Tag Archives: art/engineering

“The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto” from Jan. 27 to July 9, 2023 at The Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois)

I’m sorry to be late. Thankfully this show extends into July 2023, so, there’s still plenty of time to get to Chicago’s The Block Museum of Art (at Northwestern University) art/science exhibition. I found this on the museum’s exhibition page for “The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto” show,

What do we owe to the memories of one another’s hearts?

For American artist Dario Robleto (b. 1972), artists and scientists share a common aspiration: to increase the sensitivity of their observations. Throughout the history of scientific invention, instruments like the cardiograph and the telescope have extended the reach of perception from the tiniest stirrings of the human body to the farthest reaches of space. In his prints, sculptures, and video and sound installations, Robleto contemplates the emotional significance of these technologies, bringing us closer to the latent traces of life buried in the scientific record.

The Hearts Knowledge concentrates on the most recent decade of Robleto’s creative practice, a period of deepening engagement with histories of medicine, biomedical engineering, sound recording, and space exploration. The exhibition organizes the artist’s conceptually ambitious, elegantly wrought artworks as a series of multisensory encounters between art and science.  Each work seeks to attune viewers to the material traces of life at scales ranging from the intimate to the universal, returning always to the question: Does empathy extend beyond the boundaries of time and space?

Banner image for “The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto” exhibition page. Courtesy of The Block Museum of Art (Northwestern University) and artist, Dario Robleto

Here’s more from a January 27, 2023 Northwestern University news release (received via email),

Exhibition searches for meaning at the limits of science and perception

“The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto” is on view Jan. 27 to July 9 [2023] at The Block Museum of Art

  • Works are informed by dialogue with Northwestern Engineering researchers during five-year residency  
  • Exhibition a tribute to NASA Golden Record creator, ‘whose heart has left the solar system’
  • Opening conversation with the artist will take place at 2 p.m. on [Saturday] Feb. 4 [2023]

American artist Dario Robleto (b. 1972) believes artists and scientists share a common aspiration: to increase the sensitivity of their observations.

From understanding the human body’s pulses and brainwaves to viewing the faintest glimmers of light from the edge of the observable universe, groundbreaking science pushes the limits of perception. Similarly, the perceptive work of artists can extend the boundaries of empathy and understanding.

Since 2018, Robleto served as an artist-at-large at the McCormick School of Engineering. This unique partnership between The Block Museum and McCormick gave the artist an open “hall pass” to learn from, collaborate with and question scientists, engineers and experts from across the University.

Robleto’s five-year residency concludes with the exhibition “The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto.” Co-presented by The Block Museum and McCormick, the exhibition is on view from Jan. 27 to July 9 [2023] at The Block Museum, 40 Arts Circle Drive on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. [emphasis mine]

A free opening conversation with the artist will take place at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 [2023], in Norris University Center’s McCormick Auditorium, 1999 Campus Drive in Evanston.

About the Exhibition: “The Heart’s Knowledge”

Throughout the history of scientific invention, instruments like the cardiograph and the telescope have extended the reach of perception from the tiniest stirrings of the human body to the farthest reaches of space.

Robleto’s prints, sculptures and video and sound installations contemplate the emotional significance of these technologies, bringing viewers closer to the latent traces of life buried in the scientific record.

“The Heart’s Knowledge” represents a decade of Robleto’s creative practice, from 2012 to 2022, a period marked by a deepening engagement with science, including astronomy, synthetic biology and exobiology, and a widening embrace of new materials and creative forms, from 3D-printed objects to film.

Robleto dedicates the exhibition to Ann Druyan, the creative director of NASA’s Golden Record for the Voyager 1 and 2 projects. The record includes Druyan’s brainwaves and heartbeats, recorded as she reflected on her secret love for famed astronomer and future husband Carl Sagan. The act of sneaking “love on board the Voyager” inspired Robleto to compose a love letter to the only human whose “heart has left the solar system.”

