ART & SCIENCE

INTRODUCING SCIENCE BY ART TO THE PUBLIC

INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS

The UNamur wishes to seize the exceptional opportunity provided by this space mission with rotifers in order to raise awareness for transdisciplinary scientific research and innovation in Belgium among the public, and in particular among the young.

Exhibitions highlighting the intersection between art and science will be set up in Belgium and in the Netherlands, allowing for an innovative and original blending of artistic media and scientific research.

PILAR – VUB CAMPUS BRUSSELS

MANNED FLIGHT – ROTIFERS IN ACTION

Thursday 21st of April till Sunday 12th of June 2022

Vernissage: 21 April 2022 from 6pm to 10pm

MANNED FLIGHT – ROTIFERS IN ACTION

@PILAR – Triomflaan, VUB – Entrance 6  – 1050, Ixelles | Website : https://pilar.brussels/en/events/manned-flight-rotifers-in-action

What if the laboratory beckons to the studio, and what if science and art intersect? What happens when pencil and petri dish reach out, or when projector and pipette closely embrace each other?

Manned Flight – Rotifers in Action combines science and art in a seldom explored and unprecedented way. More than five years ago, the long-term research in the evolutionary biology laboratory of Professor Karine Van Doninck (ULB and UNamur) took an unusual turn. She started working together with passionate artists from diverse backgrounds, active in various disciplines such as interactive installation, animation film, photography, sculpture, drawing and more.The subject of this research and this exhibition is the rotifer. Though smaller than a millimeter, these multicellular animals represent an evolutionary scandal. The asexual females clone themselves without any intervention of males. In that respect, the title of this exhibition is certainly not without irony!

Rotifers have been evolving on Earth for more than sixty million years. They are particularly strong: although they live about thirty days on average, they can withstand a beating. For example, the rotifers that Van Doninck studies in her laboratory survive complete dehydration or freezing, even after thousands of years. Recently scientists were able to revive rotifers from thawed permafrost. They recover very quickly, even after exposure to high doses of radiation. These purebred superwomen represent a future model organism whose possibilities pose challenging questions for science. At the request of Professor Karine Van Doninck and curator Ive Stevenheydens, the artists participating in this exhibition worked with the characteristics of the rotifers. Although they are not seldom referred to literally in these conceptualized works which were created for this occasion, these creations play more often with the dizzying philosophical register which the characteristics of rotifers induce. These artists therefore investigate the peculiarities of the rotifers in a – literally – experimental way. And they go quite far: some works – or experiments – in Manned Flight, in collaboration with the European Space Agency, even went into space! On the other hand, this exhibition illustrates the importance of imperfection for evolution’s sake, and holds up a poetic mirror to images, such as the age-old human desire for immortality. In addition to this, Manned Flight shows an oversized scientific set-up that transports the visitor straight into the laboratory. In this way we want to provide insight into the fascinating experiments and the findings that scientists conduct on this matter on a daily basis. Alongside the program there will be fascinating lectures and meetings, concerts and performances and of course a smashing party.

We wish you an instructive and fascinating voyage of discovery on this Manned Flight!

Concept and idea

Karine Van Doninck

Curator

Ive Stevenheydens

GROUP EXHIBITION WITH 8 ARTISTS

David Bade, Dara Birnbaum, Gerlando Infuso, Ophélie Lhuire,  Natasha Papadopoulou, Ohme & Aiko Design, SEADS, Caroline Vincart

By means of a creative and artistic language, these creations will allow the public, including the young, to be inspired by science, technology and art and to grasp the transdisciplinary approach used here to better understand fundamental questions related to rotifer research and space exploration.

David BADE

Rotiferen springen in de bres Deel 1 (Rotifers jump into the breach Part 1) – 2022, installation, diverse techniques. Esplanade PILAR (outside).

David Bade – Rotiferen springen in de bres Deel 2 (Rotifers jump into the breach Part 2) – 2022, installation, diverse techniques.  First floor PILAR (inside).

Go to his website

Dara BIRNBAUM

Technology/ Transformation: Wonder Woman

1978, video, colour, 7 minutes, in loop – Collection S.M.A.K., Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent.

Gerlando INFUSO

Eternal – 2022, video, colour, 5 minutes 30 seconds, in loop | 2022, drawings with sand and glitter.

