Noema @ EU Joint Research Center (JRC) – Ispra

La scorsa settimana è stata molto impegnativa, ma anche piuttosto stimolante. Sono stato invitato alla Summer School “Resonances”, a Ispra presso il Joint Research Center (JRC) della Commissione Europea, il più grande dei sei d’Europa. Questi centri di ricerca, che ospitano laboratori e migliaia di scienziati in pianta stabile o invitati su specifici progetti, costituiscono il servizio di ricerca scientifica e conoscenza della Commissione Europea, e forniscono consulenza indipendente a sostegno delle politiche dell’Unione.Quando bisogna prendere delle decisioni politiche comunitarie su argomenti che vanno dall’energia alla sostenibilità, dalla sicurezza informatica a quella alimentare, dagli OGM ai nuovi materiali, dall’ambiente alle questioni demografiche, dal nucleare all’innovazione e alla crescita, questi centri di ricerca forniscono alla politica, in maniera indipendente, le informazioni e gli strumenti fondamentali su cui basare le decisioni e le leggi.

Come recita il sito:

As the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) supports EU policies with independent scientific evidence throughout the whole policy cycle.
We create, manage and make sense of knowledge and develop innovative tools and make them available to policy makers
We anticipate emerging issues that need to be addressed at EU level and understand policy environments
We collaborate with over a thousand organisations worldwide whose scientists have access to many JRC facilities through various collaboration agreements.
Our work has a direct impact on the lives of citizens by contributing with its research outcomes to a healthy and safe environment, secure energy supplies, sustainable mobility and consumer health and safety.
We draw on over 50 years of scientific experience and continually build our expertise in knowledge production and knowledge management.
We host specialist laboratories and unique research facilities and is home to thousands of scientists.

In questo processo è dunque cruciale che la ricerca scientifica e tecnologica, nonché le conoscenze inerenti, vengano diffuse e comunicate anche al di fuori degli ambiti in cui nascono, al di là della ristretta cerchia di addetti ai lavori, per ragioni che vanno dalla formazione alla sensibilizzazione sociale, dall’innovazione all’informazione delle opinioni pubbliche. Ma è almeno altrettanto importante introdurre all’interno della ricerca scientifica e tecnologica dei contributi che provengono da ambiti diversi. Numerose esperienze hanno infatti dimostrato l’importanza di integrare nei percorsi scientifici ricerche e conoscenze provenienti dalle discipline umanistiche, in particolare dalle arti e dal design, per potenziarli e introdurre nuovi elementi.

Questa discussione, spesso chiamata “from STEM to STEAM” (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), poggia sull’idea di “consilience” (convergenza), introdotta da Wilson nel 1968 (Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, New York, Vintage Books, 1998), cioè sulla fusione dei modi di conoscenza, ed è stata ripresa nel 2011 da Slingerland e Collard (Edward Slingerland, Mark Collard (eds.), Creating Consilience: Integrating the Sciences and the Humanities, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011). Esistono poi importanti esperienze che vanno in questa direzione, per esempio al MIT, con team in cui lavorano insieme scienziati e artisti, o, in campo artistico, il magazine Leonardo, pubblicato da MIT Press e diretto dall’astronomo Roger Malina, il più autorevole in campo internazionale sulle relazioni tra arti, scienze e tecnologie. Sulle relazioni tra discipline scientiche, artistiche e tecnologie esistono anche progetti europei, tra i quali STARTS (Science, Technology and the Arts), che utilizza le forme artistiche come ispirazione per ricerche in campo scientifico e realizzazioni industriali; FEAT (Future Emerging Art and Technology), per la comprensione delle tecnologie emergenti e delle loro prospettive sociali, pubbliche, creative, e delle loro criticità; e il programma di artist in residence arts@CERN presso il CERN di Ginevra.

