After a number of years in operation it is time to reflect, consolidate and give the artists-in-labs program a new direction. Therefore the Swiss artists-in-labs residencies will be suspended in 2012.

We will take this time to further develop the concept of the residencies and remain committed to give artists the opportunity to collaborate with scientists and people from different disciplines and cultures. We are dedicated to further the discourse about trans-disciplinary research through thematic conferences, exhibitions and publications, which explore pertinent relevant themes in a larger social context.
Swiss artists-in-labs will continue to work across Switzerland and on an international level and will seek new ways to reach out to local communities, open up scientists to the potentials of the art-processes and creative interpretation and engage diverse audiences with our explorations and activities.

The results of our reflections as well as future opportunities for both artists and scientists will be posted on this site and with a newsletter in due course. Please check our progress and keep in touch for opportunities and trans-disciplinary information.

To subscribe to our newsletter please send an email to: ail.program@zhdk.ch

Irene Hediger and Jill Scott

We’re happy to announce the opening of our group exhibition Think Art – Act Science in the Walter and McBean Galleries at the San Fancisco Art Institute on September 21st at 5pm with a sound performance by Alexandre Joly.

The exhibition in San Francisco is a cooperation between the Swiss artists-in-labs program, swissnex San Francisco, the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and the Bay Area Science Festival.

Featured Artists:

Monika Codourey | Christian Gonzenbach | Alexandre Joly | Roman Keller | Pe Lang | Wenfeng Liao | Alina Mnatsakanian | Nicole Ottiger

Think Art – Act Science exhibits works and collaborative processes from artists who have engaged in long-term creative dialogues with scientists. During an immersive nine-month residency in a scientific research institute the artists were exposed to the discourses within the scientific community and gained deep insights into the methodologies and processes of scientific research. From a total of twenty-four artists who have participated in the Swiss artists-in-labs program since 2007 and created works so far, eight will be on display in San Francisco. Since two of these artists took part in a Sino-Swiss residency exchange 2009 between Switzerland and China, the exhibition not only tries to build a bridge between different cultures of knowledge, but moreover points towards promising exchanges between art and science on a global scale.

For the duration of the exhibition a surrounding program includes a variety of participative formats such as workshops (student and public), conferences, performances and lectures. Additionally, both SFAI and swissnex San Francisco sites will host such events as part of the Bay Area Science Festival, which runs from 26 October – 6 November 2011.

More infomation on:

thinkartactscience.com | sfai.edu | swissnexsanfrancisco.org

We are happy to announce the upcoming exhibition OCCAM’S RAZOR – LE THÉORÈME DE L’ÉLÉMENTAIRE by our former artist in residence Christian Gonzenbach:

Vernissage 20/01/2012 – 18.30
Exhibition 20/01/2012 – 25/03/2012

Ferme-Asile
Centre artistique et culturel
Promenade des Pêcheurs 10
1950 Sion

For more information please visit: ferme-asile.ch

We are happy to inform you about the current group exhibition CHIASMUS: ZONES OF POLITICAL AND AESTHETIC IMAGINATION with participation by our former artists in residence Alexandre Joly:

Vernissage 12/01/2012 – 18.00
Exhibition 12/01/2012 – 11/02/2012

UAG – University Art Gallery
712 Arts Plaza
Irvine
California

For more information please visit: studioart.arts.uci.edu/gallery

Die Verbindungsbüros von Pro Helvetia in Ägypten, Indien und Südafrika unterstützen zwei Typen von Residenzen: Atelier- und Recherche-Aufenthalte. Bewerben können sich Schweizer Künstler und Kulturschaffende (z.B. Kuratoren, Veranstalter, Vermittler) aus den Bereichen Visuelle Künste, Musik, Literatur, Theater und Tanz. Im Gegenzug ermöglicht Pro Helvetia Kunst- und Kulturschaffenden aus den oben genannten Regionen Aufenthalte in der Schweiz. Die Atelier-Aufenthalte (max. 3 Monate) werden einmal jährlich als Wettbewerb ausgeschrieben. Für Recherche-Aufenthalte (max. 4 Wochen) kann man sich laufend bewerben. Interessenten können sich jeweils nur für eine Destination bewerben. Weiterführende Informationen finden Sie auf den Internetseiten der Verbindungsbüros von Pro Helvetia.

1. Atelier-Aufenthalte 2013: Eingabe bis zum 1. März 2012 via www.myprohelvetia.ch für das folgende Kalenderjahr möglich. Die Bewerbungen müssen in englischer Sprache verfasst werden.

2. Recherche-Aufenthalt: Eingabe jederzeit via www.myprohelvetia.ch möglich, jedoch mindestens drei Monate vor Reisebeginn. Die Bewerbungen müssen in englischer Sprache verfasst werden.

video and installation 22.11.-14.12.2011

Vernissage November 22th 2011 | 4pm
eawag main entrance hall
Forum Chriesbach | Überlandstrasse 133 | 8600 Dübendorf

As Part of the pilot project Indo-Swiss residency exchange 2011/12 of the Swiss artists-in-labs program, Indian artist Surekha collaborated with scientists from the EAWAG Institute for aquatic research in Dübendorf. During 3-months she extensively occupied herself with fundamental and practical questions in the field of aquatic research.

Based on contemporary issues concerned with biodiversity and functional aspects of microorganisms, Surekha developed an on-going project, which playfully explores our multi-layered relation to water. Her multimedia installation “Just follow the sound of the river…” in several-parts conjoins microscopic worlds with emotional-subjective contexts and the global significance of water.

With her work, Surekha opens up diverse perspectives on the fluctuant symbolism and identity of water, which oscillates between a technical understanding as resource and the sensual perception as element.