Robleto sees Druyan’s act to include her emotions on the record as the central inspiration of his work. “I consider it the greatest work of subversive, avant-garde art not yet given its due,” Robleto said. “The Golden Record and Ann’s radical act brought us all together to think about what it means to be human — to one another and to unknown beings on other worlds.”

The exhibition organizes the artist’s conceptually ambitious, elegantly wrought artworks as a series of multisensory encounters between art and science. Each asks viewers to seek out the material traces of life in scales ranging from the intimate to the universal, and to question: Does empathy extend beyond the boundaries of time and space?

“Whether he’s addressing the most minute phenomena of the body or the horizons of the known universe, Robleto binds the rigor of scientific inquiry with artistic expression,” said exhibition curator Michael Metzger, The Block’s Pick-Laudati Curator of Media Arts.

“Straining at the bounds of observation, Robleto discovers unity at the limits; the common endeavor of art and science to achieve a form of knowledge that language alone cannot speak,” Metzger said.

The exhibition includes three sections:

Heartbeats
Rooted in the artist’s longstanding fascination with the clinical and cultural history of the human heart, “Heartbeats” draws inspiration from 19th-century pioneers of cardiography, whose instruments graphically measured heart activity for the first time, leaving behind poignant records of human subjectivity. In “The First Time, the Heart (A Portrait of Life 1854-1913)” (2017), Robleto transforms early measurements of heartbeats into photolithographs executed on paper hand-sooted with candle flames. For the installation “The Pulse Armed with a Pen (An Unknown History of the Human Heartbeat)” (2014), Robleto collaborated with sound historian Patrick Feaster to digitally resurrect these heartbeats in audio form, giving visitors access to intimate pulses of life recorded before the invention of sound playback.

Wavelengths
Robleto has recently embraced digital video to create works that narrate transformational episodes in the recording and study of wave phenomena. “Wavelengths” comprises two hour-long immersive video installations. “The Boundary of Life is Quietly Crossed” (2019) is inspired by NASA’s Voyager Golden Record, a gold-plated phonographic disc launched into space onboard the Voyager I and II space probes in 1977. In “The Aorta of an Archivist” (2020-2021), Robleto investigates three breakthroughs in the history of recording: the first recording of a choral performance made with an Edison wax cylinder, the first heartbeat captured while listening to music and the first effort to transcribe the brain wave activity of a dreaming subject.

Horizons
In the final section, “Horizons,” Robleto evokes the spirit of the Hubble telescope and the search for extraterrestrial life, gazing out at the boundaries of the observable universe. Inspired by his time as an artist-in-residence at the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and as artistic consultant to the Breakthrough Initiatives, his intricate sculptures, such as “Small Crafts on Sisyphean Seas” (2018), give shape to the speculative search for intelligent life in the universe. Other works like “The Computer of Jupiter” (2019) are framed as “gifts for extraterrestrials” offering an alternative view of the best way to begin a dialogue with alien intelligences.

The Artist-at-Large Program at Northwestern

Lisa Corrin, the Ellen Philips Katz Executive Director of The Block Museum of Art, and Julio M. Ottino, dean of McCormick School of Engineering, envisioned the possibilities of this unconventional partnership between scientist and artist when they launched the artist-at-large initiative together. The work is part of an ongoing Art + Engineering initiative and a part of the whole-brain engineering philosophy at Northwestern Engineering.

“Here, a university’s school of engineering and its art museum come together in the shared belief that transformative innovation can happen at the intersections of usually distinct academic disciplines and modes of creativity and inquiry,” Corrin said. “We had faith that something meaningful would emerge organically if we merely provided structures in which informal interactions might take place.”

“We wanted to model for young engineers the value of embracing uncertainty as part of the journey that leads to innovation and opens pathways within the imagination — as artists do,” Ottino said. “We are grateful to Dario Robleto for accepting our invitation to come to Northwestern and to enter the unknown with us. He has taught us that our shared future resides in our capacity for compassion and for empathy, the ethos at the heart of his work that holds the most promise for those at the forefront of science in the interest of humankind.”

