collaborations between artists and
scientists I will talk why they should
take place and how they work and as I’m
an organizational researcher by training
I will talk to you about this from an
organizational studies Lance so if there
are some question marks now I can
reassure you that’s totally normal so I
think by now my parents and some of my
dearest friends don’t know what it’s
exactly is what I’m making my living off
and what it’s exactly good for but I
accept the challenge and take this
opportunity to make an explanation so
shortly it’s very simple I help artists
and scientists to collaborate and to
learn from each other to reach their
shared goals they individually approach
through our science
so these shared goals are very complex
topics so we talked here about things
like climate change antibiotic
resistance or the secrets of our
universe so it seems a no-brainer
artists and scientists people from very
different backgrounds with different
knowledge and skills have to collaborate
so that we know that we get a better
knowledge about this so that we
understand these topics and sometimes
it’s just the effect of having
interesting conversations
confrontational discussions and having
fun that leaves three greatest outcomes
so why exactly are in science so artists
and scientists are both creative
individuals they want to push the
boundaries of our knowledge they want to
push these topics that are so important
first as society and as individuals so
love less they do this without or
science so it seems completely far apart
thinking about arts most people think
about paintings drawings
music occurs to some and something about
me at Connecticut so that’s all what
we’re talking about we also talk about
poetry and other things like performance
and theater but these people creating
these artworks live in a certain
environment so they don’t have this
normal a nine-to-five job others in an
office would experience and they have to
deal with this crazy art market where
many people earn clothes nothing and
others immense amounts of money but you
also know there’s a lot of skill and
training necessary that you can trade
such an important artwork so for example
if somebody would ask you to create a
Mona Lisa or to write an important tune
you certainly would say oh maybe that’s
not what I’m trained in and thinking
about training you also think about
science so you think about scientific
outcomes like the theory of relativity
where you also need a specific training
you also probably think about
laboratories microscopes and telescopes
and experiments being done and again you
think about these people creating this
amazing work that walk around in
laboratory coats do experiments think
about their data and have this special
training whether you know how to talk to
their peers and conferences to talk
about their outcomes and where they
interact in universities and
corporations with a scientific
department so I don’t want to push the
stereotypes too far but there are
certain differences between the routines
and organizational structures between
art and science that create a different
normal for these people so they have a
different understanding of what are
their goals their individuals goals what
they have to do to reach a certain
career goal and this is important when
it comes
the collaboration between artists and
scientists because normally when we
understand our world through our
practices routines and organizational
structures
this also frames how we would then ask
new questions with whom we would
collaborate in our next project and how
we would approach that but at the same
time we know that new experiences
openness and completely different views
can lead to the greatest outcomes and
what actually creates more exciting
experience than the collision of art and
science the clash of these two different
walls so what interests us now is how it
came to this or this so what we are
seeing here are artworks that came out
of this collaboration between artists
and scientists these are works the title
in topics like climate change new
technologies what can we do with them or
habitable planets outside of our solar
system so what I do here and what
happens in art science collaboration
processes is that artists and scientists
was there different normal get together
and have to to think about their issues
together from their different point of
views so these different point of views
come from their different perspectives
and these different perspectives
Namah training as organizational
researcher comes in quite handy are
analyzed through organizational studies
because organizational research asks how
do structures routines and purchases
frame our understanding of what is
normal to us and it’s for that it uses
tools and theories from fields like
psychology philosophy sociology called
for studies or an apology and now I want
to go to some concrete examples of that
so first of all we again have these
different structures these different
routines so these lead to different
career goals so scientists has to act
differently as an artist although they
want to reach maybe the same goal talk
about climate change so a scientist has
to work analytically on a very specific
topic whereas an artist can approach a
topic from a completely different way
they can draw from many different fields
and bring us together to make the field
or the topic experienceable
when we now talk about a collaboration
this mix can create an important step in
contextualization of the work being done
about thinking about implications of the
scientific work as an chemists told me
that this collaboration with the artist
helped him to understand his own work
