Art & Science micro forum II
“You have to go through blue to get to green.”
― Steven Magee
The Art & Science The Micro Forum is an original artistic and scientific encounter that started in June 2022 in the format of an unexpected symposium in Athens. Dancers, choreographers, scientists, technologists and the general public came together for a day to explore the “worlds” that are being born through the synergy among dance, the human body, science and technology. Flux Laboratory Athens initiated a platform for dialogue and experimentation on the boundaries of arts and science through performances, speeches, a speed dating event and workshops. For Flux Laboratory Athens the reconsideration of movement as a tool for thinking and acting has been α fundamental concern.
The second edition of Art & Science Micro Forum looks at the conceptual and actual spaces of the atmosphere. An atmosphere is a layer of gas or gases that envelope a planet, held in place by its gravity providing protection and shaping the properties of its world. A chemical environment, product of billions of years of processes, that preserves a fragile balance and creates an intimate dialogue with the planetary body it encircles. An essential ingredient to life as we know it.
Throughout the two day forum the audience will be taken on a journey, from the surface of the earth, to the Edge of Outer Space, passing through all of the atmosphere’s layers and pausing in each one to cross-disciplinarily explore the problematics of climate change via different artistic mediums, talks & workshops. Each layer/stop creates a different context for events.
Just as the boundaries between atmospheric layers bleed into one another, the forum seeks to encourage a porous, open relatioship between audience, artists, scientists, and the urban environment with events clustered in the historical centre of Athens: at the premises of Flux Laboratory Athens in Plaka, in the building located at 5 Mpenizelou Palaiologou Str. (near the Metropolitan Cathedral), as well as at the National Observatory Athens.
Participants (in alphabetical order): Akoo-o (Dana Papachristou & Giorgos Samantas), Nadja Argyropoulou, Ginger Creepers Theatre Band, Mindy Howard, Maria Kanakidou, Ioannis Karounis, Andreas Kazantzidis, Dimitra Kousteridou, Natasha Martin, Fiori-Anastasia Metallinou, Stergios Missios, One Continuous Lab (Odysseαs Kleisouras, Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos), Vasileios Papadimitriou, Martha Pasakopoulou, Chris Vrettos and with the participation of students from the professional dance school AKTINA under the guidance of Zoi Efstathiou
program curator: Chloe Aligianni
production: Flux Laboratory Athens
PROGRAM
*The admission to the events is free.Booking is required via the following link
Saturday 3 December 2022
Flux Laboratory Athens
12 Aggelou Geronta 12, Plaka
15:00: Doors open
15:30 - 16:30: DEPARTURE / Speed Dating II for scientists and artists
17:00 - 18:00: TROPOSPHERE / Talk by independent curator and art theorist Nadja Argyropoulou on the theme “art, degrowth and the movement beyond the end of the world”, followed by a discussion with the audience (in Greek)
National Observatory Athens
Hill of the Muses, Thissio
18:00 - 20:30: EXOSPHERE / Audio trail by Akoo-o collective (Dana Papachristou & Giorgos Samantas, with the participation of Dimitra Kousteridou). Scientific advisor: Stergios Misios (atmospheric physics, ReAct team of National Observatory Athens), Fiori-Anastasia Metallinou (astrophysicist, NOA Thissio Visitor Center)
Flux Laboratory Athens
12 Aggelou Geronta 12, Plaka
21:15 - 22:30: MESOSPHERE / interactive performance by dancer Martha Pasakopoulou. Scientific consultant: Chris Vrettos (Head of communications at Electra Energy Cooperative)
Sunday 4 December 2022
Buidling located at 5 Mpenizelou Palaiologou Str.(close to the Cathedral)
From 16:00 until 23:00 / Installations with rotational performance slots
Groundfloor: THERMOSPHERE / Multi screen installation by performer Ioannis Karounis. Scientific consultant: Mindy Howard (Astronaut training, Inner Space Training)
1st floor: EDGE OF OUTER SPACE , KÁRMÁN LINE / floor takeover with installation by One Continuous Lab (Odysseas Kleisouras, Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos), with the participation of students from professional dance school AKTINA under the guidance of Zoi Efstathiou
2nd floor: STRATOSPHERE / floor takeover by Ginger Creepers Theatre Band with exhibiton & performance. Scientific consultants: Andreas Kazantzidis (Physics Department, University of Patras), Vasileios Papadimitriou (Department of Chemistry, University of Crete), Maria Kanakidou (Department of Chemistry, University of Crete)
4th floor
19:00 BACK TO EARTH / body music workshop with Natasha Martin
20:00 – 23:00 Party & DJ set by Alexandros Kontogeorgakopoulos
Institutions
National Observatory Athens