More information about Robleto’s residency can be found in the article “Dario is our Socrates” on the Block Museum website and by viewing the Northwestern Engineering video “Artist-at-Large Program: Dario Robleto.”

Exhibition Events

“The Heart’s Knowledge” will include six months of events and dialogues that will illuminate the intersections in Robleto’s practice. All events are free and open to the public. For current program information, visit The Block Museum website.

Program highlights for February and March include:

Science, Art and the Search for Meaning: Opening Conversation with Dario Robleto
Saturday, Feb. 4 [2023], 2 p.m.
Norris University Center, McCormick Auditorium
1999 Campus Drive

The Block Museum hosts a discussion that reaches across boundaries to examine the shared pursuit that binds artists and scientists. The conversation features artist Dario Robleto; Jennifer Roberts, professor of the humanities at Harvard University; Lucianne Walkowicz, astronomer and co-founder of the JustSpace Alliance; and Michael Metzger, Pick-Laudati Curator of Media Arts and curator of “The Heart’s Knowledge.”

“X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes” (1963)
Friday, Feb. 10 [2023], 7 p.m.
Block Cinema
40 Arts Circle Drive

A Science on Screen program with Catherine Belling, associate professor of medical education at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“First Man” (2018)
Saturday Feb. 18 [2023], 1 p.m.
Block Cinema
40 Arts Circle Drive

A Science on Screen program featuring history researcher Jordan Bimm of the University of Chicago, who will discuss the military origins of “space medicine.”

Exhibition Conversation: Interstellar Aesthetics and Acts of Translation in Art and Science
Wednesday, Feb. 22 [2023], 6 p.m.
Block Museum

Joining artist Dario Robleto in conversation are Elizabeth Kessler, exhibition publication contributor and a lecturer in American Studies at Stanford University, and Shane Larson, research professor of physics and astronomy and associate director of CIERA (Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics) at Northwestern.

Gallery Talk: Stillness, Wonder and Gifts for Extraterrestrials
Thursday, Feb. 23 [2023], 12:30 p.m.
Block Museum

Elizabeth Kessler of Stanford University will discuss Robleto’s “gifts for extraterrestrials” series.

Online Conversation: Ann Druyan, The Golden Record and the Memory of Our Hearts
Wednesday, March 8 [2023], 6 p.m. [ET]
Block Cinema

Ann Druyan, creative director for NASA’s Voyager Interstellar Messaging Project and writer and producer of the PBS television series “Cosmos,” joins Robleto and art historian Jennifer Roberts for a conversation about the Golden Record and the heart’s memory.

Exhibition Publication

In conjunction with the exhibition, The Block Museum of Art and the McCormick School of Engineering are proud to announce the publication of “The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto,” (Artbook, D.A.P., 2023).

The publication is edited by Michael Metzger with contributions by Metzger, Robert M. Brain, Daniel K. L. Chua, Patrick Feaster, Stefan Helmreich, Elizabeth A. Kessler ,Julius B. Lucks, Elizabeth Kathleen Mitchell, Alexander Rehding, Jennifer L. Roberts, Claire Isabel Webb and Dario Robleto.

About Dario Robleto

Dario Robleto was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1972 and received his BFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1997. He lives and works in Houston, Texas. The artist has had numerous solo exhibitions since 1997, most recently at the Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, Kansas (2021); the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2019); the McNay Museum, San Antonio, Texas (2018); Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (2014); the Baltimore Museum of Art (2014); the New Orleans Museum of Art (2012); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver (2011).

He is currently working on his first book, “Life Signs: The Tender Science of the Pulsewave,” co-authored with art historian Jennifer Roberts, the Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities at Harvard (University of Chicago Press).

Exhibition Credits

“The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto” exhibition is made possible through a partnership with the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University. Major support also was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional support is contributed by the Dorothy J. Speidel Fund; the Bernstein Family Contemporary Art Fund; the Barry and Mary Ann MacLean Fund for Art and Engineering; the Illinois Arts Council Agency; and the Alumnae of Northwestern University. The exhibition publication is made possible in part by the Sandra L. Riggs Publications Fund.

