On 18 October 2024, artists and scientists gathered at the Universit\u00e9 libre de Bruxelles to explore the possibilities of ArtScience, \u2018a space for the co-construction, integration, and transformation of knowledge, practices and mindsets\u2019.<\/p>\n
In La Revue Nouvelle<\/em> (Belgium), Raoul Sommeillier, co-founder of the Brussels-based ArtScience organisation Ohme, explains that the approach emerged as a response to the \u2018systemic challenges of the twenty-first century\u2019 and the question of \u2018how to rebuild collective meaning in the face of the climate crisis, the fragmentation of knowledge, and the undermining of scientific discourse\u2019. These complex challenges will remain insurmountable unless we can imagine new ways of understanding and acting that break down the silos between natural sciences, the humanities and art.<\/p>\n According to Sommeillier\u2019s theory of \u2018domains of validity\u2019, \u2018all knowledge is partial and situated, \u2026 and the complexity of reality often cannot be grasped without the simultaneous use of multiple, sometimes counterintuitive or contradictory models\u2019.<\/p>\n The goal of Ohme\u2019s diverse transdisciplinary projects \u2013 which have included artist\u2019s residences, installations, performances, exhibitions and experimental classes \u2013 is \u2018not just to bring disciplines together, but to reconfigure frameworks, develop new methods, and create shared languages\u2019. If \u2018doubt, ignorance or discomfort are the foremost drivers of discovery,\u2019 then \u2018curiosity becomes an ethical disposition\u2019.<\/p>\n The objectification of patients has become normalized: Virginie de Wilde describes how new patients are admitted into hospital by scanning a barcode attached to their wrist. While the process is efficient and secure, the reduction of a person\u2019s identity to a barcode contradicts the ethos of care. The simple act of asking somebody\u2019s name turns the interaction between patient and carer into a genuine encounter between human beings. This connection that is being sacrificed on the altar of efficiency, writes de Wilde.<\/p>\n Les Veilleuses<\/em> is project honouring the \u2018silent gestures, discreet presences, and tiny but essential moments of attention that comprise the dignity of care\u2019 as a form of \u2018soft resistance\u2019 to the dominance of data and performance metrics in hospitals. Healthcare is structured by the drive for efficiency and speed, but complaints about \u2018lack of recognition,\u2019 \u2018loss of meaning\u2019 and \u2018dehumanization\u2019 are increasingly common in the language of medical professionals.<\/p>\n Les Veilleuses <\/em>attempts to counter this dehumanization by inviting artists into the hospital, \u2018not to decorate or beautify, but \u2026 to reveal what needs to be preserved and what may be being obscured or destroyed\u2019, writes de Wilde. The project is intended \u2018to offer carers an opportunity to bear witness to the intimacy of care through new mediums\u2019. Artworks inspired by encounters between carers and patients are displayed in exhibitions both within the hospital and outside it, giving visible form to the quiet, often invisible beauty of the act of care.<\/p>\n Another project brought to life by Ohme was an encounter between \u2018two specialist worlds, each operating in its own bubble but sharing the same vocabulary, references and passion\u2019. H\u00e9lo\u00efse Colrat, an artist who works with glass, and Alicia Van Ham-Meert, an archaeological scientist, joined forces on a mission to recreate a medieval glass mix found in the stained-glass windows at the Abbey of Stavelot, using only natural materials from the vicinity.<\/p>\n Through a process of trial and error, they perfected the mix, which was then used in a workshop where students fashioned glasses inspired by the \u2018trick glasses\u2019 of the Middle Ages. These curious creations, relying on \u2018physical laws like the siphon principle or air suction\u2019 to create surprising effects, once served to impress diners at medieval banquets.<\/p>\n Both came out of the project with a deeper understanding: Colrat gained valuable insight into the molecular nature of the material she uses every day in her workshop, while Van Ham-Meert\u2019s new awareness of the viscosity and plasticity of glass will inform her archaeological research into medieval glass-blowing techniques. But above all, the project was \u2018a human adventure that enriched its participants, taking them out of their comfort zones \u2026 and encouraging openness to other worlds and other people\u2019.<\/p>\n Fran\u00e7ois Foret approaches ArtScience as a \u2018symbolic, political, and cultural practice\u2019 that can shed light on the complex and often remote structures that shape our world \u2013 such as the EU. Both art and science seek to make sense of a world experiencing accelerated change, with traditional sources of authority and meaning in flux, argues Foret. \u2018More than just an accessory to science, art is its counterpart, or even competitor, both as a means of unveiling the world and as a response to the great metaphysical questions.\u2019 ArtScience emerges as an essential method of interrogation and imagination that can foster new modes of perception in a disoriented world.<\/p>\n The EU is particularly inaccessible to art, both because of its deliberate abstraction, as reflected in its functional architecture and the bland, non-specific motifs on its currency, and because of its distance from citizens\u2019 everyday lives. But it is precisely artistic practices that can step into this void, \u2018giving body to\u2019 a seemingly disembodied political structure.<\/p>\n Be it defence ministers taking inspiration from science fiction or researchers honing their skills in participatory theatre, the fusion of art and science can expand our horizons and reveal unexpected perspectives. Ultimately, the real question is not whether art and science are compatible, writes Foret, but \u2018how their union can help us imagine, transform, and create spaces where imagination once again becomes a political act\u2019.<\/p>\n Published in cooperation with CAIRN International Edition<\/a>, written by Cadenza Academic Translations<\/em>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mockup_La-Revue-Nouvelle-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\nArt and care<\/h2>\n
Arts and archaeology<\/h2>\n
Political imagination<\/h2>\n
![\"CAIRN](\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/logo_Cairn.jpg\"){kind=logo}
<\/p>\n