A question-led reflection on the future of Art Science, an emergent term slicing through the blurry intersection connecting creativity and questions, its researchers and their research. What are the emerging trends in funding, spaces, institutions and opportunities? Which projects, ideas, and practitioners are reframing and addressing complex issues of social and scientific significance, and where do we find shifts in education?
Oribotics - Photo: Matthew Gardiner
Panel Discussion
Future of Art Science Research
Asako Tomura (JP), Matthew Gardiner (AT/AU), Yasuaki Kakehi (JP), Yitong Tseo (US), Victoria Vesna (US)
POSTCITY, First Floor, Ars Electronica Lounge
Sat 6. Sep 2025
13:30
–
14:30
Language //
EN
Ticket //
FREE / No Ticket
Chapter 3 Machines / Robots & Tangibles - Photo: Tom Mesic
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Photo: Asako Tomura
Asako Tomura
Asako Tomura is Principal Researcher at Sony HQ's Technology Strategy Division, focusing on advanced content, entertainment tech, and sustainability. She launched digital content at Sony Pictures/Aniplex, later leading CSR Innovation with UN/NGO-linked projects. She has been Planning Director for Ars Electronica 2021 Garden Tokyo, jury for STARTS Prize (2022, 2025) and SIGGRAPH Asia (2024, 2025), advisor to Japan’s Media Arts project (2017–2025), and Visiting Researcher at the Univ. of Tokyo.
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Photo: Florian Voggenger
Matthew Gardiner
Matthew Gardiner’s artistic practice flows between digital and physical mediums, playing in the in-between. Sometimes experiments lead to the digitalisation of material phenomena and sometimes to the fabrication and programming of materials. The intersections, and emergent properties of the new object, field or device often reveal new inspirations and unexpected questions. Gardiner is currently Ars Electronica Futurelab’s Head of Art Science Research Strategies.
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Photo: Yasuaki Kakehi
Yasuaki Kakehi
Yasuaki Kakehi is a media artist, HCI researcher, and professor at the University of Tokyo. His work spans interactive media engineering, material science, media art, and design, with exhibitions at Ars Electronica Festival, YCAM, ICC, and LVMH Métiers d’Art La Main. He has received accolades including an Honorable Mention at the STARTS Prize 2022.
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Photo: Thanh Nha Nguyen
Yitong Tseo
Yitong Tseo is a scientist and bio-artist at MIT researching the frontiers of material, artificial, and biological intelligence. When it comes to the questions modern science cannot yet pose, they turn to art as their laboratory. Across disciplines, their work seeks to bridge Gaia’s disparate enclaves—bringing Gaia closer to herself. In summer 2025, they join the visionary team at Ars Electronica’s Futurelab as a visiting scientist, collaborating to cultivate new forms of inquiry.
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Photo: Richard Ross
Victoria Vesna
Victoria Vesna, Ph.D., founder and director of the UCLA Art|Sci Center, is an artist whose installations span micro to macro scales, exploring how scientific innovations shape perception and identity. Exhibited internationally in major museums and festivals, she collaborates with scientists and composers and brings this experience to her students. She redefined STEAM as Science, Technology, Ecology, Arts, and Mindfulness and is at work on her upcoming book Vibrations Matter (Routledge, 2026).