Art & Computer Science Talks: Fostering Creativity Between Artists, Researchers and the Public

In 2015, we, Anna Flurina Kälin and Julia Schicker, met on our first day of our Bachelor’s programme in Computer Science. Within the first few minutes of our conversation, we realised that we did not only share interests in the technical field, but that both of us had previously completed degrees at art schools. It only took a few months for our idea to form: A series of artists talks at ETH, inviting creatives using any part of computer science as their medium and have them present their work in front of a mixed audience of students and faculty from ETH as well as art enthusiasts from Zurich and beyond. Seeing that many students in our course only ever saw more traditional art forms, we wanted to bring artists closer who investigate questions that are intertwined with ETH’s research.

When we finally took the courage to send an email to the Department of Computer Science, we received a reply connecting us with Bob Sumner from the Game Technology Center. Together with Fábio Porfirio, Bob has helped us organise the events and the Department has generously supported us since then.

In October 2018, the first Art & Computer Science Talk took place. Mario Klingemann, an acclaimed artist exploring the creative potential of machine learning for many years, gave the first talk in front of an audience of roughly one hundred listeners, confirming that there was a vast interest for this.

Since then, we’ve held talks once every semester (except for the break during the pandemic), inviting artists exploring surveillance, blockchain applications, interactivity and many more topics. Since 2023 and thanks to the efforts of Adrian Notz, curator of AI + Art at the ETH AI Center, we also visit labs with the artists to bring them in touch with researchers.

On May 15th, our next talk is going to take place. This time, we’ve invited Lundahl & Seitl, a Stockholm-based artist duo. They specialise in creating shared experiences that allow one to perceive the world differently by targeting our senses in unusual ways utilising immersive spaces. They use virtual reality not only as a tool to simply create non-existing spaces, but to challenge notions of the real and negotiate the relationships to our surroundings.

The work River Biographies, 2022 – ongoing, for example, creates group choreographies by pairing individuals where one guides the other. With this, they emphasise communication and trust, reexamining our connection to our surroundings. The group embodies natural elements, forming a river together and exploring how rocks and waters interact.

Lundahl & Seitl’s work has been exhibited widely, such as Centre Pompidou Metz, Gropius Bau and Staatstheater Kassel, and they were visiting artists at the ACT Programme at MIT in 2022. We are very much looking forward to welcoming Lundahl & Seitl to ETH as well as you to their artist talk!

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