Cloud and molecular aesthetics; an art/science conference features a bionanotechnology speaker

Here’s a notice from a June 19, 2014 from OCR (Operational and Curatorial Research in Art Design Science and Technology) organization newsletter highlighting an upcoming conference in Istanbul, Turkey, which includes a nanotechnology speaker,

Lanfranco Aceti, the founder of OCR; Edward Colless Head of Critical and Theoretical Studies and Paul Thomas, Program Director of Fine Art at COFA, are the lead chairs and organizers of the conference Cloud & Molecular Aesthetics from June 26 to 28, 2014, at the Pera Museum.

We invite you to three stimulating days that explores new perspectives and evolutions in contemporary art were acclaimed professionals including curators,historians, creative arts practitioners, critics and theorists consider transdisciplinary imaging relating to the theme of cloud, dispersal, infinitesimally small and molecular aesthetics. The conference is free and open to all. The program is available here.

The conference keynotes are Professor Anne Balsamo, Dean of the School of Media Studies at The New School, Dr. Ljiljana Fruk co-author of Molecular Aesthetics, Dr. Jussi Parikka who authored Insect Media: An Archaeology of Animals and Technology; and Prof. Darren Tofts author of Alephbet: Essays on Ghost-writing, Nutshells & Infinite Space.

The notice doesn’t mention the most interesting aspect (for me, anyway) of Dr. Ljiljana Fruk’s work. Here’s more from her OCR Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics Keynote bio page,

Dr. Fruk is a scientist and lecturer at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany working on the development of photosensitive bio nano hybrid systems to be used in the design of new catalysts, artificial enzymes and biosensors for nanomedicinal applications. [emphases mine] She studied chemistry at University of Zagreb and continued to pursue her PhD at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, where she worked on the development of advanced tools for DNA detection. After award of Humboldt Fellowship and Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship she conducted a postdoctoral research on artificial enzyme catalysts at the University of Dortmund in Germany. Since 2009 she leads her own research group and is also active in exploring the interface of art and science, in particular the cultural and societal impact of new technologies such as nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Besides number of scientific activities, she was also a co-organizer of the first symposium on Molecular Aesthetics (2011), 3D interactive exhibition on Molecules that Changed the World, and together with artist Peter Weibel, a co-editor of Molecular Aesthetic book (2013).

The official title for the conference is this: ‘The Third International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections of Art, Science and Culture’ although the organizers seem to be using the theme, Cloud and Molecular Aesthetics, as an easy way to refer to it. You can still register for the conference here: http://ocradst.org/cloudandmolecularaesthetics/registration/

I last mentioned the OCR in a March 24, 2014 posting about a call for papers for a conference on sound curation.

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