Event 3: Philosophy + Art + Science

Event 3: Philosophy + Art + Science: Building the platform for interdisciplinary projects at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Art Sci center, CNSI presentation room, 5th floor.

I went to a lecture by María Antonia González Valerio, PhD, who is the director of the interdisciplinary collective Art + Science at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) which took place at the CNSI Presentation Space. She started this event by lecturing then moved to her presentation slides. She started mentioning that neither art nor science have definitions. This sentence was quite shocking to me because I have never thought about both art and science in that way. In addition, she also asked so many questions. And among those, I still remember one of her questions: “how much does artist need to know scientific knowledge such as microscope and PCR? And how deep do artists need to know to really produce meaningful works? Is it necessary to learn how to use those machines?”

Art biotech: Biotechnology + Art (Left), Arabidopsis thaliana AG:GUS (Right) : 

one of her presentation slides regarding Art biotech

Since through this class, especially learning about biotechnology and art, I could open my eyes into biotechnology and art (BioArt) area, this lecture gave me a good opportunity to think about these questions, making me think about those issues again. Especially, when she was explaining about many projects, which incorporated art, science, and technology, I really thought about whether it is necessary for artists to really learn deeply about the sciences, which might take a quite long time as María Antonia González Valerio, PhD mentioned during her lecture.  

Then, when she showed us her presentation slides where I could learn about what she has been doing, I was able to think about relationship between art and other disciplines such as biotechnology especially. She showed many projects she has worked by leading the group Arte + Ciencia, which was founded in 2011. She explained that the main objective has been to produce art and knowledge in the intercrossing of humanities, arts, and sciences, reuniting artists, scholars, scientists, and students working for several projects altogether.

science in Oaxaca (Left), transgenic corns(seeds of corns) (Right)

Among her projects, the project, where she dealt with transgenic corn, was quite interesting. She mentioned that in Mexico, people can not grow transgenic corn via. Milpa but she said that she experimented, and tested whether these could be toxic to the land or not, and did exhibit at the museum. It was quite interesting to see how she designed the project, and tried to bring very critical issues to the public, bringing about awareness about those potentially sensitive issues.

Her team collected bones, cleaned, and prepared for the exhibition

In addition, when she was talking about one of her projects, where her team collected bones and exhibited those after cleaning those bones, I was quite surprised because, to me, it was just striking to think about working with bones and even presenting those at the museum even in the case when you want to bring public attention to the projects. Furthermore, she also showed some of the slides and videos where I could see many workshops where they were working with live animals such as pigs.

Photo with our DESMA9 classmates together with María Antonia González Valerio, PhD

Through many exhibitions and workshops shown through her presentation by Arte+Ciencia such as  “Sin origen/Sin Semilla (first transgenic and biotechnological exhibition in Mexico), “Bioartefactos: Desgranar lentamente un maíz,” I could definitely think about the interrelationship between art and science, bioethical aspects in bioart, and the limitations in the area.

As María Antonia González Valerio, PhD mentioned during the lecture, there are many questions which need to be answered or which can not be answered. However, through the lecture, definitely I could explore and rethink about what I have learned through the class especially during biotechnology and art session. Especially, it was a good learning opportunity to see what has been occurring outside in the era of advanced biotechnology, which has been impacting many artists and other scholars.