Olaf Nicolai “This is your day to manipulate matters cleverly behind the scenes to improve your happiness”

For the first event in the new SciArt SwitzerlAnd project, Olaf Nicolai, one of Germany’s leading artists, will be exploring his relationship with science in a conversation moderated by Valentino Catricalà, contemporary art scholar and curator.

In his work Nicolai is constantly translating scientific theories into art - aesthetic/artistic idioms - thus making them accessible in new contexts, and he frequently incorporates scientific discoveries into his creations. His fascination with mathematical models, universal algorithms, symbolism and repeat patterns is evident in many of his installations, whose conceptual approach and use of ever-different media and materials challenge the way we view our everyday environment.

Free event. The conversation will be in English with simultaneous translation into Italian. It will be followed by an aperitif offered to all present.

Seats can be booked in advance, but booking is not required to access the event.

To book, click here

SciArt SwitzerlAnd is a project by the IBSA Foundation for Scientific Research and MASI Lugano, Museo d’arte della Svizzera italiana, launched with the aim of giving rise to a stimulating dialogue between two distant yet parallel fields in order to promote scientific culture in the context of an international research initiative spanning both science and art.

SciArt SwitzerlAnd will be producing events of various kinds and digital products that explore artworks profoundly influenced by interactions with scientists, discoveries and research bodies.

Science and art have always coexisted across time and space. Though with different methods and purposes, artists and scientists both observe the world around them, opening up new perspectives, interpretations and meanings.

The public will have a chance to explore fascinating creations springing from the encounter between these two dimensions, and hear directly from the artists themselves about how science, technology and research have inspired their work.

SciArt SwitzerlAnd picks up on the series of conversations entitled “la Scienza a regola d’Arte” which concluded in 2022, the result of a fruitful collaboration between IBSA Foundation and MASI Lugano.