HacTe premieres new videos on art, science and technology

The relationship between art, science and technology takes many forms and it is increasingly urgent and essential for us to promote their prosperity. Scientific and technical advances are constantly reshaping the arts and cultural industries, providing endless creative possibilities. At the same time, art is also an engine of change and reflection for scientific and technological knowledge, which contributes to making it more human and ethical, while at the same time encouraging it to transgress conventions. With the aim of making these relationships and their impact in Catalonia more understandable, the Hac Te hub has presented a series of four audiovisuals where creators, researchers, curators and teachers reflect on the synergies between disciplines.

The first of these revolves around the need to provide transversal responses from the fields of arts, science and technology to contemporary challenges as complex as climate change or digital transformation. As Hangar’s director, Anna Manubens, points out, the fact that artists do not depend on such results-oriented environments allows them to approach these challenges from a more leisurely perspective and from more unforeseen points of view. At the same time, the presence of artists in research centres pushes scientists out of their comfort zone and contributes to frontier research, explains Lydia Santmartí, from the Institute of Photonic Sciences.

Collaborations between artists, scientists and engineers are the protagonists of the second video, which investigates the bidirectionality of these relationships. Although art can help explain or question technology, technology also makes art evolve and provides it with new creative possibilities, as Ferran Marqués, a professor at the UPC, points out.

The third video analyses the fertile and varied digital art ecosystem in Barcelona and, by extension, Catalonia, which is becoming increasingly relevant on a national and international scale. An ecosystem that, in the words of Irma Vilà, curator and professor at the UOC, should not envy any other city in the world in terms of artistic creation, but which still needs institutional support, resources and infrastructure to be able to match other pioneering capitals in the field.

The last of these videos reflects on the economic and social impact of digital culture and highlights the need to encourage interaction between sectors to provide innovative solutions. A commitment to the city and the country, according to Miquel Martí, CEO of Tech Barcelona, who believes that from Catalonia we must join forces from those areas where we are already a benchmark to become a global one.