Artist in Residence Programme

https://www.instagram.com/toniaranda

Born in 1990 in Terrassa, Toni Aranda is an emerging figure at the crossroads of science, art, and design. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's in Cytogenetics and Reproductive Biology and earned his Doctorate in Cellular Biology with distinction from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2021.

Despite his formal education in the sciences and as a life-long lover of art and design, Toni co-founded SHOOK Studio in 2018, a groundbreaking initiative that leverages art and design to democratize scientific knowledge access. His journey into the realm of 3D art began when he secured a Creative Mentorship in 3D in 2020, sponsored by the prestigious OFFF Festival and Adobe. The fruits of this endeavour were showcased at the 2021 OFFF Festival in Barcelona.

Toni is a fervent advocate for the convergence of arts, science, design, and technology. He crafts awe-inspiring pieces that both inspire and educate, harnessing cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and 3D art. Since 2020, he has been an active participant and presenter at  festivals like Sónar+D, OFFF, and Eufònic, where he explores the intersections of scientific communication through the means of art and emerging media and technologies. He has also lectured on the role of visual communication in science at institutions such as Linnaeus University (Sweden) and has led workshops and training sessions on the use of AI and new media in creative environments of the fashion industry.

As the new Artist in Residence at IRB Barcelona, Toni continues to push the boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration. His work aims to resonate with audiences worldwide, sparking curiosity and fostering a deeper appreciation for the symbiotic relationship between art, design, and science.

"I feel honored to be the new artist in residence at IRB Barcelona and I'm really excited about being fully immersed in the Institute and getting to know the research and the people behind it. It's particularly interesting (and kind of funny) to go back and experience research from the point of view of the observer, instead of being the one doing it. My scientific background and experiences often serve to inspire my artistic exploration, but through this opportunity, I'll switch the perspective and bring a new light to my artistic expression around new fields of scientific research."

https://www.laurabenetton.co.uk/

Laura Benetton is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist working at the intersection of art and science. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Art in Venice (Italy). She then received her Master in Art and Science at Central Saint Martin’s University in London (United Kingdom). Her work is informed by scientific phenomena such as bioluminescence and movement science. Generative in nature, her work spans a wide range of media, including performance, light installation, sculpture and bio-art.

Laura’s abstract paintings and drawings incorporate the language of geometry, where structures are dynamic and entangle color washes, LED lighting, and lines. Often working with institutions and galleries, Laura questions her work on a deepen level investigating every aspect of the process.

In the last years, Laura’s work has been held in private and public collections and commissioned for many private projects including private residences and corporations by art consultants and galleries in the United Kingdom and other countries.

In 2021, she presented “Metamorphosis”, a project that investigated the close relationship between art, nature, and science, where color and movement intersected to generate dynamic and bio art inspired artworks. Her most recent work, the “Bio-Moon Lab”, consists on growing different living organisms, such as algae and bacteria, by transforming and processing their growth where Bio-light is the new terminal. Speculative experimentations are endorsed to creatively manipulating living organisms to establish a new bridge of communication between contemporary art and science.

In her residence at IRB Barcelona, she aims to “ponder, conduct research, and develop a new ambitious, and original art installation”.

https://maropebo.com/

Maro Pebo is a Mexican artist whose work aims to stage the indiscipline of living matter. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Media (City University of Hong Kong) and an MA in Critical and Gender Studies (Bologna University). Weaving collaborations, Maro works on defying anthropocentrism and on skeptical environmental accountability. Her transdisciplinary work complements and transforms the responsibility of the life sciences to think about biological matter. She specializes in the intersections of art, science, and biotechnology. is a Brazilian artist, who has a large body of work focused on installations in public spaces. She holds a BA in Visual Arts from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo (Brazil), a Masters in Digital Art and Technology from the University of Plymouth (England) and a Masters in Advanced Architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in Barcelona.

She has published and presented her research internationally, including at Performance Research, ISEA, EVA, ISCMA, and Media Art Histories, she has co-curated the Open Systems salon and the HK Leonardo Art Science Rendezvous, and was involved in the Mexican Pavilion of the 56th Venice Biennale.

Previously she was senior lecturer of Moist Media at DeTao Masters Academy, Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, and Concept developer at Waag, Amsterdam. Her works have been displayed at Ars Electronica, Riga Stradins University Anatomy Museum in Latvia, the Toronto Design Festival, Gerdau Museum in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and The Lahore Media Arts Festival in Pakistan. Her interest lies in microorganism cultures and mitochondria and fostering post-anthropocentric microbiology literacy in society.

Anaisa Franco is a Brazilian artist, who has a large body of work focused on installations in public spaces. She holds a BA in Visual Arts from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado (FAAP) in São Paulo (Brazil), a Masters in Digital Art and Technology from the University of Plymouth (England) and a Masters in Advanced Architecture from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in Barcelona.

Searching for the expansion of the senses, Anaisa Franco creates interfaces that artistically build an “affective” situation in which people can expand their senses through interaction with the sculptures, creating new forms, relationships and experiences between people, the subjects chosen and the technological material that we have available in the market.

