Culturing transnational dialogue for creative hybridity

Leonardo LASER Garden gathers our global network of artists, scientists, humanists and technologists together in a series of hybrid formats addressing the world’s most pressing issues. Animated by the theme of a “new digital deal” and grounded in the UN Sustainability Goals, Leonardo LASER Garden cultivates our values of equity and inclusion by elevating underrepresented voices in a wide-ranging exploration of global challenges, digital communities and placemaking, space, networks and systems, the digital divide – and the impact of interdisciplinary art, science and technology discourse and collaboration.

Dovetailing with the launch of LASER Linz, this asynchronous multi-platform garden will highlight the best of the Leonardo Network (spanning 47 cities worldwide) and our transdisciplinary community. In “Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Vision: Humanizing Digital Culture with the New Creativity Agenda & the UNSDGs,” Leonardo/ISAST CEO Diana Ayton-Shenker presents our vision for shaping our global future. This will be followed by a Leonardo Community Lounge open to the general public, with the goal of encouraging contributions to the cultural environments of different regions through transnational exchange and community building.

[Anti]disciplinary Topographies, Leonardo/ISAST (US), University of Art and Design Linz (AT), The LASER Hosts Global Network, Credits: Leonardo/ISAST @LASER Talks

[Anti]disciplinary Topographies, Leonardo/ISAST (US), University of Art and Design Linz (AT), The LASER Hosts Global Network, Credits: Leonardo/ISAST @LASER Talks

LASER Talks – Leonardo ISAST

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Performing New Infrastructures

LASER Cambridge (UK), LASER Fortaleza (BR), LASER Montreal (CA), LASER São Paulo (BR), LASER Toronto (CA), LASER Vienna (AT)

Co-creating experiences through sonic, visual, and embodied performance in the spaces between art, science, and technology, these performative acts undergird new infrastructures for the staging of critical discourse and playful experimentation.

Interbeing Between Complex Systems

LASER Helsinki/Espoo (FI), LASER Mexico (MX), LASER Totnes (UK), LASER Zurich (CH)

We are not alone on this planet, but part of a vast, complex web of species, agents, and other beings. What are our ethical responsibilities to the environment and to the multiplicity of living systems that comprise it? How can practitioners of art, science, and technology sustain these dynamic networks and evolve interspecies communication?

Architecting Global Communities

LASER Auckland (NZ), LASER New York City (US), LASER Nomad (DE), LASER Pasadena (US), LASER Rio de Janeiro (BR), LASER Santa Fe (MX), LASER St. Petersburg (RU)

Through interdisciplinary collaboration, transnational communication and planetary citizenship, how do we build stronger communities committed to social justice, elevating underrepresented voices, and bridging the digital divide?

Futurecasting

LASER Alberta (CA), LASER Tempe (US), Diana Ayton-Shenker, Leonardo/ISAST, CEO (US)

How can an art, science and technology practice foster unusual connections and creative problem solving? How do we design for change? Through interdisciplinary collaboration, how do we engage in acts of speculative design and envision possible futures?

Proximal Fields

Joel Ong (CA), Elaine Whittaker (CA), Nina Czegledy (CA), Roberta Buiani (CA), Kavi (LV/CA), this event is organised by LASER Toronto (CA)

The Fields Institute was closed to the public for a long time, but it has not been empty. Peculiar sounds and intriguing silences, the flows of the few individuals and janitors occasionally visiting the building made it surprisingly lively. Microorganisms, dust specs and other invisible guests populated the space undisturbed while the humans were away. The building is alive, and the artists created site-specific installations to reflect this condition.

Urgent Since a Long Time Now

Luca Forcucci (CH/IT)

The power of the voice (s) allied with poetry and (deep) listening are perhaps ways to deal with urgent terrestrial and human problems caused to the biosphere, which have been urgent for a long time now. The work is a sonic collage, like a surrealist poem based on podcasts conducted since 2018.

Extraordinary Times Call for Extraordinary Vision

Diana Ayton-Shenker, Leonardo/ISAST, CEO: ASU-Leonardo, Executive Director (US)

The rapid digitization of human culture intensifies the urgency for a corollary to humanize digital culture. Humanizing digital culture is critical to advance a New Creative Agenda and apply a creativity lens that augments and accelerates regeneration with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Microbes Performing in Zoom

Klaus Spiess (AT), Lucie Strecker (DE)

There is not only a decline in linguistic and phonetic diversity but also in the diversity of the microbiomes. Both the monopolisation of languages and the spatial distancing in digital communication exacerbate this decline. Spiess&Strecker’s performance counteracts the simultaneous decline of microbial and linguistic diversity by presenting a vision of language as an ecological process.