The pilot project Indo-Swiss residency exchange 2011/12 of the Swiss artists-in-labs program is realized in close collaboration with Pro Helvetia India and the Swiss embassy in New Delhi.

www.artistsinlabs.ch

edited by Jill Scott, 1st Edition., 2010, 175 p. 150 illus. in color., Softcover
Still available, published by SpringerWienNewYork

This book verifies the need for the arts and the sciences to work together in order to develop more creative and conceptual approaches to innovation and presentation. By blending ethnographical case studies, scientific viewpoints and critical essays, the focus of this research inquiry is the lab context. For scientists, the lab context is one of the most important educational experiences. For contemporary artists, laboratories are inspiring spaces to investigate, share know-how transfer and search for new collaboration potentials. The nine labs represented in this book are from the natural, computing and engineering sciences. An enclosed comprehensive DVD documents the results, the problems and serves as a guideline for the future of true Art/Sci experiments.

Essays
Sigrid Schade, Foreword;
Jill Scott, Introduction: The Process of Inquiry;
Edward A. Shanken, Artists in Industry and the Academy: Collaborative Research, Interdisciplinary Scholarship;
Roger Malina, Welcoming Uncertainty: The Strong Case for Coupling the Arts to Science and Technology;
Jill Scott, Suggested Discourses for more Art_Sci Collaborations;
René Stettler, Perception - Translation - Transformation;
Priska Gisler, Free Access or Entry Denied? Searching the Common Grounds in the “artists-in-labs” Project;
Beat Gerber, Science in Trouble? Art brings Hope.

Case Studies – Artists Diaries
Overview: Jill Scott, The Artistsinlabs Story.
Reports by the Artists: the “Hands On” Experience.
Adrianne Wortzel, archipelago.ch – Converse Engineering: Stories of Emerging Differentiation and Otherness in Robotic Entities.
Margarete Jahrmann, Max Moswitzer, GoApe Simulation Platform
Shirley Soh, The writings on the soil.
Tiffany Holmes, Floating Point.
Thomas Isler, Vietnam Connection.
Axel Vogelsang, Straight lines and curves.
Dominik Bastianello, Where in the world am I.
Nigel Helyer, Theorem.
N.S. Harsha, Room for Digression.
Isabel Rohner, Wounds – or the Search for a Cybernetic System.
Margaret Tan, Smart Apron.

Reactions from Scientists
Research descriptions and exchange potentials with the artists as well as their “soft factor” influences on innovation in specific scientific environments: Ulrich Claessen, Moira Norrie, Angelika Hilbeck, Rolf Pfeifer, Petros Koumoutsakos, Othmar Käppeli, Markus Dürrenberger, Werner Pfäffli, Beat Gerber.

DVD
Directed by Prof. Marille Hahne, Produced by Prof. Dr. Jill Scott
12 documentaries: an analysis of the artist-in-labs context ( each 12 min long).
1 Introduction film to the AIL project (12 min).

edited by Jill Scott, 1st Edition, 2010, 200 p. 150 illus. in color, Softcover
Available now, published by SpringerWienNewYork

Networking in the Margins is about sharing information in the margins where immersive learning can expand the exact sciences and demand a more robust level of dialogue from the humanities and the arts. At base of these margins, sits an attitude, which values mixed levels of fantasy, reality and logic and accepts unexpected results. Therefore, this new edition will feature how the ail artists from the disciplines of sculpture, installation, performance and sound and ail partner scientists from the disciplines of physics, computer technologies, environmental ecology and cognitive analysis have complimented each others research from 2006 to 2009. While scientists have certainly learnt about art, artists have become more involved in ethical and social debates about scientific discovery in relation to society. In this book the potentials of networking in these margins are reflected upon by 9 prominent authors, 12 artists and 12 leading scientific researchers from various Laboratories.

Forward by Sigrid Schade: Director of the ICS.
Roy Ascott, Syncretism: exploring new technologies and progress.
Lloyd Anderson, The Agora metaphor- Blended meeting places for artists and scientist’s – on the ecology and the environment.
Jill Scott, Feedback Loops- public and spatial awareness and the controversies of emotional behaviour neuroscience.
Nina Zschocke, Education/History-Mitigation or collaboration- art and science research teams?
Andrea Glauser, The Value of Residencies- where rapports are defined.
Dominik Landweir, Sharing Technology: Robotics and the Community

edited by Irène Hediger; English/Chinese; 76 pages, 32 illustrations, in colour

CHF 28 / Euro 20 + plus mailing

The publication presents the results of the cross-cultural exchange between Swiss and Chinese artists and scientists. They have been created in the context of the “Sino-Swiss Residency Exchange”-project within the Swiss artists-in-labs program at the Zurich University of the Arts.

During an immersive 5-months the artists Alexandre Joly, Aline Veillat, Aniu and Wenfeng Liao explored, learnt and bridged the cultural caps of understanding at science institutes in China and Switzerland with focus on environmental issues related to mountain (shan) and water (shui). The individual processes of the artists involved are documented, thus giving insights into the experiences, questions and difficulties that both artists and scientists have been confronted with during this immersive encounter.

The “Sino-Swiss Residency Exchange”-project and the “山水 SHANSHUI – BOTH WAYS” exhibition and publication are parts of the Exchange and Cooperation Programme “Swiss Chinese Cultural Explorations” of Pro Helvetia, the Swiss arts council.

• To place an order please contact:

  Zurich University of the Arts
  
  Institut Cultural Studies ICS
  Swiss artists-in-labs Programm
  
  Telefon: +41  43 446 61 10 / +41 43 446 64 06
  Email: ail.program(at)zhdk.ch

Centro Arte Contemporanea Ticino

8. Oktober – 13. November 2011
Opening: Saturday 8. Oktober 5:30 pm
Eintritt CHF 5.-
Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag, 2 pm – 6 pm