Ariane Koek announced as Director of Science Gallery Venice
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice announces Ariane Koek as the Director of Science Gallery Venice, a dynamic venue for art and science planned for Venice's port of San Basilio.
Science Gallery Venice have announced Ariane Koek as their first Director. Ariane initiated and designed, as Founding Director, Arts@CERN – the international interdisciplinary arts/science/technology programme based at the world’s largest particle physics public research laboratory in Switzerland. Prior to that she was given the Clore Fellowship, an international cultural leadership award for her work in culture, including as an award-winning staff producer in BBC radio and television known for working across disciplines. Ariane enjoys writing about interdisciplinarity and artists and their work, with essays for exhibitions including those by Pipilotti Rist, Goshka Macuga and Bill Fontana. She is on the Advisory Boards of the House of Electronic Arts (HEK, Switzerland), Arts At CERN, and the Joint Research Council’s sci-art programme based at ISPRA, Italy.
Speaking of the announcement, Michele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice said: “We welcome Ariane Koek to the director’s role of Science Gallery Venice, the Italian node of the Global Science Gallery Network. There is no doubt that Ariane, strong from her experiences in art and science interaction projects – at the BBC, the Arvon Foundation and at CERN – will be an excellent and important addition to this initiative. Ca’ Foscari and the institutions that participate in the Venetian District of Research and Innovation are committed to promoting science as a founding value of social and cultural growth and progress – something Ariane is uniquely placed to help us achieve.”
Ariane Koek accepted the engagement with enthusiasm: “I am absolutely delighted to be working with Ca Foscari University to lead on the establishment of the Science Gallery Venice - the first of its kind in Italy. As one of the most culturally important cities in the world, Venice has played both a major role in the history of science and the arts and is an ideal location for the latest initiative in the Science Gallery International network. By harnessing Venice and Italy’s rich cultural past and the present to focus on the future, the vision of Science Gallery Venice will be to showcase new ideas on sustainability for the environment, cultural heritage and what it is to be human. At the heart of our work will be engaging the pioneers of our future - 15-25 year olds – by colliding arts and science in unexpected ways to explore, discover and demonstrate ideas and solutions for the most challenging questions of our time.”
Andrea Bandelli, Director of Science Gallery International said: “We are very excited to welcome Ariane Koek as founding director of Science Gallery Venice. A recognized world leader in the field of science and art, Ariane brings to Science Gallery an outstanding international experience developed at CERN and BBC. On behalf of the whole Science Gallery Network, I extend my congratulations to her and Ca’ Foscari University of Venice on her appointment.”
Ariane Koek will take charge of developing Science Gallery at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the Italian node of the Global Science Gallery Network. Public events will take place until Science Gallery Venice will officially open its doors in 2019.
Science Gallery Venice will involve young people and the wider Venetian community in a stimulating and ever-evolving environment, creating and hosting exhibitions and events that will be free to enter, and always following the three cardinal features of Science Gallery: connect, participate and surprise. Science Gallery is an award-winning international initiative pioneered by Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin that delivers a dynamic new model for engaging 15–25 year olds with art and science, and inspiring the next generation of innovators to develop their interest in STEAM areas.
Led by Science Gallery International, additional Network locations are under development with leading university partners in London, Bangalore, Melbourne and Detroit. The Network has engaged over 3 million young people since 2008 in its transdisciplinary programmes exploring the collisions between science and art. Find out more.