Moderation: Christophe De Jaeger (BE)
Speakers: Tarek R. Besold (DE), Raoul Frese (NL), Beatrice de Gelder (NL), Frank Raes (BE)
Just as artists today are increasingly interested in science and technology, scientists and technologists are turning to the arts as a source of new perspectives and tools for communication. This trend requires new initiatives to establish better links between the worlds of art and science, as well as between cultural and research institutions. Through its Art&D labs, Gluon supports artist residencies in laboratories of companies, research institutes and universities. Through its Scientists in Residence programme, it encourages artists to open their studios to scientists and technologists. On the basis of their experiences in these programmes, the scientists of this panel will reflect on the following questions: To what extent can these interdisciplinary collaborations stimulate innovative ideas and projects of social relevance? What challenges do scientists have to face in working together with artists? And how can organizations help them achieve meaningful exchanges?
Biographies:
Moderation: Christophe De Jaeger (BE)
Christophe De Jaeger is director of Gluon, a Brussels-based platform that stimulates creative partnerships between artists, researchers and industrialists. He is also responsible for the program of media arts and the relation between arts and industry in the Center for Fine Arts, Brussels. On a freelance basis he curated exhibitions in Belgium and abroad (USA, China) with international media artists. Most recent international exhibitions were hosted by MAC – Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói in Rio de Janeiro in Brazilië (2013) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai (2009). Currently Christophe De Jaeger is working on a PhD at King’s College London where he researches the history and methodology of organizations stimulating collaborative practice with artists in the 1960s and 1970s.
Speakers:
Tarek R. Besold (DE)
Chief Behavioural Officer (CBO) at Alpha Health
Tarek R. Besold is acting Chief Behavioural Officer (CBO) at Alpha Health in Barcelona, as well as the chairman of the German Institute for Standardisation (DIN) NIA Working Committee on Artificial Intelligence (NA 042-01-42). Before taking on the role as CBO, Tarek was the AI Lead and a Senior Research Scientist in Alpha Health’s AI Lab, working at the intersection between artificial intelligence and cognitive systems. Prior to joining Telefonica Innovation Alpha in Barcelona, Tarek held a position as Lecturer in Data Science at City, University of London, following PhD studies at the Institute of Cognitive Science in Osnabrück, and work as a postdoctoral researcher at the KRDB Research Centre of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano and at the Digital Media Lab of the University of Bremen. Among others, Tarek was the General Chair of the HLAI 2016 Joint Multi-Conference on Human-Level Artificial Intelligence, and founder and/or organizer of several international workshop series bridging between AI and cognitive science. As part of Gluon’s Scientist in Residence Programme, Tarek Besold collaborated with filmmaker Manthia Diawara.
Raoul Frese (NL)
Assistant Professor Biophysics at VU Amsterdam & Director Hybrid Forms ArtScience media lab
Raoul Frese studied physics at the University of Amsterdam and received his PhD at the VU University Amsterdam, supervisor Rienk van Grondelle. After a postdoc at the Twente University (nanobiophysics), he received a young investigator grant from the Dutch science foundation (NWO-veni) to carry out his own research at the biophysics group at Leiden University. Frese became a research associate in the lab of Bob Niederman at Rutgers University (NJ, USA). After receiving an experienced investigator grant from NWO (Vidi) he and family returned to Amsterdam. At the VU University he has currently established his workgroup biohybrid solar cells where he and his team investigate the possibilities to interconnect photosynthetic materials to (semi-)conducting substrates for biosensors and solar energy harvesting. As part of Gluon’s Scientist in Residence Programme, Raoul Frese collaborated with filmmaker Manthia Diawara.
Beatrice de Gelder (NL)
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at Maastricht University
Beatrice de Gelder is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience in the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience at Maastricht University in Maastricht (NL) and a member of the Maastricht Brain Imaging Centre (M-BIC). She is visiting professor at UCL, Dept. of Computer Sciences (London, UK) and PI at the BISS Institute Brightlands Smart Services Campus. Prior to her current assignments, she was a Senior Scientist at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard University. She received a MA in Philosophy, a MA in Experimental Psychology and a PhD from Louvain University (B). Her current research focuses on face and body perception and multisensory integration and, recently, on the neuroscience of art. Her book on the “Emotions and the Body” has recently been published by Oxford University Press (2016). As part of Gluon’s Art&D Labs Beatrice de Gelder collaborated with artist Emmanuel Van der Auwera.
Frank Raes (BE)
Former Director of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Climate Change Unit
Formerly working at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, as Head of the Climate Change Unit (1999 – 2015). His scientific background is in atmospheric change and climate change. He obtained his PhD at the University of Ghent (B), and made post-doctoral research at UCLA, Los Angeles (USA). He was visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (USA) (2009) and teaches at the Bocconi University, Milan (I) (2005 – present). His research and that of his team supported the development of an integrated climate change and air quality EU policy. In 2013 he authored the book: “Air and Climate: conversations about molecules and planets, with humans in between”, including interviews with leading climate scientists. In 2015 he founded and curated JRC’s first art&science festival “RESONANCES” in Milano. He continues to give climate lectures for the broad public in Dutch, English and Italian, and consults for scientific and artistic organizations. In 2017 he founded the “Museum of Anthropocene Technology”, a cabinet of wonder to study our times. As part of Gluon’s Scientist in Residence Programme, Frank Raes collaborated with artist Jan De Cock.