Should you be in the Chicago area and interested in the exhibit, you can find all the information for your visit here.

Beakerhead’s Big Bang (art/engineering) Residency in Alberta, Canada

I am sorry for the late notice as the deadline for submissions is Oct. 9, 2015 so there’s not much time to prepare. In any event, here’s more information about the Big Bang Residency Program call for proposals,

Every September, Beakerhead erupts onto the streets and venues of Calgary with cultural works that have science or engineering at their core. This is a call for proposals to build a creative work through an initiative called the Big Bang Residency Program. The work will be built over the course of a year with a collaborative team and will premiere on September 14, 2016, at Beakerhead in Calgary, Canada.

About the Big Bang Residency Program

The Big Bang Residency Program is funded by the Remarkable Experience Accelerator; a joint initiative of Calgary Arts Development and the Calgary Hotel Association. The program is led by Beakerhead with partnership support from the internationally renowned Banff Centre.

The program will support the creation of a total of three major new artworks over three years that will premiere internationally in Calgary during Beakerhead each year. This residency program will support:

  • One team per year each consisting of no less than four and no more than five individuals (additional support members are possible; however, the maximum size of the core team in residence will be five).
  • Two weeks in residence total; one week in the late fall and one week the following summer, with exact dates to be arranged with The Banff Centre and the selected team in residence. The production of the work is expected to take place in-between these two residency periods in Calgary.
  • Call for Proposals

    Beakerhead and The Banff Centre will support the design and build of a work to be shared with the world during Beakerhead, September 14 to 18, 2016. It will be created over the course of the year, which will include two weeks in residence at The Banff Centre with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators.

    Who is Eligible?

    This Call for Proposals is open to international artists, engineers, architects, designers, scientists and others. In addition to meeting the requirements for team composition below, the team must have a connection to Calgary so that the building of the work takes place in Calgary, the work is developed in Banff, the work premieres in Calgary and calls Calgary its home base. The proposal need not be submitted by a complete team: individuals may apply. The team can be assembled with support from The Banff Centre and Beakerhead to ensure that the collaboration of artists and engineers will result in a project that is created in Calgary/Banff over the course of the year.

    Team Composition 

    Each team must include:

    1. At least one individual who has received specialized art training (degree from a recognizing art institution) and has developed and exhibited a body of work;
    2. At least one individual who has received specialized engineering training (degree from an accredited engineering school), and previous experience in any artistic medium;
    3. Other members of the team should bring additional art and design skills, technical skills and project management skills. They may include emerging and professional roles.

    Staging and Exhibition

    The engineered artworks produced during the residency will be presented during Beakerhead in an unprecedented spectacle of performance and public engagement. The staging of the premiere may be developed in partnership with other venues, as dictated by the artworks. Many Beakerhead events take place in partnership with existing venues, such as theatres, galleries, public spaces, business revitalization zones, universities and libraries. The artistic disciplines may include installation, performance, visual art, music or any other media.

    The Details

    Design Criteria

    The successful proposal will meet the following criteria.

    • Location: The installation will be in a public location or available venue in Calgary, Alberta, from September 14 to 18 2016, and can be toured afterwards. Park-like settings and public roadways may be possible.
    • Dimension: There is no limit on dimension. However, proposals for works that can engage larger numbers of people at the scale of public art will be given preference.
    • Scope: Preference will be given to works that are both arresting to view and interesting to experience first-hand.
    • Install and De-install: Up to four days can be provided to install and de-install. The successful team must be capable of completing this work with volunteer crews.
    • Material: All materials must meet North American and European building and fire safety codes.

    Budget                                     

    A budget of CAD 24,000 is available for materials and supplies. The artist/collaborator fee is CAD 5,000 per team member up to CAD 25,000. Two weeks in residence will be provided for a five-person team, including accommodation and meals at The Banff Centre. Support for venue rental over the winter for build space will be provided, as well as heavy equipment costs.

