INTERTERRITORIAL EXPLORATIONS in ART and SCIENCE
2ND CO-OPs PUBLIC EVENT: Practices and Debates
Utrecht, 28, 29 and 30 June 2007

Organized by CO-OPs and BAK,in collaboration with Universiteitsmuseum
Utrecht
BAK, center for contemporary art

Lange Nieuwstraat 4
3512 PH Utrecht
www.bak-utrecht.nl

Sonnenborgh - museum & observatory
Zonnenburg 2, 3512 NL Utrecht
www.sonnenborgh.nl

CO-OPs CO-OPs is the name of a major art-science project launched in
September 2006. The CO-OPs project centers on the question of the
usefulness or even necessity of close collaboration between the arts and
the sciences. CO-OPs is part of Transformations in Art and Culture, a
research program funded by NWO. The participating scholars and scientists
study various phenomena that are linked up with significant
transformations in art and culture. The project focuses on three
large-scale processes of change: globalization, commercialization and
technologization.

Seven teams, each consisting of a scholar or scientist and an artist,
explore a specific concern tied to how scientific practices may benefit
from artistic practices -- and vice versa, how knowledge from the artistic
domain may stimulate scientific research.
On 28, 29 and 30 June 2007 the preliminary results of the CO-OPs
investigations will be presented in Utrecht. At this second CO-OPs public
event, the seven project teams present and discuss their preliminary
research results in Bastion Sonnenborgh. Is it possible for art and
science to collaborate? Which new forms of theory may emerge from
art/science collaboration? Did the collaborative teams generate new
theoretical concepts or new reflections on art? Are hybrid forms of
research possible at all?

The teams present their work-in-progress in separate exhibits (to be
visited by the public continuously). Based on films, photos, objects,
scale models and drawings, the teams provide an overview of their effort's
progress. In addition, two expert meetings take place in BAK, center for
contemporary art in Utrecht. These meetings will be attended by invited
external experts (scholars, scientists and artists) and the members of the
CO-OPs teams. The first expert meeting is geared toward general questions
concerning the relationship between art and science. The second expert
meeting is specifically devoted to the potential contribution of the
collaboration between art and science to research on issues involving
technologization, commercialization and globalization.

Program

Thursday 28 June

15.00 - 16.30 hrs Welcome, Prof. Dr. W.H. Gispen, Chancellor University of
Utrecht

Introduction, Prof. Dr. Robert Zwijnenberg, University of Leiden

Keynote lecture, Dr. Siân Ede, Arts Director Calouste Gulbenkian
Foundation, London

Keynote lecture, Marko Peljhan, artist, San Francisco/Ljubljana

17.00 hrs Team 1. 'Back to the roots', by Alex van Stipriaan

'Back to the Roots' explores the meaning of roots for people who have been
cut off from their ancestors as a result of the history of slavery. What
is the significance of 'roots' in such situation? This question underlies
the Back-to-the-Roots participants'
quests for their origin.

Reports on the genetic, physical, mental and aesthetic quest for African
identity in diaspora. With the collaboration of visual artist Marcel
Pinas, comedian Jetty Mathurin, Herby Goedhard, Kwinsie Cruden, Verno
Romney, Stacey Esajas, Gwen Denswil, Charissa Doelwijt and Glynis Terborg.

From 19.00 hrs Caribbean meal
Organization: the Back-to-the-Roots project team.

Friday 29 June

From 10.00 hrs Reception

10.30 - 12.30 hrs Expert meeting
Critical reflection on the relationship between art and science

Participants:

Dr. Ingeborg Reichle, art historian, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of
Sciences and Humanities
Dr. Irène Hediger, co-director of Artist in Lab, Zurich
Dr. Miriam van Rijsingen, art historian, University of Amsterdam
Drs. Janneke Wesseling, art critic and lecturer KABK, The Hague
The members of the CO-OPs teams

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Robert Zwijnenberg

13.00 hrs Lunch

14.30 - 17.00 hrs
Team 2. 'The observatory observed', by Geert Somsen and Jeroen Werner
In the Sonnenborgh Observatory, Geert Somsen and Jeroen Werner explore the
cultural, artistic and scientific aspects of the history of seeing.
Team 3. 'In principio erat verbum', by Krien Clevis and Peter Hagoort
Starting from 'fear' as a phenomenon, Peter Hagoort and Krien Clevis study the
tension and interplay between word and image.
Team 4. 'Medicine as a social science', by Mieke van de Voort and Ab
Osterhaus This project, which starts from the thesis 'Medicine is a social
science and politics nothing but medicine on a grand scale', reflects on
the future scenarios in which the threat of an epidemic has become immediate.

19.00 - 22.00 hrs Symposium Food, Art and Science: In Vitro Meat

In vitro meat is meat made in the laboratory by having stem cells grow
into meat tissue. No replacement of meat, but real artificial meat.
Laboratory culture of meat will perhaps be one of the hottest developments
during the years ahead in the food industry. The development of in vitro
meat at the University of Utrecht is supervised by meat professor Henk
Haagsman. During the symposium in Centraal Museum Utrecht, food-designers
Marlein Overakker and Inez de Jong will present creative and controversial
snacks/small dishes based on the theme of in vitro meat.

Symposium organized by The Arts & Genomics Centre in collaboration with
Centraal Museum Utrecht. For more information and sign-up: www.co-ops.nl
in the section 'Over CO-OPs'.

Saturday 30 June

From 10.00 hrs Reception
10.30 - 12.30 hrs Expert meeting

Critical reflection on issues of globalization, commercialization and
technologization

Participants:

Prof. Dr. Russell Jacoby, Dept. of History, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Manuela Rossini, lecturer ASCA (Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis)
Natascha Sadr Haghighian, artist, Berlin
Rod Dickinson, artist, London
The members of the CO-OPs teams
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Kitty Zijlmans

13.00 hrs Lunch

14.30 - 17.00 hrs Team 5. 'NomadicMILK', by Michiel de Lange and Esther
Polak
Research of the paradoxical nature of mobile technologies. This study
focuses on the nomadic Fulani herdsmen in West-Africa.
Team 6. 'Laboratory on the move', by Kitty Zijlmans and Ni Haifeng
Critical study of current concepts, theories and practices of art in a
globalizing world.
A laboratory in the form of a dialog.
Team 7. 'Something's brewing', by Judith Thissen and Edith Abeyta
Judith Thissen and Edith Abeyta explore the commercialization of the
cultural sector and the role of the artist as entrepreneur. In so doing
they launch a new brand of
beer.

From 17.30 hrs Finisage

Festive conclusion of the second CO-OPs Public Event.
Beer-tasting with Something's Brewing BIER.
Language used in all presentations: English.

For more information: www.co-ops.nl