Switzerland and was supported by the KTI (Ministry for Innovation and Development) and the ZHdK. In 2006 it continued as the Swiss artistsinlabs program funded by the Federal Office of Culture. Since its inception it has placed more than 32 artists into residencies into 28 Swiss scientific research environments. (LINK TO ARCHIVE)
International history
Sino-Swiss Residency Exchange Four artists (two Chinese and two Swiss) have been engaged in an immersive five-month creative dialogue with environmental scientists both in China and in Switzerland. The scientific research was focused on environment, water, permafrost and biology. This project was part of the exchange and cooperation programme «Swiss Chinese Explorations» of Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council.
Current international networks
Please contact us if you are interested in international opportunities for the encouragement of collaborations between international artists and scientists.