    The budget may include:

    • All additional materials costs
    • Equipment services/rental for installation and de-installation
    • Contracted labour for specialized services
    • Documentation expenses
    • Stipend per team member (CAD 5,000 per member up to CAD 25,000)
    • Workshop and fabrication space rental in Calgary

    The budget may not include:

    • Travel costs
    • Salaries and wages

    If the budget proposed exceeds the amount of funding available, please detail your plans for acquiring additional funds to make up any projected shortfall.

    Additional

    Preference will be given to projects that consider:

    • Delightful and thought-provoking experiences at the crossroads of art and engineering
    • Use of public space
    • Assembly, strike and touring ability
    • Engagement of a large volume of viewers
    • Durability for multiple days of high volume public interaction

    Timeline

    Important 2015/16 Dates

    • Aug 6, 2015:  Call for proposals
    • Oct 9: Deadline for submissions
    • Nov 6: Announcement of the successful proposal
    • Dec 6: Presentation of the successful team at the annual Beakerhead partners meeting
    • Dec 7-12*: Residency Week 1 in Banff: Detailed production plan completed
    • Jan 20, 2016: Concept unveiled to public and build volunteers engaged
    • Feb-August: Build period in Calgary
    • Aug 22-27*: Residency Week 2 in Banff: Presentation planning and rehearsals
    • Sept 14 – 18: International premiere at Beakerhead!

    *dates may change

    Timeline Details

    The program will lift off with an announcement in August 2015, and the first major artworks premiered in September 2016. A second round will be announced in the summer of 2016, and a third in the summer of 2017.

    Interested applicants are encouraged to attend Beakerhead 2015 (September 16 – 20), or have an associate attend, to fully understand the presentation opportunities. The final team will be announced in the fall, and will commence the term with a one-week period “in residence” at the Banff Centre (a week to work full-time on the project) to develop the detailed design and production plan. The partnership with The Banff Centre will support the development of design drawings and a business strategy.

    The build will then take place over the winter and summer in Calgary. Beakerhead will support the successful team by making introductions to local resources and facilities.

    The team in residence will be strongly encouraged to engage an expanded team of volunteers in the building process to create a community of support around the spectacle element.

There are more details here including the information on how to make a submission.

How to start art/science collaborations (roundup) and an art/engineering festival in Calgary (Canada)

Generally speaking I’ve viewed art/science collaborations from an ‘arts’ perspective so it’s with some interest that I’ve been reading Johanna Kieniewicz’s postings as she has a scientist’s perspective, from her Nov. 22, 2012 posting on the PLoS (Public Library of Science) At the Interface; where art and science meet blog,

Last week, I attended an environmental science conference with an evening reception that featured a short talk on art/science collaborations in the context of environmental science. The talk was followed by a musical performance – inspired by the fragility of peatbog environments – after which I overheard a scientist mutter “What was that? That better not have had research council funding.” He was not the only one; I heard similar sentiments expressed by several others as I walked to dinner.

On some level, I was disappointed by this response, but I wasn’t really surprised. Despite great progress amongst those who are ensconced in the world of science communication to the idea of collaborations between scientists and artists, this is something that many scientists still don’t “get”. Other researchers are openly hostile, and certainly think that scientific research organisations have no business funding this type of work.

To be fair, these are not necessarily the attitudes of people who are disinterested in art — I’d be willing to bet that a fair few of those who walked away from the performance muttering about scientific research council funding being wasted on the arts also have memberships at cultural institutions. That said, whilst being consumers of culture, few scientists really see themselves as having much of a role in its creation. In an increasingly competitive funding landscape, does it really make sense to spend research money on an art project? Does engaging with the arts mean that they are less serious as scientists?

Kieniewicz goes on to give a number of reasons why she thinks art/science collaborations are important, including this one,

Although art cannot directly communicate science or change minds, it can create a space for dialogue around difficult issues.