Come ho avuto spesso occasione di dire, anche per la sua dimensione sincretica l’arte può essere considerata come una sorta di filosofia della contemporaneità, una risorsa determinante per capire il presente e guardare al futuro. Oggi è difficile riuscire a comprendere e descrivere la complessità del mondo senza attivare atteggiamenti e approcci artistici. Molti fenomeni, sociali, economici, culturali, scientifici, naturali, legati all’ecologia e alla biologia, sono vicini alle processualità dell’arte. L’arte e la scienza integrano le conoscenze e costituiscono il carattere di una società. La scienza può trarre ispirazione dall’arte, le narrazioni della scienza possono integrare la conoscenza sociale e mostrare l’impatto della dimensione culturale umana. Dal canto suo attraverso la scienza l’arte può entrare nelle dinamiche e nelle descrizioni analitiche della realtà fenomenica, può estendere e arricchire la comunicazione della scienza, può generare una sensibilità verso l’impatto delle narrazioni scientifiche, coinvolgendo dei pubblici che altrimenti, per varie ragioni, volontariamente o meno, resterebbero esclusi. Può mostrare nella scienza la qualità poetica di visioni del mondo che presentano delle affinità con le proprie. L’arte ha inoltre una fondamentale vocazione critica e può portare alla scienza alcune importanti questioni sociali ed etiche.

Le narrazioni della scienza integrano le conoscenze sociali, aiutano a comprendere le direzioni della ricerca, rendono consapevoli di ciò che è possibile, approfondiscono le visioni del mondo o ne creano di nuove, contribuiscono a definire la realtà e i suoi limiti, aiutano a guardare al futuro.

Nella storia dell’umanità arte e scienza hanno spesso avuto dei percorsi convergenti, basti pensare al Rinascimento e a figure come quella di Leonardo. In epoca contemporanea Marshall McLuhan considerava l’artista come soggetto “dalla consapevolezza integrale”.

The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. He is the man of integral awareness [Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: Extensions of Man, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1964, p. 65]

E Roy Ascott, artista, teorico e docente, si è interrogato sul ruolo dell’arte:

Ask not what science can do for the arts, ask what the arts can do for the sciences [Roy Ascott, lecture at the conference “The Spirit of Discovery: Art, Science and New Technology”, Transcoso, Portugal, May18-20, 2006]

Il Joint Research Centre (JRC), centro di ricerca scientifica della Commissione europea a Ispra sul Lago Maggiore, con il progetto SciArt (Science, Art, Society), ha organizzato la JRC Resonances Summer School, dal 25 al 29 giugno, con l’obiettivo di ricercare un terreno comune e possibili progetti per svolgere la sua missione di fornire scienza a sostegno della politica. Il tema di quest’anno, “Big Data”, ha messo a confronto scienziati e artisti (questi ultimi tramite un call) in conferenze e workshop, invitandoli a condividere progetti e ricerche da concretizzare in opere. Tra le proposte verranno selezionate e ospitate quelle che l’anno prossimo saranno nella mostra “Resonances”, giunta alla terza edizione.

Come recita l’informativa sugli eventi:

The new edition of the JRC SciArt flagship initiative, Resonances III, has the ambition to move JRC’s art and science praxis into a new phase, where we can set aside old contradictions and prejudices as mere cultural constructs; where art, science and policymaking come together on a level playing field to work on something really shared. A common endeavour resulting in a new kind of work, which might be art, can be science, and will help policy, but which is the result of a collective effort of all participants, coming together as citizens to probe deeper into this hyped and uncertain future. The objective of the Resonances Summer School of June 2018 is to investigate common ground and possible projects in a unique way, to better apply JRC’s mission of providing science in support of policy. This work will be based on the extensive data the JRC hosts and uses, with scientists applying these Big Data in a variety of disciplines; from earth systems sciences to digital economy, from life sciences to sociology and ethics, from fake news to digital transformation. Scientists will come together with artists and policymakers to discuss the use of these data for creative endeavours, ready to open dialogues, explore new territory, in the hope of becoming, together, more effective in addressing societal concerns.

A me è stato chiesto di presentare, nella conferenza di apertura del secondo giorno, il lavoro di Noema, in particolare sulla relazione tra arte e scienza. Si tratta, da parte della Comunità Europea, di un riconoscimento importante, di cui sono orgoglioso, del lavoro – devo dire anche molto apprezzato – che Noema porta avanti in campo internazionale da diciotto anni. Il cui merito voglio condividere con quanti – Comitato Scientifico, Advisory Board, Editorial & Media Staff, autori e studenti – mi hanno seguito con passione in questa avventura. Dunque ho ripercorso la storia, dai prodromi della prima metà degli anni ’90, fino ai progetti attuali, tra i quali fivewordsforthefuture e art*science.

