10 avril 2020
The Arts & Sciences Chair: a renewed partnership to create a dialogue between the arts, science and society
In a context of climate and health emergency, of incessant social, cultural and technological developments, artists and scientists have in common that they can play a role as “pathfinders”. Their convergence, an exciting challenge, will undoubtedly be decisive in imagining tomorrow. Through the renewal of our partnership with the Arts & Sciences Chair, we wish to continue to support the dialogue between the arts, sciences and society and participate in its structuring.
What is the Chair of Arts and Sciences?
Created in 2017, the Arts & Sciences Chair brings together the École Polytechnique, the École nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs-PSL and our Foundation around a shared ambition: to strengthen the links between creation, research and civil society. How does the dialogue between the arts, sciences and society make it possible to question our interdependence with the environment and technology?
This unprecedented partnership between an art and design school, an engineering school and a foundation committed to citizen art functions as a collaboration program between researchers, artists, scientists and designers, in order to create a common discourse around issues on the interdependence of our environment such as: climate, relationships with the plant world and technologies, the matter(s) in motion.
Among the Chair’s work themes:
- Interdependence with the environment
- Human, non-human, machine connections
- New forms of “publicization” and promotion of research-creation
3 modes of action:
- Research-creation – practice-based research projects
- Teaching, training – internships, modules and collective projects integrated into the students’ schooling, study days
- Mediation, dissemination – conferences, colloquiums, round tables, exhibitions of art-science installations, workshops for children, meetings… In particular, with original “publicization” formats to renew interactions with audiences.
More information on the missions of the Arts & Sciences Chair.
A look back at three years of action:
Creation of the Chair
September 2017: Signing ceremony of the partnership agreement that formalizes the creation of an arts and sciences chair between the Ecole Polytechnique, the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.
Events and events
- October 9-13, 2017 : Symposium Devenir Plante, École Polytechnique and ENS Jourdan (all videos of the conferences here)
- February 2-3, 2018 : We Are Not the Number We Think We Are, an event of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation in partnership with the Arts & Sciences Chair, Bétonsalon and the Cité internationale des arts
- November 26, 2018 : New Manufactures exhibition – defense of Emile de Visscher’s thesis “Technophanic Manufactures” – CNAM
- 23 February-14 April 2019: Behavioral Matter at the Centre Georges Pompidou with: 3 days of international public workshop, the international symposium Composing with the living – Forum Vertigo / IRCAM, a DISSECT evening, a cycle of 40 workshops for children
- March 22, 2019 : Launch of Exoplanet Earth, a network of 10 arts and sciences structures in Île-de-France – ENSAD
- June 12-15, 2019 : Garden the Sky Water – École Polytechnique, Cité internationale des arts, Studio des Ursulines, Maison des métallos
- September 9-13, 2019: Useful Fictions Art-Design-Sciences Summer School, in partnership with UC Davis – École Polytechnique
- January 26, 2020 : Hors d’oeuvres (Posters Brunch) – Générateur, Gentilly – as part of the “Sors de ce corps” festival of the Biennale Nemo
- January 30, 2019 : Being Alive: Becoming Machinic?, as part of the Night of Ideas – Musée des Arts et Métiers
Publicization:
One of the specificities of the Arts & Sciences Chair is to combine academic rigour and interaction with “uninitiated” audiences, by experimenting with original formats of encounters. These publicization devices thus make it possible to “make public” and to present arts-science collaborations by resorting to sensory experience rather than the transmission of knowledge through writing.
- Design and prototyping of the journal .able: development of a multi-media platform based on images, promoting the processes of research-creation in the arts-design-sciences around installations and original research projects, with the ambition to make it the visual counterpart of an international academic journal.
- Development and online publication of an interactive and contributory map of interdisciplinary academic journals in the arts, design and sciences, allowing an overview of the international situation of these crossings.
- DISSECT : Between a round table and a “live” show, this device inspired by anatomy tables allows for a multidisciplinary debate around and with contemporary works of art and design presented in an interactive scenography that renews the usual format of these exchanges.
DISSECT#1 — Centre Pompidou, 29 March 2019, around works by Ecologic Studio (Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto)
DISSECT #2 — Paris Photo, November 10, 2019, around a book of cyanotypes by Meghan Riepenhoff
- Hors d’oeuvres : A brunch shared between the public and researchers (artists, scientists or designers) that diverts the usual codes of scientific “poster sessions”, during a common meal during which tables are turned over to serve both as an exhibition support and a table for presenting research.
1st edition: January 26 at the Generator (Gentilly), as part of the “Sors de ce corps” festival of the Nemo biennial.
What are the prospects for the 2020-2023 period?
Over the next three years, the Arts & Sciences Chair will continue to think about and implement actions to question our relationship with life, climate, matter and technology:
- Continuation of research-creation projects and facilities on the themes of environmental interdependence and human and non-human links;
- Design and development of new publicity formats and launch of the .able journal ;
- Development of student training and organization of a new art-design-science summer school (sequel to Useful Fictions);
- Organization of workshops and conferences in partner venues;
- Strengthening the Exoplanet Earth initiative and national partnerships;
- Implementation of international projects with new partners;
- Production and dissemination of knowledge, in particular with the design of “resource” tools for the arts and sciences community, with, for example, the development of a collaboration protocol between artists and scientists, designed with Leonardo, the Diagonale Paris-Saclay and TRAs (transversal of the arts-science networks).
