‘The Art-Science Symbiosis’ book outlines new approaches to understand current scientific practice in general and art-science in particular, showcasing how contemporary art can provide a unique perspective on the meaning and potential of collaboration. The book explores the different scopes of the art- science practice and 22 art-science works from all over the world, including interviews and descriptions by the same art-scientists.
The MA Art and Science at University of Arts, London is a pioneering course that explores the creative relationships at the intersection of art and science in their broadest forms, examined through an evolving interdisciplinary practice. The MA Art and Science Post-Graduate final show took place on 25th-30th June 2024. Subjects explored include, among other things, biodiversity, ecology and environments; feminism, body transformation and cyberpunk art; cosmologies; biosonification; explorations of identity and extensions of self; interspecies communication; fashion and installation art.
The Francis Crick Institute, London has opened a new exhibition about the brain – the most complex and least understood part of the body – and the journey to map its intricate connections.
Hello Brain! explores the brain’s ‘connectome’: how trillions of connections between billions of cells – more than there are stars in the sky – shape our thoughts, behaviours and experiences. Crick scientists are aiming to understand how these connections impact how different species, including humans, interact with each other and the world.
Dr Robert Cockcroft is an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University. Dr Cockcroft became a faculty member at McMaster in 2020. He completed his undergraduate degree in astrophysics at University College London (UK) and earned his Masters and PhD also in astrophysics at McMaster. He held postdoctoral positions in ancient Eygptian astronomy working with Dr Sarah Symons, and pedagogical research at the MacPherson Institute (then MIIETL). In 2016, he was hired by Western University as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and as one of the two core faculty members in the then-new Western’s Integrated Science Program (WISc), before ultimately returning to McMaster. Dr Cockcroft’s current work focuses on science education, literacy, and communicating science to the general public.
Dr. Sarah Symons is a Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Science, McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Her research in history of astronomy concentrates on interpreting astronomical texts and instruments from ancient Egypt and investigating how the night sky was perceived, explained, and depicted. She is the editor of the ancient Egyptian astronomy database, an online resource for scholars, and co-edited Down to the Hour: Short Time in the Ancient Mediterranean with Kassandra Jackson Miller in 2019.
John Moat was a writer and an artist whose work is a living embodiment of the search for integration and balance. In 1968, with John Fairfax, he founded what has become the country’s foremost creative writing centre, Arvon. He has taught creative writing to people of all ages, from university to primary school, alcoholics to children in care.
Francesca Ferrando’s forthcoming book, ‘THE ART OF BEING POSTHUMAN’, offers a comprehensive reflection on the existential condition of the 21st century. A visionary introduction to existential posthumanism, it takes the form of eight meditations of posthuman self-inquiry.
Lisa Poncet is Doctorante en neuroéthologie, Université de Caen Normandie.
“Après un master en écologie, éthologie et écophysiologie, où j’ai travaillé sur le comportement d’animaux très variés (chiens, crapauds accoucheurs, chouettes effraies, corbeaux freux …), j’ai débuté un doctorat en neuroéthologie. Depuis 2 ans, j’étudie des animaux très particuliers : les seiches communes et les poulpes communs. Je cherche à mieux comprendre leur mémoire et leur capacité à planifier le futur, et à améliorer nos connaissances sur l’origine et l’évolution de ces facultés.”
Charlie Durant is a PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester.
“I study the microbial ecology of these ant-phage-bacteria communities by studying their entire genetic content, or metagenome. I hope to find out whether bacteriophage are important in shaping the communities of bacteria that live with ants.”
Max John is a PhD Candidate, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester, University of Leicester.
“I am studying the genomics of social organisation, focusing on the genomic basis of polymorphic social organisation in ants. Specifically, I am investigating the evolution of “social chromosomes”, which function similarly to sex chromosomes but control the number of reproductive queens in ant colonies.”
Rob Hammond is a Lecturer, Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, University of Leicester.
“My research focuses on the evolution of complex traits. I am interested in the organization of social insect societies with projects on the genetic changes underlying differences in social organisation, how social traits influence the genome, and the diversity and role of bacteriophages in social insect nests.
Science photographer Felice Frankel is a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the department of Chemical Engineering with additional support from Mechanical Engineering. She joined MIT in 1994.
Frankel is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. She was previously a Senior Research Fellow in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in the Initiative for Innovative Computing (IIC), and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Medical School’s Department of Systems Biology.
Joanna Mendelssohn is Honorary (Senior Fellow) School of Culture and Communication University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne. Her first book was the seminal study on Sydney Long (1979). This was followed by a series of studies on Lionel Lindsay. Her most recent book, co-authored with Catherine De Lorenzo, Alison Inglis and Catherine Speck, is Australian Art Exhibitions: Opening our eyes, (T&H 2018). This project is the culmination of an ARC Linkage Project with UNSW, University of Melbourne and University of Adelaide in partnership with the National Gallery of Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Art Gallery of South Australia and Museums Australia.