Oltre a questo mi è stato chiesto di presentare, l’ultimo giorno a conclusione dei lavori, una riflessione sugli argomenti emersi dagli interventi di artisti e scienziati durante i 5 giorni dell’iniziativa, dai workshop, dal confronto tra scienziati artisti, dalle visite ai laboratori, in riferimento alle ricerche che il sottoscritto porta avanti.

L’ultimo giorno, il 29 Giugno, un paio d’ore dopo la chiusura della Summer School al Joint Research Center di Ispra, ho partecipato anche, in teleconferenza con Montevideo, al “50 Aniversario Leonardo Journal”, celebrazione online e via Radio e TV dei 50 anni del magazine sulle relazioni tra arti, scienze e tecnologie più importante in campo internazionale, evento organizzato dal nodo uruguaiano di Anilla Cultural LatinoAmerica – Europa e curato da Delma Rodriguez, che ne è direttrice. Ero in ottima compagnia, sia pure solo virtuale, di Danielle Siembieda (Managing Director di Leonardo), Luz Maria Sanchez (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana di Città del Messico), oltre che della curatrice. A questo evento dedicherò un post successivo.

English

Last week was very demanding but also quite stimulating. I was invited to the Summer School “Resonances” in Ispra at the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission, the largest of the six in Europe. These research centers, which host laboratories and thousands of scientists on permanent plans or invited on specific projects, constitute the scientific research and knowledge service of the European Commission, and provide independent advice in support of Union policies. When political EU decisions are to be made, on topics ranging from energy to sustainability, from cyber security to food security, from GMOs to new materials, from the environment to demographic issues, from nuclear to innovation and growth, these research centers provide policy independent information and basic tools on which to base decisions and laws.

The website:

As the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) supports EU policies with independent scientific evidence throughout the whole policy cycle.
We create, manage and make sense of knowledge and develop innovative tools and make them available to policy makers
We anticipate emerging issues that need to be addressed at EU level and understand policy environments
We collaborate with over a thousand organisations worldwide whose scientists have access to many JRC facilities through various collaboration agreements.
Our work has a direct impact on the lives of citizens by contributing with its research outcomes to a healthy and safe environment, secure energy supplies, sustainable mobility and consumer health and safety.
We draw on over 50 years of scientific experience and continually build our expertise in knowledge production and knowledge management.
We host specialist laboratories and unique research facilities and is home to thousands of scientists.

In this process it is therefore crucial that scientific and technological research, as well as the inherent knowledge, be disseminated and communicated even outside the areas in which they are born, beyond the restricted circle of professionals, for reasons ranging from training to social awareness, from innovation to public opinion information. But it is at least as important to introduce contributions from different backgrounds into scientific and technological research. In fact, numerous experiences have shown the importance of integrating research and knowledge coming from the humanistic disciplines, especially the arts and design, into the scientific pathways, to enhance them and introduce new elements.

This discussion, often called “from STEM to STEAM” (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEAM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics), is based on the idea of ”consilience”, introduced by Wilson in 1968 (Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, New York, Vintage Books, 1998), that is, on the fusion of modes of knowledge, and was resumed in 2011 by Slingerland and Collard (Edward Slingerland, Mark Collard ( eds.), Creating Consilience: Integrating the Sciences and the Humanities, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011). There are also important experiences that go in this direction, for example at MIT, with teams in which scientists and artists work together, or, in the artistic field, the magazine Leonardo, published by MIT Press and directed by the astronomer Roger Malina, the most authoritative in the international field on the relationships between arts, sciences and technologies. There are also European projects on the relationships between scientific, artistic and technological disciplines, among them STARTS (Science, Technology and the Arts), which uses artistic forms as inspiration for scientific research and industrial realizations; FEAT (Future Emerging Art and Technology), for the understanding of emerging technologies and their social, public, creative perspectives and their criticalities; and the program of artist in residence arts@CERN in Geneva.