Go to his website

Ophélie LHUIRE

Evolution Game – 2020 – 2022, 54 card deck, digital tricolor printing – 24 drawings, felt-tip pen, 2021-2022.

Ir. Richard Coos

Scientific movie – 2020, 10 minutes 38 seconds, colour

 

Natasha PAPADOPOULOU in collaboration with Yiannis LOUKOS

Dis~ease – Fight the Virus – 2022, installation with rotifers, celery juice and sound, 7 minutes, 59 seconds, in loop.

OHME and AIKO DESIGN in collaboration with Prof. Karine Van Doninck and her research group

Untitled – 2022, installation, diverse materials

SEADS

Ēngines of Ēternity – 2019-ongoing, installation, mixed media (photos, prints, drawing, 3D prints, objects, video).

Go to the website

Caroline VINCART

Cycles & Variations – 2022, photo series, digital inkjet prints.

S. Brutout, K. Debroek, J. Domingo  en J. Hero (Serendy Picture at Haute Ecole Albert Jacquard)

Project RISE – Rotifer in SpacE – 2020, video, 4 minutes 40 seconds, colour

CONCERTS, PERFORMANCES, TALKS AND LECTURES

4th of May 2022 – Reymour

The duo, Lou Savary and Luc Bersier, recently packed their bags in the Swiss Alps to start a new life in Brussels. Their debut album Leviosa (Knekelhuis, 2021) contains chansons, synthpop and cute minimal wave. Reymour’s broad musical spectrum is unctuous yet curious and plays on a wide range of feelings and doubts, drenched in a playful melancholy.

4th of May 2022 – SEADS

Ēngines of Ēternity live performance

The SEADS collective will bring an audiovisual live performance based on their Ēngines of Ēternity art installation on display in the exhibition. Different members of the collective will jointly mine and remix the vast archive of visuals and research materials of the project. The collective will employ an improvisation and live coding approach, spawning ever-shifting meaning, in line with the conceptual themes of the Ēngines of Ēternity project.

11th of May 2022 – Lecture by artist Koen Vanmechelen followed by a conversation with Karine Van Doninck

Talk on transdisciplinarity.

19th of May 2022 – Geburtshelfer

3 men on a chaotic sound mission to asgardian space.

19th of May 2022 – Vica Pacheco

Ana Victoria or Vica Pacheco was born in Oaxaca (Mexico) and moved to Brussels a few years ago. Her work as an artist and her music is eclectic and energetic. She likes to arrange the most heterogeneous or dangerous elements together. It may proliferate!

19 May 2022 – Tujiko Noriko

Tujiko Noriko is a multi-talented artist: composer, singer-songwriter, graphic designer and filmmaker in one person. Graceful, elegant and melancholic. Her avant-garde pop has appeared on class labels such as Mego, Tomlab, FatCat Records and PAN Records. This evening Tujiko Noriko will perform a dance concert that aims to make everyone smile.

19th of May 2022 – DJ Alfred Anders

Collector, curator, connector, risk taker: Alfred Anders is an artery of the Brussels music scene. Like a researcher, the founder of Crevette Records, passionately digs up hidden unknown gems. They move, intrigue and above all incite you to dance.

19 May 2022 – DJ Klakke

DJ Klakke runs Knotwilg records, a coastal label that acts as a personal portal to accessible experimental music, regardless of genre. This walking music encyclopedia brings a festive set that sounds like a fallen record cabinet, swinging between Boney M and John Cage.

SUPPORT THE PROJECT

Help us by funding the Art & Science project!

JOIN THE ROTIFER-B SPACE MISSIONS!

In order to finance the Art & Science exhibition, the project team is looking for partners willing to support the international artists this event will mobilize.  Any funds raised via patronage and sponsorship will be entirely allocated to the exhibition.

Whether as a business or as an individual, you can contribute to this initiative to make the arts and the sciences shine both in Belgium and internationally.

By supporting this project, you will raise awareness among children, teenagers and the general public for research, the sciences, and technological innovation in Belgium.

VISIBILITY AND RETURNS

In return for your support, and according to the level of your participation, we offer a win-win partnership delivering high visibility and a strong media impact to both a Belgian and an international public.

Sponsorship costs, which are subject to VAT, are tax deductible as business expenses. Private donations are tax deductible in Belgium and entitle you to a 45 % tax discount.

Go to the sponsorship page