In the context of multiple global crisis’s, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, growing political populism and political instabilities, new scientific insights often demand fast action by politics and society, for example to prevent biodiversity loss or avoid tipping points as part of the climate crisis. Due to these urgencies and the direct impact on human and non-human well-being values, emotions and feelings are not so easily separable from science anymore. As a result, science, politics and activism have moved closer to each other. This is where we think the arts come in: Artist together with scientist can make emotional aspects more visible, they can trigger empathy and draw attention to human-non-human interactions. The arts also help make science more tangible by visualizing processes, technical tools, different time scales, and layers of observation in the arts and sciences. Lastly, they can inspire new methods and approaches and open up spaces for a critical dialogue.

Art-science collaborations have long been established at Eawag (and WSL). Yet only a few are institutionally formalized and receive institution-wide attention. However, we with a special interest in these transformations, have experienced that there are many more (often informal) collaborations going on at Eawag (and WSL). The lack of visibility and exchange around these initiatives is our starting point to organize this one-day symposium with exhibition.
Our goals are threefold: firstly, to give these collaborations a platform and make them visible (exhibition at ZHdK); secondly, to create a space for exchange with the leading questions of (i) where does the motivation to engage in such come, (ii) what do they facilitate, and (iii) what are the main challenges (tandem presentations); and third, to offer a discussion on how to work across disciplines, in particular art-science, and on how to engage at science-policy interfaces (workshops).

Participation: free of charge, registration required
Registration

Beyond Communication