Events

Art x Science Dinner „Devouring“ with Blanka Major 

It is the moment just before — that electric pause — when desire intensifies into craving, and we hover on the edge of indulgence. The kiss comes before the bite, but what does it mean to devour a body?

Eating engages all five senses, drawing us into a world where food becomes more than nourishment — a gateway to memory, emotion, and sensation. Each bite triggers a flood of associations, as we balance between consuming and being consumed, between merging and rejecting.

The Art x Science Office and Blanka Dominika Major, in collaboration with ZFV-Unternehmungen, invite you to a collective «devouring» — an art x science dinner centered on touch, smell, and taste. Taking place at the Green Kitchen Lab with Mischa Heil and Cassandra Hänggi as part of the culinary team, this evening is a reflection on bodies — how they desire, repel, and consume. Ethical and scientific insights into the consumption of breast milk and the world of gut bacteria from Prof. Dr. med. Dr. phil. Nikola Biller-Andorno and Prof. Dr. med. Michael Scharl, along with an artistic intervention by Johanna Hullár and a reading by Tatjana Blaser, will transform this dinner into a truly holistic experience.

This event is free of charge, a contribution towards expenses is welcome.

23 November 2024, 6pm Green Kitchen Lab, University of Zurich Campus Irchel register here

Credits: Photography ©️ Johanna Hullár, Melting Stories, New York 2024. Set Design Jeffrey Marcus, Molly Cox.

Global Science Film Festival 

The Art x Science Office warmly invites you to this year’sGlobal Science Film Festival, which serves as the first platform in Switzerland to showcase international science films from all disciplines. From November 7 to 10, 2024, you can enjoy screenings in Basel, Bern, Lugano, and Zurich, as well as simultaneously around the world through Swissnex, with showings in cities such as Canberra, Vancouver, New Delhi, Shanghai, and many more.

The festival brings together professional filmmakers and scientists, bridging art and science, and thus opening up new perspectives on our world. It will feature short films and feature films across a variety of formats – from documentaries and fiction to animations. The Global Science Film Festival is organized by the Swiss Science Film Academy in collaboration with the University of Zurich and other leading Swiss universities and research centers.

When: November 7 to 10, 2024

Where: Filmpodium (Zürich), Stadtkino (Basel), CineClub (Bern), Nielsen Auditorium (Lugano)

Tickets

"Design for all Species" Exhibition Series

“Design for all Species” is part of the Zurich Design Weeks 2024 on show at the Museum für Gestaltung Zurich. After one and a half years of development and implementation between Zurich and Seoul, the project will be presented to the public for the first time.

The exhibition is accompanied by a variety of events:
 

Opening of "Design for all Species" and Zurich Design Weeks

12th September 2024
5pm
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich

We invite you to celebrate the opening of our exhibition "Design for all Species" and the Zurich Design Weeks 2024 with us!
 

Guided tour through the exhibition

12th September 2024
2 - 3pm
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich

Curator Katharina Weikl will guide visitors through the "Design for all Species" exhibition at the Museum für Gestaltung during Zurich Design Weeks 2024. Insights into the development process as well as the results of the international and transdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Zurich and Hongik University in Seoul will be shown.

Limited number of participants, registration required:Register Here
 

Meet the Designers from Hongik University

12th September 2024 & 13th September 2024
2 - 4pm
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich

The designers from Hongik University are present at the exhibition and open for dialogue (English).

Designers & Artists:
Seungha Baek, Sooin Cho, Joon Han, Nayeon Jeon, Yunseo Jeung, Heena Kim, Jiho Kim, Nayoung Kim, Zyoo Kim, Nyeongwoo Kwon, Chaewon Lee, Hanuk Lee, Jungmin Park

Design x Science Talk: Veterinary Medicine Meets Design

13th September 2024
4 - 5pm
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich

What happens when veterinary medicine meets design? The University of Zurich and Hongik University warmly invite you to a talk about the collaborative project “Design for all Species”. The project initiators and participants also talk about the collaboration between the Vetsuisse Faculty UZH and the Design Department at Hongik University, Seoul.

With:
· Dr. Katharina Weikl, Head of Art x Science Office, University of Zurich
· Prof. Dr. Antonio Pozzi & Dr. Brian Park, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich
· Prof. Yeori Bae & Prof. Gilock Lee, Fashion and Product Design, Hongik University
· Emerging designers from Hongik University

The talk will be held in English.

Limited number of participants, registration required:Register Here

Guided tour through the exhibition (for UZH employees)

19th September 2024
12:30 - 1:30 pm
Museum für Gestaltung, Ausstellungsstrasse 60, 8005 Zurich

We invite you an exclusive exhibition tour for UZH employees. Curator Katharina Weikl will give insights into the development process as well as the results of the international and transdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Zurich and Hongik University in Seoul.

