International Symmetry Foundation, ISIS-Symmetry
Institute for Research Organisation, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
UNESCO-ICSU World Conference on Science Satellite Art Programs

 

 

Science in the Arts - Art in the Sciences

June - July, 1999, Budapest, Hungary

Satellite art program series accompanying the
UNESCO-ICSU World Conference on Science
Science for the Twenty-First Century: A New Commitment

under the patronage of - among other high officials -

the president of the Republic of Hungary, Árpád Göncz

to be held in Budapest, Hungary,
26 June - 1 July 1999

 

 

INVITATION

Background

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in joint with the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) organise the first World Conference on Science in Budapest, 1999. Thousands of scientists and science policy makers will gather in Budapest from almost all countries of the world. The government of Hungary guaranteed to host the meeting, and asked the president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to form the local Organising Committee of the preparations. The presidium of the Academy turned to the public and asked in a Manifesto for the augmentation of the event's solemnity with satellite cultural programs what draw the world's attention to the arts related to science.

Organisers

The Institute for Research Organisation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (http://www.mta.hu/admin.html) and the International Symmetry Foundation (http://members.tripod.com/~modularity/isis4.htm) jointly took the responsibility to co-ordinate a program series what emphasises the interrelations of the sciences and the arts.

in co-operation with

The list of local co-organisers include the Palace of Art (http://www.mucsarnok.hu/en/default.html) in Budapest, the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (http://www.arts7.hu/), the Hungarian Academy of Craft and Design (http://www.mif.hu/index_e.htm), the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest (http://origo.hnm.hu/bud1.html#SZM), the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts (http://www.mta.hu/szima.html), and the C3 Center for Culture & Communication (http://www.c3.hu/).

Aims

Let us make the convention of scientists also a fest of the arts. The programs should introduce overlappings of the human creativity on the boundaries of the arts and the sciences, works of artists engaged in science, and of scientists active also in the arts. They will fit in the series having been launched by the International Symmetry Foundation with the Ars (Dis)Symmetrica exhibitions. The organisers would like to establish the tradition of the science-art program series and to widen the scope from the concept of (dis)symmetry to other phenomena paving the bridges between the arts and the sciences. Over symmetry, historically such a bridging role was played in the arts - among others - by perspective. Therefore, the concept of the perspective and the related specialised exhibition (curator L. Beke) in the Palace of Art will be in the centre of the full program series. The project intends to emphasise the unity of human culture, the equal role of the arts and the sciences, the unity of the human creativity produced either by the dominance of the left hemisphere of the brain (rationality, science) or by the right one (impression, arts).

The program series will include: Exhibitions - Symposia - Concert

Scope

The title of the events expresses that they are organised on the occasion of the World Conference on Science. The exhibitions will be in the focus of the program series. The general title of the events means a stipulation for the invited artists to avoid becoming the exhibitions shoreless. At the same time it is wide enough to enrich - by the means of arts - the interdisciplinary ideas to be discussed at the 2nd Forum of the World Conference: The Interactions of Science. The exhibitions have to present a picture of the main tendencies of the science-related arts in the nineties, and to give a perspective ahead to the art of the 21st century. There will be preferred new artworks to be created just for this occasion.

Concept

In accordance with the main title and the aims of the event, there are welcome works which exemplify how science and arts mutually fertilised each other and catalysed processes in each other's domain. (The best known examples are the discoveries of the quasicrystals and the fullerenes in the history of art and science in the recent two decades, and there are several examples when artworks were created inspired by scientific discoveries of the 20th century.)

The two concerned branches of culture enriched each other not only thematically, but also methodologically, by the means of modern technology. This encourages to display - besides the artworks created by the means of scientific instruments, methods - also the products of design made by the latest technology. Creations of scientists, like models of artistic value, etc. are also expected, which indicate how an association of thoughts in the arts effected the birth of scientific achievements.

There are no stipulations concerning the artistic forms: two and three dimensional, static and dynamic objects, traditional (e.g., oil on canvas) and virtual, electronic (e.g., computer, video) works can all be submitted.

Subjects

Within the framework of the mentioned aspects, the following kinds of works are expected:

- Artworks, inspired by scientific ideas

- Artistic representation of a scientific achievement, especially those inspired by works of art

- Representation (by means of art) of any scientific discovery inspired by an idea born in another discipline

- Artistic representation of any conception what can inspire the birth of a new scientific idea

- Works introducing the appearance and representation of the concept of perspective in the different branches, and all kinds of arts (from painting to the architectural representation, from sculptural space formation to the virtual reality of computers)

- Works representing interactions of arts and science.

