Where Science Meets Art
Meetings between science and art, an exchange of ideas between scientists and artists
Curator: Yivsam Azgad
Contemporary conceptual art, much like the art of science, sprouts from an inner seed, within the awareness of the artist or scientist. Each must then undergo a rigorous process of refinement, isolation and experimentation. Each of these worlds is based on a central tenet of precision and consistency. In this, the ideologies and roots of the two appear not only to approach each other, but to abut in many places.
At the Weizmann Institute of Science, art is seen to be a complementary activity, so that scientists and artists can, together, observe the world from a higher vantage point in a more critical and precise way. In other words, the synergy that occurs when science and art are brought together – when the two world views meet – can lead to more significant achievements in the enduring quest to understand the world and our place in it.
Based on this concept, art exhibits have been displayed in various work spaces in the Weizmann Institute of Science in recent years – primarily showings of contemporary Israeli art.
Alon Weingarten
"Iron sculptures"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support, Entrance lobby
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The Iron Age began some 3,200 years ago, probably in the area of modern-day Turkey. At the time, iron was used mainly for the production and design of various tools, such as spearheads, axes, and others. The ability to shape the metal as desired was made possible by the use of furnaces that smelted...
Michael Slatkine
"E-Pencil"
Feinberg Graduate School
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Landscape painting on the Weizmann Institute campus, using a smartphone screen.
Intuition is Michael Slatkine’s first tool. His smartphone – which he terms “my studio” – merely provides the technology and space for the creative act to take place. He views the smartphone screen’s small dimensions as...
Shalom Flash
"Views"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support, 1st floor
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Shalom Flash focuses on landscape and urban landscape paintings, a movement that emerged in the 17th century in the Netherlands, and in the 18th and 19th centuries in other European countries.
There are two types of landscape paintings: Panoramic, which present a comprehensive and sweeping view of...
Natalia Zourabova
"Here, Now"
Stone Administration Building, Entrance floor
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Natalia Zourabova, it seems, brings "what’s there" to the forefront. Skilled and elaborate figurative painting, based on observing people and situations. This is reality as it appears at a first, focused and penetrating, glance.
Zourabova seems to halt her gaze – and brush – at the outer limits of...
Zohdy Qadry
"for the sake of good order"
The David Lopatie International Conference Center, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
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Geometric structures found in a kind of delicate balance — or not far from it — have comprised the works of Zohdi Qadry in recent years. The straight lines, the precise color surfaces create a sense of “good order”; of being able to predict what’s to come; of a known and safe set of rules that—if...
Daniel Khaykelson
"Cement (Photography, film)"
The Koffler Accelerator, 7th floor
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The Koffler Accelerator was designed by architect Moshe Harel in 1975, and has since become an architectural emblem of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The unique structure consists of two towers: A 57-meter high corkscrew-shaped tower, and a 53-meter-high tower topped by an egg-shaped structure...
Paintings by girls and boys
"Women scientists"
Stone building, ground floor
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Exhibited at the complex of the Office for the advancement of women in science and gender equality
Michal Servadio Ilan
"On My Way"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support, 4th floor
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The works by Michal Servadio Ilan in this exhibition focus on a personal, physical, and metaphysical journey. The journey, along with the insights arising along the way, is the central theme of her works.
Michal photographs moments that capture her attention in compositions that seem to produce an...
Joshua Griffit
"Bearing Souvenirs #2"
The Max and Lillian Candiotty Building, 1st, 3rd floor
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Joshua Griffith is on the move. So claimed Gideon Ofrat in the 1990s. According to Ofrat, in those years Griffit – through his paintings – traveled in cars, trams, ships, carriages, motorcycles, airplanes, horses, sail and motor boats, gondolas, and anything that could take him away from here, in a...
Alexander Katan-Schmid, Gadi Dagon
"Body image"
The Max and Lillian Candiotty Building, 2nd floor
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In the world of photography, there is one boundary – one that is generally thought to be impassable. That boundary is the camera itself, which separates those standing in front of the lens and those who seek protection behind it. The ability to be simultaneously on both sides of the boundary is...
Orit Bechar and Yossi Shohat
"Photographed at the Weizmann Institute of Science"
Raoul and Graziella de Picciotto Building for Scientific and Technical Support, 2nd floor
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Hundreds, even thousands of people enter the Weizmann Institute of Science every single day. All are well aware of the importance of aesthetics and beauty to Institute life. The meticulous landscaping, the saplings alongside mature trees, the diverse flora, and painstaking cultivation – all these...
Joshua Griffit
"Bearing Souvenirs"
Stone Administration Building, first floor
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Joshua Griffit is on the move. So claimed Gideon Ofrat in the 1990s. According to Ofrat, in those years Griffit – through his paintings – traveled in cars, trams, ships, carriages, motorcycles, airplanes, horses, sail and motor boats, gondolas, and anything that could take him away from here, in a...
Map
"Mapping in Science and Art"
Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Building for Biomedical Research
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You are Here
In one of the more memorable scenes in The King and I, Anna (played by Deborah Kerr in the movie), points to Siam on a map of the world. The king’s many children raise a hue and cry: The Siam they know is a large, glorious and populous country. It is not, as the songwriter Meir...
Or Raviv
"Update"
Stone Administration Building, Third floor
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In 1801, William Turner (1775-1851) was stopped by guards at the entrance to the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The guards had instructions to check the pockets of the young artist, who was already an Academy member and whose paintings were hung in the exhibit inside. It seems that during the...