Art, Science, Activism: What Science Can Learn From Artists

Environmental Artist and Activist, Dan Borelli | Civil Engineer and Nuclear Scientist, Marco Kaltofen Ph.D.
Moderated by Alberta Chu, Cultural Producer, ASKlabs

May 25, 2022, 6-7pm
MIT Bartos Theater

In partnership with the List Visual Arts Center, Catalyst Conversations presented Art, Science, Activism: What Science Can Learn From Artists with Dan Borelli, Artist, Activist, Curator and Marco Kaltofen, Engineer, Nuclear Scientist, Activist. Viewers gained insight on the synthesis of compelling narratives that enable the general public to access complex and elusive data. The conversation was moderated by Alberta Chu, Cultural Producer, ASKlabs.

Scientific data can be challenging for the public to comprehend. The artist and engineer duo Dan Borelli and Marco Kaltofen provide an alternate way “in”. Each speaker shares about their research and process and together they discuss their collaboration, their project Unfriending the Atom. Together, Marco and Dan are Unfriending the Atom, a citizen science project designed to trace and map radioactivity around the world. Artists can contribute to science by inspiring communities to engage and take action for the betterment of society.

Environmental artist and researcher Dan Borelli has a socially-engaged art practice. His process involves research and learning while engaging the public in his findings. He works to reconnect the human ecology to science through narrative. Dan’s hometown of Ashland, MA has an extraordinarily high rate of cancer. Ashland was the first of 1800 Superfund sites declared hazardous by the U.S. government and Dan’s project Ashland Nyanza explores and articulates many layers of his findings.

Civil engineer and nuclear scientist Marco Kaltofen investigates the world of the very small. His work extracts exotic data from mundane objects. He wields his protocols and GE chart of nucleotides like a detective. Through the investigation of mundane objects sourced from volunteers all over the world, he is able to interpret and generate data that forms a narrative.