differently because he works and does
something very specific he would not
have thought about the value for society
that his work brings with it so he now
understands there is a volume outside
the scientific community and this seems
like something very small but actually
it’s something really important because
this is has this creates meaning for the
scientists and it creates motivational
and inspirational aspects so it also
frames which next questions at which
next research questions are approached
and another example is that Earth
Science collaborations can help to
create a space to break free from
organizational structures so like in
this case here using an anthropological
term it creates a liminal space so it
creates a space where we are free to
experiment free from root
and peer pressure that allows us to
playfully work with what we have with
the tools and the technologies so that’s
what happened here too so that we just
created completely new devices another
important aspect are raising ethical
questions so artists getting in contact
and working with scientists can start to
raise these important questions about
how to read eel and what do we think of
our of our consumption of leather and
meat and what would you think about
about it if we grew it artificially and
then there is another communication
aspect I want to talk about it’s the
communication between different fields
of science but also with the public this
project deals with antibiotic resistance
it asks where is it coming from where
did it start in our society and can we
cut it out of our bacterial genome with
newest technological possibilities in
science and this is a very important
tool to talk between these disciplines
but also to communicate this with the
public there is one last example I want
to give from a theoretical perspective
and it’s on sense-making processes and
its connections to aesthetics we all
know that we make our sense of the world
through our senses we see it we feel it
we hear it and at the same time
scientists are supposed to be very
analytical very rational but they also
make sense of the world and of the data
together with their scientific tools
through their senses so they create a
very specific way to look at their data
but we also know that in in normal
understanding aesthetics is more
connected to art and that new aesthetic
experiences help us to create a complete
or to see the world in a complete
light so X mala gist once told me that
his engagement in music helped him to
see his data completely differently to
reinterpret it from a different point of
view to get a different feeling for it
which then helped him in his further
analysis so these are just a few
examples there are more more examples
with these different theoretical lenses
but also talking about other theoretical
lenses like social networking theory I
think again it looks like a no-brainer
if you have many different people coming
together different of different
information
you hate ins there’s the chance for
inspiration and new possibilities so
basic idea behind this is when we expand
what is normal for us through getting in
contact with people who have a
completely different environment and
live in a completely different normal we
are able to approach proper problems in
a completely different way maybe we are
able to solve them or even to pass them
by so in that sense as it has set the
environment for every project is
different so every project has its
different development but there are a
few things that are true for all of them
and these four things are time not to be
afraid
freedom and funding so first of course
you need time to engage in the others
normal to dive into this new world to
experience it and to to live and
investigate it but this willingness to
dive into this world and this new
experience also helps us to get over the
fear to cross these boundaries so don’t
be afraid don’t be afraid of the
scientific jargon you might be provided
with in a scientific discipline or with
complex context and
artwork might show you if you’re not
afraid you are able to dive into this
new world and to learn to learn about
the field but also to learn about
yourself and third you’ve got freedom so
freedom stands for it’s important for us
to be allowed to dive into this world
without fearing negative consequences in
our professional life or fearing
negative critique from our peers and
third funding so our science
collaborations can be quite costly
people need to take time they are
scientists and artists involved and
probably somebody who facilitates it in
helps and there’s materials needed and
experiments being done and of course as
it has said there is something happening
afterwards but it’s not for an
immediately scientifically or
economically valuable outcome so this
brings us to the third logics the third
logics of business and governments money
and taxes so you are all allowed to ask
why should I with my tax money fund such
an experimentation of artists and
scientists where we cannot say that we
immediately have a valuable outcome or
why should a corporation do this invest
in something that does not immediately
lead to something that can be sold or
that promises innovation in a certain
time frame so for that I can only say
some steps small steps can be planned
can be anticipated we can work towards
that but paradigm-shifting approaches
often came without announcement and as
science shows those people engaged in as
many fields as possible with an
experience in art and science as those
more likely to bring about such change
so if we want this we have to support it
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