Topics

The above subject fields include - among others - the following specialised topics to be exhibited in separate sections:

- Perspective - in science and art

- Symmetry-dissymmetry

- Geometry and design, surface and space structures

- Concepts of dimensionality (incl., one-sided surfaces, e.g., Möbius strips, virtual spaces, etc.)

- New materials and new means

- Transformations

- Models of natural objects

Specialised exhibitions:

- Perspective
- Science in the Arts - Art in the Sciences
- Ars (Dis)Symmetrica '99
- The Limits of Arts
- On the Threshold of the New Millennium
- One-sided Surfaces

Invitation

Participation in the exhibitions is the privilege of invited artists. You are encouraged to propose other colleagues to be invited. Nevertheless, in these cases the curators and the Organising Committee keep the right to jury, and accept or reject the submitted works.

Curators:

The local curators of the exhibitions:

László Beke, Péter Fitz, Miklós Peternák

The local Organising Committee:

Márton Tolnai (chairman, Director, Institute for Research Organisation, Hungarian Academy of Sciences), György Darvas (member of the UNESCO-ICSU World Conference on Science Program Committee), Ildikó Gimesiné Berencz (Hungarian Academy of Craft and Design), Anikó Kovács (Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts), Frigyes König (Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts), Katalin Papp (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest), Antal Vásárhelyi (painter).

International organisation:

György Darvas (chairman of the International Organising Committee, Secretary General, International Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Symmetry)

Foreign curators:

Liz Ashburn (Sydney, Australia), Douglas Dunham (Duluth, MN, U.S.A.), Lorand Hegyi (Vienna, Austria), Fré Ilgen (Engwierum, The Netherlands), Itsuo Sakane (Ogaki, Japan), Emanuel Dimas de Melo Pimenta (Lisbon, Portugal), Caspar Schwabe (Zürich, Switzerland), John Sims (Sarasota, FL, U.S.A.)

Exhibition Halls

in Budapest, along the axis of the Andrássy Street (starting from the Danube bank, ending at the Heroes' Square):

Palace of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( http://www.mta.hu/palace.html)

Ernst Museum (http://www.mucsarnok.hu/en/kiallitasok.asp)

Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (http://www.arts7.hu/)

Museum of Fine Arts (http://origo.hnm.hu/bud1.html#SZM)

Palace of Arts (http://www.mucsarnok.hu/en/default.html)

Depending on the interest, there will be further satellite exhibitions (e.g., in foreign cultural institutions in Budapest).

Publication:

All works to be exhibited will be published prior to the opening ceremony.
The catalogue will introduce all participating artists, and their works to be displayed.
All works will be presented simultaneously on the Internet.

Deadlines:

Submission of the documentation of the proposed works: 16 March 1999

Notification of the acceptance of the proposals: 30 April 1999

Submission of the original works for the exhibitions: 7 June 1999

Opening of the exhibitions: 23-30 June 1999

Closing of the exhibitions: end of July 1999

Address for correspondence:

Documentation should be received by the Organising Committee at least on the day of the deadline at the following address:

Science in the Arts - Art in the Sciences
Organising Committee
c/o György Darvas, MTA KSZI,
18 Nádor St., Budapest,
H-1051 Hungary,

Postal address:

P.O. Box 994, Budapest,
H-1245 Hungary

E-mail:
darvasg@helka.iif.hu
Phone: (361) 331-3975, (361) 312-3022
Fax: (361) 331-3161

Requirements

All artists are requested to submit the following documentation for the preparation of the catalogue:

The data of the artists:

Name (Mr/Ms, Family, Given, Middle)

Year and place of birth

Current address(es)

Contact address (if different), Phone, Fax, E-mail, Home-page (if any)

Present position

Biographic data

Education

Affiliations

Main individual exhibitions

Main collective exhibitions

Permanently exhibited works in public collections, public areas

Publications by her/him

Publications, catalogues on her/him

Awards, Honors, Grants

In all categories only the most important items should be listed. Only the preferred categories should be filled, others can be omitted. The full text cannot exceed 2000 characters.

The data of the works to be exhibited:

Title of the work, (in original language and English),

Year

Size/dimensions (depth/width/height),

Weight

Material,

Medium of print, Technique

Colour reproduction of the works to be exhibited, in the form suitable to be printed in the catalogue (preferred both on slide (or paper) and in electronic version)

All the listed documentation is preferred to be submitted both on hard copy and electronic (floppy diskette, e-mailed) versions.