Science and art

Science and art collaboration

The Joint Institute for Nuclear Research expands its boundaries in the cultural field. On 12 February, the JINR Gallery opened in the International Conference Centre. The first project of the new professional exhibition space was the exhibition of the pioneer of Russian kinetism, artist Francisco Infante. The project was prepared jointly with the gallery "Veretievo".

The exhibition is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the concept of "artifact" - a unique genre invented by Francisco Infante at the junction of installation and photography. The exhibition includes more than 120 paintings covering the period from the 1960s to the present day: from early kinetic objects to famous cycles, where mirror structures come into optical play with the natural landscape. A retrospective built in the JINR Gallery shows the evolution of the author's style, in which geometry and light become the main tools for knowing space.

The particular significance of the event for the cultural life of Russia was emphasized by Special Representative of President of the Russian Federation for International Cultural Cooperation, a winner of the OGANESSON Prize Mikhail Shvydkoy. He drew attention to the unique ability of the new platform to unite the intellectual elite: according to him, to gather outstanding scientists and directors of leading museums in a hall is a task that is difficult even in Moscow.

"Education and culture - that is usually a story about what is already generally accepted and known. And science and art are always a breakthrough into what has not yet been learned," Mikhail Shvydkoy said. "The implementation of such a project in Dubna is extremely important, since contemporary art, like fundamental science, strives for unexplored dimensions of life."

Director of the Joint Institute, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Grigory Trubnikov focused on the fact that a gallery within the walls of the International Conference Centre is a natural and deeply symbolic step.

"The International Conference Centre has always been a space of dialogue. Now, another universal language has been added to the language of science that does not require translation - the language of artistic images," Grigory Trubnikov said. "To open the gallery with an exhibition of the outstanding Francisco Infante is a great honor for us. We are grateful for the artist's trust."

Francisco Infante, welcoming the guests of the gallery, expressed his sincere gratitude to the organizers of the exhibition and the participants. In his speech, he touched on the difference between scientific and artistic perception of reality. According to the classic of kineticism, despite the commonality of purpose - comprehension of the world, the instruments of a physicist and an artist can be fundamentally different.

"I always listen to scientists with great interest, since they have a completely different character of thinking," Francisco Infante said. "If a scientist thinks in terms of consciousness and rational knowledge, then the artist still follows the path of intuition to a greater extent."

Francisco Infante

The curator of the exhibition Irina Gorlova emphasized the deep conceptual relationship between the work of Francisco Infante and the spirit of Dubna. According to her, the choice of this particular artist for the inauguration of the exhibition space is not accidental: the philosophical search for a creator that realized the infinity of the world in his youth echoes the fundamental tasks of science.

"Today, in the halls of the JINR Gallery you can observe a real clash of eras, when the paintings of the 1960s are adjacent to the paintings of the 21st century," the curator of the exhibition said. "This dialogue between old and new proves that the idea of an" artifact" that turns 50 this year, is still viable and the master's early works look bright, young and fresh."

The ideologist and founder of the Art Estate "Veretievo" Andrey Gnatyuk focused on the "human dimension" of this science and art collaboration. He expressed admiration for the courage of the academic community of Dubna, ready to go beyond the usual disciplines.

"I would like to say about the high quality of people working in JINR. For physicists, immersion in the world of contemporary art is always a risk and a challenge," Andrey Gnatyuk emphasized. "It seems to me that it is sometimes easier for scientists to discover a new element of the periodic table than to understand modern artistic meanings. But it was this intellectual courage and sincere willingness to experiment that allowed the Institute to create such a unique cultural product."

The new exhibition space in the International Conference Centre is intended to become a point of intersection of scientific and artistic worldviews and a platform for constant dialogue between physicists and lyricists of the 21st century. The JINR Gallery was designed by the architectural studio Orchestra. The exhibition "ArtiFacts of Francisco InFante" will be open until 27 July.

JINR Press Office