In recent years, she has been developing interactive public art installations and new media artwork for museums, public spaces, galleries, media labs, residencies and commissions, including the Shanghai City Life Festival, Medialab Prado, Mecad, Hangar, the Taipei Artist Village, the China Academy of Public Art Research Center, Mediaestruch, VIVID Sydney, EXPERIMENTA Biennale Melbourne, and many others.

Jo Milne has a PhD in Fine Art from the Universitat de Barcelona and an MA in Printmaking from the The London Institute and an MA in Fine Art from Edinburgh University and Edinburgh College of Art. She currently combines her artistic practice with her work as a researcher and lecturer at EINA (Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona).

“A specific element in my artistic practice investigates the underlying structures of codes, languages, communication and materials. In previous projects, I have considered the visual resonance of different forms of sequencing, such as the musical scrolls of Pianola’s and fractal structures, in different forms of artistic representation, and more recently theoretical speculations in the field of contemporary physics. These representations juxtaposed the digital with the material, fusing the precision of binary codes with the physical properties of paint. My research is currently focussed on developing new ways to respond to the microcellular landscape.

The research into visualisation practices for my doctoral thesis “Invisible Structures”, presented at the Universitat de Barcelona in 2016, considered the methods and methodologies used by scientists and artists to visualise what can’t be seen by the naked eye. These were translated into a series of paintings and installations that responded specifically to cosmological propositions associated with string theory explored in current theoretical physics. This research also highlighted the need for a practical or hands-on methodology in my search to understand the processes or methodologies employed in scientific research. As a result, I collaborated with groups of scientists at the Faculty of Chemistry (University of Barcelona) and the Department of Life Sciences (University of Dundee) and with computer programmers at the Citilab Citizen’s Laboratory in Cornellà. The resulting dialogues raised questions regarding our fields of knowledge and created an exchange of knowledge and know-how. These collaborations evidenced the possibilities of thinking through doing and at the same time enabled me to begin to penetrate the semiotics specific to each ambit.”

“My objective at the IRB Barcelona is for the increasing convergence of art and science to consider how each area impacts the other and how, together, they shed light on who we are and where we’re heading. Ultimately this project turns the spotlight on how designer/artist/scientist collaborations can explore what it means to be a human in the 21st Century and the cellular nature of our being and ways in which we understand and experience it through the lens of science and technology.

At the IRB Barcelona residency my aim is to explore ways of bringing together microscopy techniques, rich data about cell mutation and creative uses of light, audio and other forms of creative technology to create a series of hybrid, immersive and beguiling experiences.”

I believe science and art are very similar in that they both involve an endless cycle of attempts and failures, yet scientists and artists passionately continue to seek answers about life. They both approach problems with a similar open-mindedness, fearfulness and in an intuitive way. New scientific concepts have the capacity to enlarge the imagination and the artistic vocabulary of an artist. Many artists today have a close relationship with technology and science. Collaboration between art and science has the potential to move society forward. Artists serve as great partners in the communication of scientific research, thereby making discoveries more compelling and more approachable.

My art practice integrates the traditional art-making techniques with new media technologies. By synthesizing the real and the imaginary, I am heightening awareness of the unimaginable beauty and diversity of our world.

I see scientific imaging as an observation of my surroundings. I take a sample, observe its behavior, form and colors and transfer these characteristic features into other mediums, giving life to other platforms. I use various techniques, such as painting on glass, printing on silk, glass blowing, and digital collaging, to invite the audience to experience the microscope slides of the cell structures on a large scale. Even though these “imaginary landscapes” seem to be highly graphical, they are in fact very real natural formations. My art has always been inspired by nature and life itself, but looking at life forms at different magnifications has helped me to develop distinct insights into life. My fascination lies in the interrelation between the micro and macro worlds, in particular where their components overlap and unify until they finally come together as one.

Artist Ayşe Gül Süter's residency is supported by the Turkish Cultural Foundation.

Anna Rierola is a Barcelona-based digital artist whose interests lie in science and investigation. She uses scientific images obtained during research projects to compose pictures and murals. She had the oppotunity to spend a year at the Institute and was the first IRB Barcelona Artist in Residence.

My work is a response to what I experience when diving into the world of scientifically-made images. These visions awake my innate concerns about how and why the universe works and the final sense of it. This kind of perception challenges, inspiring an aesthetic response that lights up new mental paths.

The close and generous collaboration with Research Institutes and scientists has provided me with a fertile field for creativity and knowledge, and the possibility to select and collect images captured by different types of devices: Tomography, X-Ray, Confocal Microscope, SEM, TEM, MRI, Telescopes, and Satellites, that all serve as a starting point for my works. It is within this very context that I begin my personal process of deconstructing atoms, nanoparticles, cellular nuclei, stem cells, neurons, and far-away star constellations.

Thus, an internal syntactic and semantic process of reconstruction and reorganization of those traces begins, which results in a new image that gives a different global perception.