"A lecture and discussion series as part of the collaboration between the Technical University of Munich, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and Haus der Kunst on astrophysics and art.
We are excited to invite you to the Physics & Art Mondays, a new interdisciplinary lecture and discussion series. This initiative is part of a four-year collaboration between the Academy of Fine Arts Munich (AdBK), the Collaborative Research Center 1258 “Neutrinos and Dark Matter in Astro- and Particle Physics” at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and Haus der Kunst. Together, we will reflect on fundamental physics research through artistic and curatorial perspectives.
Starting in the summer semester of 2025, artists, physicists, and curators will meet every second Monday at the AdBK to discuss intersections between physics and art. The project will continue with joint seminars for students from both institutions and excursions to research sites such as ESO in Garching, CERN in Geneva, and the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy.
The collaboration will examine the role of scientific knowledge production in shaping society and the cultural relevance of basic research. It is guided by Prof. Dr. Elisa Resconi, professor of experimental physics at TUM and spokesperson of SFB1258, and Armin Linke, professor of photography at AdBK, in close cooperation with Andrea Lissoni, Artistic Director of Haus der Kunst.
Program:
May 5, 2025
6:30 PM – Get-together with pizza & drinks
7:00–8:00 PM – What do we want in Physics & Art?
With Elisa Resconi (Chair of Experimental Physics with Cosmic Particles, TUM; Head of Physics Department, Spokesperson of the SFB 1258) & Armin Linke (Professor of Photography, AdBK)
May 19, 2025
6:30 PM – Get-together with pizza & drinks
7:00–8:00 PM – Theory, experiment, results: The different actors in Physics & Art
With Stefan Schönert (Chair of Experimental Astroparticle Physics, TUM; Principal Investigator of the SFB1258) & Andrea Lissoni (Artistic Director, Haus der Kunst München)
June 16, 2025
6:30 PM – Get-together with pizza & drinks
7:00–8:00 PM – Waves & Modulation in Physics & Art
With Valentina Mantovani Sarti (Senior Scientist, TUM; Principal Investigator of the SFB1258) & Florian Hecker (Professor of Sound and Experiment, AdBK)
Waves & Modulation in Physics & Art: In their conversation, Valentina Mantovani Sarti and Florian Hecker will consider how the notion of ‘non-flatness,’ the implications of wave-particle duality, and the situated nature of measurement technologies—in both computer-generated sound and physics—can serve as entry points for understanding how ‘information’ is recorded, analyzed, and interpreted in both areas.
June 23, 2025
6:30 PM – Get-together with pizza & drinks
7:00–8:00 PM – How to trace patterns in Physics & Art
With Andreas Erhart (Doctoral researcher, TUM; member of the SFB1258) & Alexandra Pirici (Professor of Performance, AdBK)
Knowledge is never produced in a vacuum; it is deeply embedded in the practices, instruments, and contexts of its production. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s concept of ‘situated knowledge’ and Karen Barad’s theory of ‘agential realism’, Andreas Erhart and Alexandra Pirici’s conversation delves into epistemic practices that privilege vision over sensory modalities, while also tracing a variety of patterns that emerge across contemporary art and experimental particle physics.
July 14, 2025
6:30 PM – Get-together with pizza & drinks
7:00–8:00 PM – Data in Physics & Art
With Philipp Eller (Senior Scientist, TUM; Principal Investigator of the SFB1258) & Francis Hunger (researcher and lecturer for Emergent Digital Media, AdBK)
The vast amount of data available nowadays to physicists and artists alike has long surpassed the capacities of human vision to comprehensively analyze it. But why is there so much data in astronomy? And what kind of user interfaces have been predominantly promoted in analyzing data in both physics and art? What do they tell us about our historically developed forms of categorization and classification? Starting from the ‘scanning girls’ as hidden figures in 20th-century particle physics up to today’s algorithmic vision, Philipp Eller and Francis Hunger’s talk maps out how labor conditions and tabular structures shape our very perception of data. Drawing on diverse historical examples of tables, Francis Hunger further explores how data became an abstraction of knowledge to exist primarily in a grid."