Artscience: Artists as researchers

Artistic research in ArtScience employs creative practices and transdisciplinary methods to question and engage with science and technology, enabling different forms of critical knowledge production and experiences, and critically broadening their perspectives through material felt practices.

In the form of residencies, events, fellowships, access to knowledge and lab spaces, commissions and co-creation processes, Waag Futurelab has supported transdisciplinary Artscience practices for decades.

News

Open Wetlab

Current projects

Open Design Lab

S+T+ARTS4WaterII

S+T+ARTS4WaterII focuses on clean water as a basic right for all people and the preservation of life in our oceans, seas and marine life.

Digital Deal

How accelerated, yet unconsidered adoption of new technologies – such as artificial intelligence and machine learning – can alter or undermine democratic processes.

Space Lab

More-than-Planet

The way people imagine the planet substantially impacts the environment. More-than-Planet will address a crisis of planetary imaginary.

Open Wetlab

BioHack Academy

Apply for BioHack Academy 2025, and extract your own biomaterials using only Open-Source hardware you fabricate yourself.

About

What is S+T+ARTS?

S+T+ARTS (Science,Technology and Arts) is a European Commission supported project that fuels the collaboration between Science, Technology and the Arts. Waag is one of its founding partners.

Mission

From migration to the new green deal, and from data surveillance to food waste: big social, ecological and economic challenges await Europe, now and in the near future. Creative innovation plays an important role in offering new insights, future narratives and possible solutions. S+T+ARTS fosters art driven innovation by creating new alliances between Science, Technology and the Arts.

Vision

Within the interdisciplinary field of S+T+ARTS, we believe that artists have an important role to play. As drivers behind creative innovative processes, they challenge us to look at global challenges in a new way and spark creative innovation. We also welcome surprising collaborations between the ICT sector and the Arts and Culture sector.

About Waag

As a cultural research institution, Waag has been exploring the possibilities of open, fair and inclusive technology since 1994. With a history in the hackers culture, the Do it Together maker movement, and working together with designers, artists and thinkers, we move exactly in the interdisciplinary field between Science, Technology and the Arts. The mission and vision of S+T+ARTS are inscribed in our DNA.

S+T+ARTS x Waag

Waag hosts yearly S+T+ARTS artist in residencies. We speak up at S+T+ARTS Talks, organise events with inspirational artists, and invite the industry to co-create innovation with artists and scientists. As one of S+T+ARTS' consortium partners, Waag functions as an important node within the local and global network for creative innovation.

Activities

Research:

Practice-driven research and artistic research. Research through making (Maker research)
Public research, charting research agenda with, and working with communities (artists, local communities).
Expertise: Art-space research, Art and biology, Socially relevant art and democratic practices. Textile and Maker research and practices. Open design.
Producing outcomes such as art pieces and research findings from these research endeavours.
Set up artistic research proposals.

Artistic Residencies:

Leveraging artistic practice as a form of research and innovation. Working with artists as researchers produces knowledge that impacts society, environment, economy.
Design, setup, and implementation of artistic residencies.
Providing mentoring and management support throughout the residency.

Artistic Collaboration Projects with Industry, Science, & Social Institutions:

Designing and implementing artistic collaboration projects with scientific and industry partner.
Strategic partnerships with partners from science and industry to conduct research together, involving the public.
Resulting in unconventional outcomes compared to traditional innovation trajectories.
Increasing organisational creative capacity and fostering organisational learning.
Example Project: VOJEXT, featuring Marielena Panadreu's work on designing objects considering wood grain structure, leading to environmental care insights.

Research Methodologies:

Offering research methodologies conducted by your team or as workshops for other organisations.
Open Design
Critical Making
Co-creation
Public Stack (and Planetary Public Stack)
Artistic practice as research

Event Services:

Organising exhibitions, talks, and conferences
Content
Curatorial and production support for events
Open-calls
Providing space for artists and makers for research and public presentations.
Example Artists and designers 4 Genomics Award (BAD) + S+T+ARTS

Workshops:

Educational activities such as academies, one-week courses, and train the trainer sessions,
Content from Textile Lab, Fab Lab, Open Wetlab, Open Design Lab, and Space Lab.

Hub: Platform and Networking Services:

Building and managing a platform/network of artists,scientists and innovative companies.
Facilitating collaborations and exchanges within this network.
Operating long term research endeavour.