In October 2023, the Qolony association organised a week-long art-science hackathon during which the selected artists had the opportunity to discover some of Bucharest’s scientific institutes. We were invited to the event to assist these meetings and to present various examples of art-science collaboration to the participants.

First, the researchers presented their work to the artists and invited them to visit their institutes. Then it was the artists’ turn to present their project and convince the researchers to choose them for a future collaboration.

In total, 10 artists for 8 projects, and 5 scientific institutes :

• ISS – Institute of Space Science
• National Institute of Material Physics
• National Institute for Laser, Plasma & Radiation Physics
• University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest
• National Research and Development Institute for Textiles and Leather

Once the artist-researcher groups had been formed, we selected four winning projects for which the artists will take up residencies in 2024. Exceptionally, the researchers have opted for a 5th project, which can be developed at a later date. The projects were all showcased in a small exhibition that took place at the Conacul Otetelesanu, a historical place for scientific research in Romania. 

Although the “Fusion AIR” art-science residencies have been held every year since Qolony was founded, this experimental hackathon will have enabled a much larger number of artists to discover the nature of the various scientific research projects, the issues involved and a practical insight into the work of researchers.