Athens S+T+Arts Symposium 2020

The S+T+Arts programs and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Greece

How can the S+T+Arts programs contribute to the citizens’ digital literacy? How can we tackle climate crisis, sustainability, and data processing, through the activities that bind together science with technology and arts? Focusing on both national and European perspective, the panelists examine how the S+T+Arts programs can help create a new economy and trigger skills development, as well as the emergence of new practices and research, even in pandemic times.

Grigoris Zarifopoulos: Deputy Minister of Digital Governance, responsible for Digital Strategy
Christos Carras: Executive Director, Onasis Stegi

Grigoris Zarifopoulos is the Deputy Minister of Digital Governance, responsible for Digital Strategy, and for attracting investment in Digital Technology. Before joining the Government of the Hellenic Republic, he served as Google’s Regional Director for Southeast Europe and CEO of Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Malta. Prior to Google, he held the position of General Manager of Gap for Greece, Cyprus, and the Balkan countries. He has also worked for IKEA Greece, McKinsey & Company management consulting firm in London and Athens, and Seagate Technology, the disk drive manufacturer in California, USA.

Grigoris Zarifopoulos holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College, University of London, a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, USA, and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, USA.

From the Art of Digital Science to the Science of Digital Arts

Regarding the main concept of S+T+Arts programs, i.e. the cross-disciplinarity between science, technology and the arts, the panelists examine how can such an approach be implemented, and why it is necessary today. What do we mean by ‘digital skills’ and ‘open science’? How can the artists engage with technology in their artworks, and which is our response to the use of big technologies? And finally, how much ‘art’ fits into digital science, and is digital art a ‘science’ itself?

Maria Varela, a visual artist, Daphne Dragona, a curator, and Natalia Manola, a scientist and research associate of “Athena” Research and Innovation Center, and the University of Athens, along with Prodromos Tsiavos, head of the Onassis Group Digital Development, focus on this cross-sectoral collaboration, both on theory and in practice, drawing upon their expertise.

Panelists
Maria Varela: Visual Artist
Daphne Dragona: Curator
Natalia Manola: Managing Director of OpenAIRE, Research Associate of “Athena” Research and Innovation Center, and the University of Athens, Department of Informatics & Telecommunications

Coordination
Prodromos Tsiavos: Head of Digital Development of the Onassis Group

Maria Varela (b. 1984, Athens) works as a media artist with her focus on creative technologies, data weaving visualization, and conducting workshops. In her practice she experiments with ways in which the archival event can be transcribed from the digital environment to the natural world.

In 2010 she completed her MA in Interactive Media at Goldsmiths College, London. She has presented her work at numerous exhibitions in Greece and internationally, at museums such as the EMST (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens), and Bozar in Brussels, and art festivals such as the 19th Festival de Arte Contemporânea Sesc_Videobrasil in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Media Art Biennale WRO in Wroclaw, Poland; Siggraph in Vancouver, Canada; transmediale in Berlin, Germany; ISWC (International Symposium on Wearable Computers) in Seattle, USA; Piksel in Bergen, Norway; Amber in Istanbul, Turkey; Onassis Stegi ‘Visual Dialogues’ in Athens, et al. She has organized and led creative educational programs in Athens, in collaboration with the Onassis Stegi, EMST, Goethe Institut, Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, and NEON Institute. She lives and works in Athens, Greece.

Daphne Dragona is a curator and writer based in Berlin. Through her work, she engages with artistic practices and methodologies that challenge contemporary forms of power. Among her topics of interest have been the controversies of connectivity; the promises of the commons; the challenges of artistic subversion; the instrumentalization of play; the problematics of care and empathy; and most recently the potential of kin-making technologies in times of climate crisis. She has been published in various books, journals, magazines, and exhibition catalogs by the likes of Springer, Sternberg Press, and Leonardo Electronic Almanac. Her exhibitions have been hosted at the real or virtual premises of Onassis Stegi, LABoral, Aksioma, NeMe, EMST (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens), Akademie Schloss Solitude, Alta Technologia Andina, and Le Lieu unique. Dragona was part of the transmediale festival’s core curatorial team between 2015-2019. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Communication & Media Studies, University of Athens.

Natalia Manola is the Managing Director of OpenAIRE, a pan-European e-infrastructure promoting open science across Europe. She is also a research associate of “Athena” Research and Innovation Center, and of the University of Athens’ Department of Informatics & Telecommunications. Natalia holds a BA in Physics from the University of Athens, and an M.Sc. in Electrical and Computing Engineering from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, USA. She has worked as software engineer in the bioinformatics sector, and since 2005 is involved with the implementation of open science policies. Currently serving at the Executive Board of European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), she is also head of the EOSC’s Digital Skills and Training Working Group. Natalia has previously served at the European Commission’s Advisory Group for the development and implementation of open science in Europe (Open Science Policy Platform, 2016-17), and for the development of Future Emerging Technology program (FET, 2013-17). Among her research interests are topics related to scientific data management, and analysis of research and innovation’s impact on society.

S+T+Arts

S+T+Arts is an initiative of the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. S+T+Arts was launched in 2015, following up the findings of previous activities funded by the European Commission, namely ICT&Art 2012, FET-ART, ICT ART CONNECT 2013 and ICT ART CONNECT study, whose results demonstrated the worldwide emergence of communities of hybrid collaborations among science, technology, and arts, and their relevance.

MADE

MADE is a non-profit platform for communications strategy, social innovation projects, and creative synergies. Culture and Innovation, Ecology and Sustainability, Democracy, Resilience and Progress are their inspiration and the guidelines of their works. Social innovation is about creating ideas and solutions for change; creativity is about becoming inventive through synergies and interactivity, while having high standards of aesthetics for every strategy or accomplishment. MADE team is a group of experts, professionals and scientists, who provide the opportunity for training, experimentation and high level of commitment to alumni and young professionals. In Greece, MADE is the implementing Partner of the S+T+Arts Regional Centers, an initiative supported by the European Commission, for the establishment and promotion of the Regional Centers, where the advantages of the cross-disciplinarity, between science, technology and the arts across Europe, are being explored.

ONASSIS STEGI

Onassis Stegi has been actively exploring the relationships between scientific and artistic practice for many years. The fundamental conviction behind this practice is that it is not helpful to consider the arts and science as opposed domains and that, on the contrary, they represent complementary and mutually necessary modes of interrogating our world. Stegi has produced and hosted several exhibitions that in various ways explore this relationship (“Hybrids” in collaboration with Ars Electronica Center, Linz; “Tomorrows”; “Digital Revolution” in collaboration with the Barbican Centre, London) and is a partner in several European Networks that directly work with S+T+Arts methodologies (“AI Lab” coordinated by Ars Electronica Center; “Studiotopia” coordinated by Bozar, Brussels). Furthermore, the Onassis Foundation in collaboration with New Inc., New York, has established ONX, a cutting-edge media lab focused on VR and XR technologies. The Foundation has also actively developed programs for schools as well as for schoolteachers, that promote transdisciplinary learning in the spirit of S+T+Arts.