Artists in the Labs

A public lecture by Dr Jill Scott, Zurich University of the Arts

Date: Wednesday 28 March 2012

Time: 6pm

Location: Webb Lecture Theatre, Geography Building, UWA

The nearest carparks are P18 and P19 off Fairway Entrance 1.

Cost: Free, no RSVP required.

The Artists-in-Labs Program, based in Zurich Switzerland, started as a pilot project in 2003 to place artists into Swiss scientific research environments. The program examines current debates and discourses that can help art and science gain a closer understanding of each other.

Jill Scott will discuss the work of artists based in the artists-in-lab program and their collaborating research centres, as well as her own projects, “The Electric Retina” and “Dermaland”. These projects, research directives and residencies are designed to inspire artists to create new works of complexity and address the relevant issues about scientific discovery for society. She will also discuss the ways in which scientists in the program are exploring more creative contemporary art approaches to the experimentation, interpretation and communication of their research.

Jill Scott was born in Melbourne and has been working and living in Switzerland since 2003. She is Professor for Research in the Institute of Cultural Studies in Art, Media and Design at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZhdK) and Co-Director of the Artists-in-Labs Program (a collaboration with the Ministry for Culture, Switzerland), which places artists from all disciplines into physics, computer, engineering and life science labs to learn about scientific research and make creative interpretations. She is also Vice Director of the Z-Node PHD program on art and science at the University of Plymouth, UK-a program with 16 international research candidates.

Her recent publications include: Artists-in-labs Processes of Inquiry (2006 Springer/Vienna/New York) and Coded Characters Hatje Cantz (2002, Ed. Marille Hahne). She was awarded a PhD from the University of Wales (UK) and has a MA from the University of San Francisco, as well as a Degree in Education (University of Melbourne) and a Degree in Art and Design (Victoria College of the Arts). Since 1975 she has exhibited many video artworks, conceptual performances and interactive environments in USA, Japan, Australia and Europe. Her most recent works involve the construction of interactive media and electronic sculptures based on studies she has conducted in neuroscience- particularly the somatic sensory system artificial skin (e-skin) 2003-2007 and on neuro-retinal behaviour in relation to human eye disease (“The Electric Retina”, 2008) and (“Dermaland”, 2009).

This lecture is part of ‘Semipermeable’ – a public lecture series sponsored by SymbioticA and the Institute of Advanced Studies at UWA.