Art Loves Science Speed-Dating

Ten persevering people descended at Axiom this past Tuesday, the eve before the “snow emergency” that never happened, for Art Loves Science, Round 2- ATNE’s version of the speed-dating phenomenon!

After Round 1, which happened last fall, we at ATNE decided that, if we built it, people would come, so we planned for Round 2, and made this session a bit more structured and specific.  Participants, (after filling their wine glasses of course) were asked to introduce themselves to the group and give a bit of background on what brought them to speed-date, and where they consider themselves to fit in the art and or science world.

On the wall, on an obligatory “giant post-it” were a list of ice-breaking conversation starters for daters. They ran the gamut from “what’s your wish list for equipment/media or software?” to “do you think artists are scientists and vice versa, can they help each other and how so?”

We then had about an hour and a half of six minute conversations with one another, complete with iPhone timer giving the “half-time” alert and a strict “SWITCH” command at the end of six short (or long, depending on your conversation partner I suppose!) minutes.

At the end of it all, we took a wine break, and came into a circle to talk about issues, “aha moments” and potential “dates” that were made. ATNE Program manager Sarah Rushford, and myself, had been eavesdropping on conversations throughout the evening, and so read a list of interesting and funny tidbits overheard. The prize for the evening, a dvd issue of Aspect Magazine, was given to Eric, a phd student from MIT’s Media Lab, for his use of the word “tinkerability.”

What made this evening so interesting and special was the varied people who braved the impending non-storm to talk about art and science. Selected backgrounds ranged from a materials scientist, two international relations grad students, a few computer science guys, a writer, a dancer, a performance artist, a musician, a media lab PHD candidate – amongst others.

Several ideas came out of  this evening as well that ATNE will take under strong consideration: organizing a skill-share for artists and scientists, hosting collaborator-finding networking sessions, and holding more structured events for feedback on ideas and projects outside of an academic setting, for both artists and scientists/technologists. So, all in all, a fun event, and the only complaint I heard was “well, I thought this would be a place to pick up girls, but I was sorely disappointed, and yet pleasantly surprised.”

Stay tuned for Art Loves Science, Round 3- you never, know, maybe you’ll find a date.