Gloves Off: A Performative Debate about DIY Labs and Citizen Science

Ellen Levy (US), Patricia Olynyk (US), Piroska Kopar (US), Alex Pearlman (US), Jill Scott (AU/CH), Siddharth Ramakrishnan (US), Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky (US)

Who can and should produce scientific knowledge, and where should it be produced? This performative debate explores whether science should be only in the hands of “experts.”

YOUR HEALTH – Wild Plants, Cultivated Plants or In-vitro Plants

Jill Scott (AU/CH), Katja Cankar (NL), Marille Hahne (CH), Ingrid van der Meer (NL), Joanna Hoffman (PL/DE), Suvi Hakkinen (FI)

This LASER ZURICH event constitutes an immersive presentation by six researchers in four parts. They focus on how and why the production of our food will change in the future to incorporate the concepts of wild plants, cultivated plants and in-vitro plants.

The Garden Gazebo, LASER Linz

Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (AT), Monica Gagliano (AS), Martin Pfosser (AT), Gabriele Winkler (AT), Christa Sommerer (AT), Diana Ayton-Shenker (US), Fabricio Lamoncha (ES), Christiana Kazakou (GR/UK)

In September 2021, Linz is joining the Leonardo Art & Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) network. This international program brings together artists, scientists, scholars and the general public for inspiring presentations and conversations.

Credits

Leonardo/ISAST & the Global Network of LASER Hosts in partnership with the Interface Culture Department, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design Linz

Organizing Committee:

Christiana Kazakou, Leonardo LASER Program Lead  (UK/GR)
Vanessa Chang, Leonardo Senior Program Manager (US/SG/AU)
Tami Spector – Leonardo LASER Committee Co-Chair (US)
Alan Boldon – Leonardo LASER Committee Co-Chair (UK)
Nina Czegledy – Leonardo LASER Committee (CA)
Piero Scaruffi – Leonardo LASER Committee (US)
JD Talasek – Leonardo LASER Committee (US)

Participating LASER Hosts:

LASER Alberta (CA)
LASER Auckland (NZ)
LASER Cambridge (UK)
LASER Fortaleza (BR)
LASER Helsinki/Espoo (FI)
LASER Linz (AT)
LASER Mexico (MX)
LASER Montreal (CA)
LASER Nomad (DE)
LASER New York City (US)
LASER Pasadena (US)
LASER Rio de Janeiro (BR)
LASER Santa Fe (MX)
LASER São Paulo (BR)
LASER St. Petersburg(RU)
LASER Tempe (US)
LASER Toronto (CA)
LASER Totnes (UK)
LASER Vienna (AT)
LASER Zurich (CH)

LASER Host Institutions & Partners:
ArtSci Salon (CA), The Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (CA), Medical University of Vienna (AT), University of Applied Arts Vienna (AT), CrossLab, University of Fortaleza (BR), Atelier Tania Fraga (BR), University of Cambridge (UK), Hexagram (CA), University of Bergen (NO), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (MX), Aalto University (FI), Dartington Hall Trust (UK), Life Science Zurich (CH), Wageningen University Research (NL), VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (FI), University of Zurich (CH), ETH Zurich (CH), Artists in Labs Program at the University of the Arts, ZHdK (CH), World Wildlife Fund Volunteers (CH), Art and Science Node (DE), CYLAND Media Art Lab (RU), Fulcrum Arts (US), ArtCenter College of Design/Williamson Gallery (US), Ubiquitous Lab (DE), AUT University (NZ), LevyArts (US), Washington University in St. Louis (US), Arizona State University (US), Biodesign Institute (US), Arizona Cancer Evolution Center (US), National Cancer Institute (US), University of Alberta (CA), Interface Culture Department, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design  Linz (AT), SciArt Santa Fe (MX), Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (BR), Helsinki Design Week (FI), Vienna Biennale for Change (AT), Evolutionary Ecology, Biological Intelligence Lab – Southern Cross University (AU), Biologiezentrum O.Ö Landeskultur G.m.b.H. (AT), Leisenhof Gärtnerei (AT)

For a full list of our international LASER Hosts Network please see leonardo.info/laser-hosts/em>