SPACE-EARTH-WATER TRIAD is the local Garden curated by PRISMA: Art, Science, Technology within the framework of Ars Electronica Festival 2020. This triad is a set of three main components of Chilean geography: Astronomy, Desert and Glaciers. The skies of our South-American country are considered by experts the best in the world to study astronomical phenomena. That is the reason why northern Chile hosts several sophisticated astronomical observatories, and Space Exploration constitutes a prominent scientific study field. North Chile is also well known for being the setting for the vast Atacama Desert –the driest desert around the globe–, which extends along the western edge of the Andes Mountains. In contrast with this brown, flat landscape, the southern part of the country owns giant glaciers that shape Chilean Patagonia representing around 80% of South-America`s glaciers.
SPACE-EARTH-WATER TRIAD displays the aforementioned natural diversity throughout local projects that merge art, science and technology in different regions of the country. The curatorial narrative hence sketches two vertical lines: one of them extends from Sky to Earth (and even beyond), and then the other one runs through Chilean North to South linking the three elements of the triad. They all share common concerns on how to foster sustainability and resilience strategies, through a transdisciplinary practice that may bridge the gap between artistic experience, scientific knowledge, and technological tools and media.
SPACE, EARTH and WATER become stars of a constellation explored through PRISMA's website: XIRIUS. The site gathers images, videos, sounds, texts, and ideas regarding the three axes. The constellation pattern recalls the Canis Major, whose brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, also known as the “Dog Star”.
PRISMA: Art, Science, Technology is an inter-institutional initiative based in Santiago de Chile dedicated to promoting the investigation, production and exhibition of different kinds of works located at the intersections of art, science and technology with a particular interest in nature. PRISMA is founded collaboratively by the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Chile in 2019, and its goal is to make visible theoretical and practical research related to transdisciplinary convergence between those fields.
PRISMA's main objective is to enhance and enrich dialogues at the crossroads of art, science and technology within both the academic and professional spheres. Our mission is grounded in some epistemological, conceptual and pragmatic aspects that characterise the artistic activity and scientific research. These practices are frequently guided by certain common notions such as observation, formulation of hypothesis, empirical research, creativity, innovation and experience. In fact, many contemporary art and research projects have been resulting from collectives integrated by specialists who hail from very dissimilar fields ranging from the visual arts, cinema, dance and music, to mathematics, physics, biology, neuroscience and engineering.
PRISMA encourages different activities, projects, events and initiatives, which include transdisciplinary artistic-technological investigations. The merging of art and science –data visualisations, robotic installations, 3D printing, immersive environments, sound performances–; collaborative work between artists, professors and students from diverse backgrounds –Art, Design, Engineering, Physics, Mathematics–; exchanges among Art, Design and Engineering Fab Labs where it is possible to materialise art/science creative processes; regular meetings between artists and scientists in PechaKucha presentations devoted to sharing their work; and the formulation of new protocols, methodological guidelines and epistemological principles for the mutual enrichment of daily practice in art and science.
Researcher at the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) and Professor at the Department of Mathematical Engineering, Universidad de Chile. He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics from France and a Post-Doctorate from the University of California. He has been a professor at the Universities of Paris 1-Sorbonne and University of California-Davis, as well as guest professor in the US and Europe. Alejandro Jofré has a significant research career in the areas of optimization, economic equilibrium, and variational analysis and network economics. He is associate editor of several journals and books on mathematics and engineering. He is currently Universidad de Chile´s Prorrector. He lives and works in Santiago, Chile.
She holds a PhD in Comparative Theory of Arts from the National University of Tres de Febrero - UNTREF, Buenos Aires, and a BA in Art History from the University of Buenos Aires - UBA. She is a professor at the BA and MA in Electronic Arts (UNTREF), the Specialization in Sound Art (UNTREF), and the MA in Interactive Design (FADU-UBA). She takes part in Ludion Collective: Latin- American Exploratorium of Technological Poetics/Politics (Faculty of Social Sciences, UBA). Her main lines of research address the history and theory of the intersections between art, science and technology, as well as the imaginaries of modernisation and future that have shaped the new media art field. Jazmín is the author of the book Art and Technology in Argentina (2020), and she has edited Energy Networks: Argentine Contemporary Art (2018), among other publications. She has integrated the International Program Committee of ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Art) and curated exhibitions on new media art in museums, galleries and art fairs. She lives and works in Buenos Aires.
She is a Chilean visual artist currently living and working in Santiago where she works as senior lecturer for the New Media Department and Central Art Workshop at the School of Arts of Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile as well as senior lecturer on Cinematic Arts for the Department of Photography at the School of Visual Arts of Universidad Finis Terrae. Claudia holds an MFA from Universidad de Chile (2011), a BA from Universidad Finis Terrae (2006). Claudia's work arises from the daily observation of natural elements such as water and air in their relation with universal phenomena such as gravity and time throughout a broad range of scales, making them visible through photography, video and material installations. Her work has been exhibited internationally including locations such as Paris(FR), Bilbao(ES), Barcelona(ES), Buenos Aires(AR), Santa Cruz(BOL), Stavanger(NR), and numerous cities within Chile and she has been selected and participated in the following art residencies: BilbaoArte Foundation Residence; Art Science Research Residence at Bosque Pehuén by MarAdentro Foundation; Art, Science and Humanities Residence, CAB (Casa Museo Alberto Baeriswyl) at Tierra del Fuego
Focused on the convergence of art, science and technology. She holds a MA in Digital Media & Cultural Technologies, Goldsmiths University, London, UK and a BA in Visual Arts Universidad Católica de Chile. She is a professor at the BA and MA in the School of Arts Universidad Católica de Chile for more than 20 years, achieving the introduction of digital media to the career of Bachelor of Arts in addition to the design and implementation of the current Media Arts Area. She also has relevant experience in cultural management & policy, forming, for the first time, the New Media Area within the Department of Cultural Industries in the Ministry of Culture and Heritage Chile. Through this experience, she had the opportunity to develop skills in dealing with professionals from different areas, supporting creative people for the development and consolidation of projects and the international projection of festivals and artists; as well as the exchange of outstanding professionals for the support of educational processes within the leading universities of the country. She lives and works in Santiago, Chile. www.valentinaserrati.cl