Art Science Research is a natural part of most projects in the Ars Electronica Futurelab. We combine scientific concepts, methodologies, and technologies with artistic exploration and innovative viewpoints – seeking future questions and new knowledge.
Art Science Research Domains:
Our interdisciplinary team consists of members with an artistic as well as a scientific background, of tech experts, coders, and many more specialists. Bringing all this expertise together, we research a wide array of subjects like future narratives and futures fluency, creative artificial intelligence and drone swarms, virtual and mixed reality as well as co-immersive spaces, sustainable innovation and industry 5.0, genetics and robotics – and much more.
Our research outcomes are disseminated in diverse forms, including patents, academic publications, our Art Thinking method, education and curriculum toolkits, software and hardware developments. The majority of our works engage the public through artworks and exhibitions, as part of our dissemination strategy that leverages the Ars Electronica network, especially the Ars Electronica Festival and Ars Electronica Center.
Key Research
Where our Art Science Research domains frame the big picture, our Key Research topics dive into specific expressions, questions, and discourses. Our Key Researchers set and lead these topics with their individual perspectives and motivations, to explore and transform new artistic spaces and to conquer unknown scientific terrain. The research topics are a mirror not only of current societal changes but also reflect the Ars Electronica Futurelab’s team members’ research interests.
photo: Markus Schneeberger
Art Science Research Strategy
Art Science Research is provocatively positioned at the point of tension between humanity’s most critical discourses; art as the zenith of human expression and meaning, and science as the ever-shifting frontier of human knowledge. The subjectivity of art creates tension with the objectivity of science, and vice versa. The Futurelab thrives in such tension and constantly challenges itself to engage the future through questions and new models for framing these questions.
Our strategic research domains are like comets, ideas packed densely and traveling with velocity through the frontier topics of society. Collectively, they are interconnected with themes emerging from our archive of projects and our cluster of Key Researchers and their individual topics. Our research domains aim to frame the complex clusters of questions that will shape future society. These domains are in constant flux, we expect them to change, mutate, and evolve. Unexpected innovations aren’t found by looking in ordinary places, so our strategy is to find new and emerging intersections as a springboard for our creative questions.
