Finding Affinities – At the Nexus of Art and Science

13:00-14:00

14:00-15.00

Dmitry Alexeev “Science. Martyrdom. Entrepreneurship. Vision”

Moderated Panel discussion

Lecture by Rob Jenkins (University of York, UK) “Lessons from illusions”

One of the most important insights from psychology is that we do not experience reality as it is. We experience reality as it seems. Our picture of reality emerges from the interaction between evidence arriving at the senses and expectations drawn from memory. This interaction is called perception. The role of expectations in shaping perception can sometimes be exposed by illusions. The great appeal of perceptual illusions is that they offer us glimpses into the workings of our own minds. They also offer a source of humility. None of us has direct access to the truth. None of us is infallible. Contemplating the limits of the human mind gives us a better understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. In this talk, I will explore fundamental principles of perception, what they tell us about how the mind works, and how they can inform better decisions.

Workshop on sonification of science data with Mark Matthes (artist, musician and curator from Hamburg, Germany) and Sergey Kostyrko (St. Petersburg State University, Russia)

Sonification is advanced fast growing technique allowing explore scientific data and monitoring complex processes using sound generating systems. The data obtained during the measurements can be converted into sound vibrations, which makes it possible to register them through the human auditory system. The goal of many sonification systems is to process the multimodal data streams in real time, as well as to operative detect the changes in critical parameters. In the same way as visualization of datasets creates the visual abstractions for the complex relationships between variables, sonification transforms the data in audible abstractions. As audible sound itself is a very complex phenomenon, special attention is paid to the issues of sound design. Often, aesthetic and artistic experiments translate sonification projects from the field of scientific research into the field of digital art. Thus, the purpose of this workshop is to introduce the theoretical and practical aspects of the considered technique.