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Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova Institute

The Practice of Art and Science - text Kapelica Gallery

Kapelica Gallery / Kersnikova Institute
Galerija Kapelica / Zavod Kersnikova
Ljubljana, Slovenia

Kersnikova Institute provides the framework for Kapelica Gallery and two laboratories that deal with artistic research, development, and education. The first laboratory, BioTehna, is a platform for artistic research of living systems (wet lab) in which the artists are joined by scientists and engineers and together they develop projects which will later be presented in the Kapelica Gallery. Similar activities also take place in the second laboratory, Rampa (hacker space), where new artistic projects emerge as a result of the research carried out there. The two laboratories also share intense educational activities, where children, youth, and the expert public can become inspired by artists and scientists who use the laboratory infrastructure for their projects.

Since 1995 Kapelica Gallery has been producing and presenting artistic projects that address contemporary technological society. We mostly investigate the influence of high technologies that became ubiquitous with the ever greater accessibility to computers and the internet. Telecommunication, automation, robotics, internet, social networks, biotechnology, and aerospace are changing the relationships within contemporary society so radically that certain new social phenomena can only be reached through artistic sensibility. However, in order for artists to be able to consistently address the phenomena that have initiated their metaphysical interest, they have to understand the logic behind the technological intervention that led to this. For this reason, artists join forces with engineers and scientists who help them understand and use the technologies, materials, and scientific processes with which they create their works of art.

In most cases artists cooperate with scientists and engineers they know from their school or neighborhood, a kind of cooperation that goes far beyond the usual collaboration between experts. The producers from Kersnikova Institute often supervise the cooperation between the artists and the scientists. By doing this, they ensure that the communication, organization, and logistics between the participants are effective, which in turn contributes to the success of the project. The project thus runs more smoothly and the artists and scientists can focus on the final outcome, while at the same time forming more sustainable connections between the gallery and institutes (including universities and companies) in which scientists and engineers work. Through this they establish long-term connections, which facilitate cooperation in future projects. With this in mind we at Kersnikova Institute established excellent yet informal connections with the Institute of Biochemistry and the Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Ljubljana, the central national scientific Institute Jožef Stefan (Department for Robotics and Artificial Intelligence), the Biotechnical Faculty and the Institute of Chemistry, the Slovenian Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies (Space-SI), and others.

The invitations extended to scientists to participate in various debate panels which take place in the form of a science café, have helped sensitize them and establish connections that lead to later cooperation. Through these events they have learnt more about the hybrid activities that take place at Kersnikova Institute, and all have shown great enthusiasm for cooperating in following art projects. During this process we have witnessed extremely interesting social and expert dynamics that have inspired everybody involved in the project. The productivity of artists and scientists has almost become a general meme, but regardless of the long-term endeavors, we have so far not managed to formalize the cooperation between art and science institutions Our endeavors to establish transdisciplinary connections also apply to the institutionalized level, for we hope that the political decision makers in charge of funding will have sufficient vision to enable systematic cooperation between artists and researchers, and not discriminate against them financially. Only equal conditions will guarantee sustainable innovate dynamics, for innovation and creativity cannot be ordered on command. Innovation and creativity can emerge only if the right conditions and circumstances are established.

Text: Jurij Krpan

(Source: The Practice of Art and Science, p. 212-215)