In a followup Dec. 6, 2012 posting, Kieniewicz goes on to explain how artists and scientists get together for collaborations and she also provides an extensive roundup art/science collaborations (Note: I have removed links),

Following on from my last post on the ‘why’ of collaborations between artists and scientists, here I’d like to look at the ‘how’. When scientists and artists don’t typically have professional reasons for mixing, what are the mechanisms that enable collaboration?

Artist in Residency Schemes

Some of the more outward-looking scientific research organisations realise that there is something to be gained from a scheme that brings artists through their doors. It could be couched as a box-ticking ‘outreach’ exercise, but it is also an opportunity to bring the science happening behind their doors alive to the wider public. This approach has been particularly embraced by the physics community, where studies of the interactions between subatomic particles — which have serious implications for science and cost a great deal of taxpayer money — nonetheless seem of little relevance to the man on the street. As physicist David Weinberg notes based on his collaboration with Josiah McElheny (below), “far more people saw [our collaboration] in one day in Madrid than have ever read my Astrophysical Journal articles.”

Artist/Scientist Pairing Schemes

I think of artist/scientist pairing schemes as something of a matchmaking exercise, in which a number of artists are invited into a research institute and paired with interested and willing scientists. Like any matchmaking process, it seems to me that this is something that can go either way: sometimes it will work out, but other times it may not.

Individual collaborations between artists and scientists

Unsurprisingly, collaboration between an individual artist and scientist generally starts with an introduction, a conversation, and an interest/openness from both parties to trying something a little different. Collaboration in these circumstances is often initiated by the artist who may have an idea and an interest, but who recognises that they would benefit from the help of a scientist in order to fully realise their vision.

In the UK, there is an Arts and Humanities Research Council funding programme, Science in Culture, designed to stimulate art/science collaborations. There was funding in Canada for this type of collaboration. The Canada Council for the Arts had joint programmes with the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council and the National Research Council in the early 2000’s.

There is a new initiative, Beakerhead, being organized in Calgary, Alberta (Canada) for 2013 mentioned in my Nov. 13, 2012 posting (this is more of an arts/engineering collaborative event),

Beakerhead is an annual movement that culminates in a five-day citywide spectacle that brings together the arts and engineering sectors to build, engage, compete and exhibit interactive works of art, engineered creativity and entertainment.

Starting annually in 2013, Beakerhead will take place in Calgary’s major educational institutions, arts and culture venues, on the streets and, most importantly, in communities.
From performances and installations to workshops and concerts, Beakerhead is made possible by a continuously growing list of partners who share the desire of staging a collaborative event of epic proportions.

There is more information about the aspirations for this event on the Beakerhead Program page,

When fully realized, Beakerhead will be a five-day citywide highly participatory event that explodes in Calgary’s major educational institutions, arts and culture venues, on the streets and, most importantly, in communities. Through programming partnerships and community initiatives, Beakerhead is fuelled by groups and individuals in art, culture, science, engineering and technology.

Everyone is empowered to build, stage, exhibit and compete in interactive works, so people can experience and explore engineered creations from around the world – all at once! The following three streams are guiding Beakerhead’s programming vision:

1) Productions: local and internationally commissioned and co-produced grand openings, premieres, productions, and concerts.

2) Programs: city-wide illuminated art works and 3-D projections, international professional and student challenges, massive mechanical sculptures, interactive races, local restaurant programs and more.

3) Speakerhead: education and outreach programs such as artist and engineer-in-residence programs, professional speaker series, classroom programs and more.

Format and Goals:

Events will take place indoors and out, including ticketed and free events, and involving venues and public spaces throughout the city – and it’s all starting now! Partnerships are continuously forming and a calendar of events and programs is being developed to be announced in late 2012.

Together, Beakerhead will:

  • Engage people and communities – in hands-on public spectacles and contests.
  • Experiment – culturally – with science, art and engineering. Let’s test limits!
  • Commission new works – in new media, music, theatre, visual arts, dance.
  • Invite collaborations – between artists, scientists and engineers.
  • Invite collaborations – between local, Canadian and international experts.
  • Curate new exhibitions and performances.