Limited number of participants, registration required:Register Here

Art in the Age of AI by Refik Anadol

May 3, 2024
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Online (Microsoft Teams)

Art x Science Talk

Since 2016, Refik Anadol Studio has been conducting interdisciplinary research on the relation between the human mind, aesthetics, machine learning technologies, and architecture. Coining the terms “AI Data Painting,” “AI Data Sculpture,” and “latent city,” Anadol has been reflecting on new multi-sensory forms of narrating collective memory in physical and virtual spaces and inviting his audience to imagine alternative, AI-imagined realities. 

In this talk, Anadol shared the research and production journeys of his Los Angeles-based Studio's internationally renowned artworks, which collectively offer a dramatic rethinking of our many environments. The artist also shed light on his most recent interdisciplinary collaborations with various scientists and communities around the world to build a bridge between beautiful data and meaningful aesthetics.

The talk and subsequent Q&A session took place online.

Public Guided Tour: Art at the University of Zurich with Dr. Kathrin Frauenfelder

March 28, 2024 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Main Building University of Zurich, Main Entrance Rämistrasse

The University of Zurich: Art and Architecture, New Forms of Art (Part III)
The university building was repeatedly rebuilt and adapted to the growing number of students. Rooms were extended and redesigned, often with massive interventions in the fabric of the building. In the course of these changes, new works of art were acquired through competitions or direct commissions. In this guided tour, we will discuss questions of art and architecture, focusing on works by Carlo Vivarelli, Adrian Schiess, Pipilotti Rist and Santiago Calatrava. 

Public Guided Tour: Art at the University of Zurich with Dr. Kathrin Frauenfelder

January 25, 2024 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Irchelpark, in front of the entrance of the State Archives of the Canton of Zurich

The University of Zurich: Art on the Irchel Campus (Part II)
For the design of the new university campus, a nationwide public competition was announced in the 1970s to promote artistic design. Out of the 500 submitted projects, 21 were realized. Who were these artists, and how did the art concepts on the campus evolve during the various construction stages? We will be looking at works by artists such as Florin Granwehr, Gottfried Honegger, Marguerite Hersberger, and Thomas Hirschhorn.

Public Guided Tour: Art at the University of Zurich with Dr. Kathrin Frauenfelder

November 30, 2023 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Main Building
University Center, Entrance Künstlergasse

The University of Zurich: Art and Its Stories
How does the university acquire its art? At the beginning of the 20th century, the architectural firm Curjel & Moser aimed not only to construct a university building but also pursued the concept of a total work of art. This idea convinced the client. During the tour of the university's main building, we will not only view works by artists such as Carl Burckhardt, Augusto Giacometti, or Paul Bodmer, but we will also hear the fascinating stories that led to their creation.

artflirt at UZH (event in English)

2. November 2023
16:30 - 17:30
Lichthof, City Campus, University of Zurich

The UZH campus is full of art – but in the semester rush, it is so easy to overlook it! artflirt is a fun way to engage with it. Join in, meet other students, and together, discover your relationship with art while taking pictures.
With subsequent get-together.

September 13, 2022

William L. Fox, Founding Director of the Center for Art + Environment, Nevada Museum of Art

William L. Fox is the Founding Director of the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art and has been described as an art critic, science writer, and cultural geographer. Fox's numerous non-fiction books are based on fieldwork with artists and scientists in extreme environments, forming the basis of his investigations. He has published hundreds of essays in art and photography magazines and fifteen poetry collections. As an artist, Fox has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Explorers Club and has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation.

September 20, 2022

Gerfried Stocker, Managing and Artistic Director of Ars Electronica

Gerfried Stocker is a media artist and a communications engineer, and since 1995, he has been the Artistic Director and Co-Managing Director of Ars Electronica. In 1995/96, he developed exhibition strategies for the Ars Electronica Center with a small team of artists and technicians and was responsible for the establishment and development of the Ars Electronica's own R&D department, the Ars Electronica Futurelab. He has developed the program of international Ars Electronica exhibitions, planned and content-wise redesigned the Ars Electronica Center, expanded the Ars Electronica Festival, and thoroughly revised the content and design of the Ars Electronica Center. In 2019, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Aalto University in Finland.

September 27, 2022

Lynn Hershman Leeson, Artist

Over the past five decades, artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson has gained international recognition through her art and films. Hershman Leeson is regarded as one of the most influential media artists, widely known for her innovative work addressing themes that are considered core social issues today: the relationship between humans and technology, issues of identity and surveillance, and the use of media as a means of empowerment against censorship and political oppression. Over the past fifty years, she has made groundbreaking contributions in photography, video, film, performance, artificial intelligence, bioart, installations, and interactive and web-based media art.

October 19, 2021

Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator for Architecture and Design / Director of Research and Development at MoMA

October 12, 2021

Aparna Rao, Artist in Residence at the Wyss Institute of UZH and ETH Zurich

October 5, 2021

Julia Buntaine Hoel, Conceptual Artist and Founding Director of the SciArt Initiative

September 28, 2021

Prof. Dr. Michael John Gorman, Founding Director of Biotopia, Founding Director of the Science Gallery at Trinity College in Dublin