Estudio Nuboso’s LAB de Arte y Ciencia is a format for knowledge exchange that promotes collaboration between scientists and artists to produce a positive impact on society and the environment. Based in Panama, the project has been run twice – in 2015 and 2017 – with a residency period, followed by exhibitions, public programs and publications. As the LAB itself has evolved and other Berlin-based projects emerge, it is time to share experiences and have an open conversation with other people that are interested in the intersection of art, science and nature.
Estudio Nuboso is an art and ecology organization founded in Panama, a country of great interest for scientific research due to its vast biodiversity. Although much of the research that is made in this country influences the fields of health, environment and technology, there is a delay in knowledge transfer to the people who inhabit this living laboratory. The Art and Science LAB project emerges as a space to awaken curiosity and reflect on how we relate with our surroundings through the interaction between these two disciplines. An integral understanding of the surroundings is a key to empower people and rewrite the narratives of what the world is and can become. And art is a powerful vehicle to share and connect with ideas that benefit humanity.
Ela Spalding was born in Panama in 1982. She is an artist and cultural producer, focusing on the human-nature-culture relationship. Her art and facilitation work navigates exchanges between people, ecosystems and disciplines to provoke an active reflection on how we inhabit the world today . She is founder and creative director of Estudio Nuboso – a platform for art and ecology in Panama, founding member for Archipel e.V. a Berlin-based cross-cultural collective and community radio station, as well as Associate Curator in the Center for Contemporary Art and the Natural World. She shares her time between Panama and Berlin.
