Presentation of KAUST Artists in Residence Program Project
Wednesday, October 5
6:00 p.m.
Seaview area, Level 2, University Library
Three-month art and science collaboration on the ecology of the Red Sea
The artists-in-labs program facilitates artistic research by way of long-term residencies for artists in scientific laboratories and research institutes. The program offers sustainable collaborations between artists and scientists of all disciplines, not just in Switzerland but all around the world, therefore promoting a culture of creative exchange.
Swiss artists, Marie Griesmar and Sandra Kühne successfully applied for the artists-in-labs residency at KAUST. They are going to work on their art projects within KAUST research groups from mid-September until mid-December, 2016.
Griesmar’s project at KAUST will investigate the aesthetics of underwater ecological constructions in the Red Sea. She will be part of the research group of the Professor Christian Voolstra’s Reef Genomics Lab at the Red Sea Research Center. Kühne will focus on the Red Sea coral reefs during her artists-in-labs residency at Professor Burton Jones’ Integrated Ocean Processes Lab at the Red Sea Research Center, she will look for ways to show themes of interaction, balance and symbiosis through her art.
These interdisciplinary residencies and cross-border collaborations enable the artists to explore the laboratory as site, to investigate the scientific topics, methods and technologies, as well as to probe and extend experimental and aesthetic dimensions beyond cultural and geographical boundaries. The nature of the residencies is process-based and adaptable according to the artistic and scientific research and development as well as the pragmatic necessities of the artists-in-labs research group.
The artists-in-labs program has been running since 2003 and is part of the Institute for Cultural Studies in the Arts (ICS) at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The KAUST Residence Exchange 2016 is a cooperation between the KAUST, Pro Helvetia and the artists-in-labs program.