As I have often had occasion to say, also because of its syncretic dimension, art can be considered as a sort of philosophy of contemporaneity, a determining resource for understanding the present and looking at the future. Today it is difficult to understand and describe the complexity of the world without activating artistic attitudes and approaches. Many phenomena, social, economic, cultural, scientific, natural, linked to ecology and biology, are close to the processes of art. Art and science integrate knowledge and constitute the character of a society. Science can draw inspiration from art, the narratives of science can integrate social knowledge and show the impact of the human cultural dimension. For its part, through science, art can enter into the dynamics and analytical descriptions of phenomenal reality, it can extend and enrich the communication of science, it can generate a sensitivity towards the impact of scientific narratives, involving audiences that otherwise, for various reasons, voluntarily or not, would remain excluded. It can show in science the poetic quality of visions of the world that have affinities with their own. Furthermore, art has a fundamental critical vocation and can bring to science some important social and ethical issues.

The narratives of science integrate social knowledge, help to understand the directions of research, make aware of what is possible, deepen the visions of the world or create new ones, help define reality and its limits, help to look to the future .

In the history of humanity art and science have often had convergent paths, just think of the Renaissance and figures like that of Leonardo. In the contemporary era, Marshall McLuhan considered the artist as “the man of integral awareness”:

The artist is the man in any field, scientific or humanistic, who grasps the implications of his actions and of new knowledge in his own time. He is the man of integral awareness [Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: Extensions of Man, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1964, p. 65]

And Roy Ascott, artist, theorist and teacher, questioned the role of art:

Ask not what science can do for the arts, ask what the arts can do for the sciences [Roy Ascott, lecture at the conference “The Spirit of Discovery: Art, Science and New Technology”, Transcoso, Portugal, May18-20, 2006]

The Joint Research Center (JRC), the scientific research center of the European Commission in Ispra on Lake Maggiore, with the SciArt project (Science, Art, Society) organized from 25 to 29 June the JRC Resonances Summer School, with the objective of seeking common ground and possible projects to carry out its mission of providing science in support of politics. This year’s theme, “Big Data”, has confronted scientists and artists (the latter through a call) in conferences and workshops, inviting them to share projects and researches to create artworks. Some selected proposals will be hosted next year in the exhibition “Resonances”, in its third edition.

The information on events:

The new edition of the JRC SciArt flagship initiative, Resonances III, has the ambition to move JRC’s art and science praxis into a new phase, where we can set aside old contradictions and prejudices as mere cultural constructs; where art, science and policymaking come together on a level playing field to work on something really shared. A common endeavour resulting in a new kind of work, which might be art, can be science, and will help policy, but which is the result of a collective effort of all participants, coming together as citizens to probe deeper into this hyped and uncertain future. The objective of the Resonances Summer School of June 2018 is to investigate common ground and possible projects in a unique way, to better apply JRC’s mission of providing science in support of policy. This work will be based on the extensive data the JRC hosts and uses, with scientists applying these Big Data in a variety of disciplines; from earth systems sciences to digital economy, from life sciences to sociology and ethics, from fake news to digital transformation. Scientists will come together with artists and policymakers to discuss the use of these data for creative endeavours, ready to open dialogues, explore new territory, in the hope of becoming, together, more effective in addressing societal concerns.

I was asked to present the work of Noema, particularly on the relationship between art and science, at the opening conference on the second day. This is, from the European Community, an important acknowledgment, I am proud of, of the work – I must say also highly appreciated – that Noema has been carrying on in the international field for eighteen years. The merit of which I want to share with those – Scientific Committee, Advisory Board, Editorial & Media Staff, authors and students – have followed me with passion in this adventure. So I recalled the story, from the beginning at the first half of the 90s, up to current projects, including fivewordsforthefuture and art*science.

In addition to this I was asked to present, on the last day at the end of the work, a reflection on the topics emerged from the presentations of artists and scientists during 5 days, from the workshops, the discussions among scientists and artists, the visits to the laboratories, with reference to the research that I carry out.

On the last day, June 29, a couple of hours after the closing of the Summer School at the Joint Research Center in Ispra, I also participated, in teleconference with Montevideo, at the “50 Aniversario Leonardo Journal“, online celebration via Radio e TV of the 50 years of the magazine most important in the international arena on the relationships between arts, science and technology. An event organized by the Uruguayan node of Anilla Cultural LatinoAmerica – Europa and edited by Delma Rodriguez, who is its director. I was in good company, even if only virtual, of Danielle Siembieda (Managing Director of Leonardo), Luz Maria Sanchez (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana of Mexico City), as well as the curator. I will dedicate to this event a following post.