Art–Science Intra-Action: New Modes of Knowledge Production

If, as Karen Barad reminds us, we do not stand apart from the world we seek to know, then art–science collaborations are not mere exchanges of information but sites of intra-action—where bodies, technologies, microbes, and cosmic forces co-produce understanding. Laura Splan traces the aesthetics of molecules; Sue Huang mourns and reimagines ecological futures; Janet Biggs journeys to extreme terrains—physical and psychological—to probe the limits of perception; and Gal Nissim constructs portals for interspecies translation. Together, they model a practice in which knowledge is felt, not just proven; where data carries intimacy; and research becomes storytelling. Art–Science Intra-Action invites audiences into a shared laboratory of imagination, ethics, and planetary entanglement.

Moderator

Heidi Boisvert – Gainesville, FL USA

Heidi Boisvert (PhD) is an interdisciplinary artist, experience designer, creative technologist, and academic researcher who interrogates the neurobiological and socio-cultural effects of media and technology. She studies the role of the body, the senses, and emotion in human perception and social change. Boisvert is mapping the world’s first media genome, while taking great care with its far-reaching ethical implications. She also architects expanded reality and transmedia storytelling experiences, and devises large-scale networked dance and theatre using biocreative technology. She founded futurePerfect lab, a creative agency and think-tank that works with social justice organizations to design playful emerging media campaigns to transform the public imagination. She also co-founded XTH, a company creating novel modes of expression through biotechnology and the human body. Boisvert is Associate Professor of AI & the Arts at the University of Florida, a Senior Research Fellow at the Norman Lear Center, a research affiliate at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab, and part of NEW INC’s Creative Science track.

Artists

In order of appearance:

00:44:37 Gal Nissim – galnissim.com

Gal Nissim is a New York-based, interdisciplinary artist and researcher investigating human-animal interactions. Nissim creates interactive works, often involving living organisms, that explore complex scientific themes. Using sound, video, sculpture, installation, and humor, she aims to help people rebuild our relationship with the living world. Nissim’s work has been exhibited at the New Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Times Square, Pioneer Works, Central Park, New York Hall of Science, Artport Tel Aviv in Public Space, Science Gallery Detroit, GStreamer Conference (Berlin), among others.
Nissim was awarded the Young Artist Award (2022) by the Israel Ministry of Culture, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), Culture & Animals Foundation, and the Weizmann Institute of Science for outstanding young researchers.

00:05:12 Laura Splan – laurasplan.com

Laura Splan is a New York City based artist working at the intersections of Science, Technology, and Culture. Her research-based studio practice and interdisciplinary collaborations culminate in multimedia exhibitions and events that reveal the “GUI/gooey” or liminal technological interfaces that mediate our relationship to the biological world. Her multimedia artworks have been presented at the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Brooklyn Museum (NYC), Santa Mònica Art Centre (Barcelona), Galerie FOFA (Montréal), and The Nobel Prize Museum at Liljevalchs (Stockholm). Commissions include projects for Museum of the Moving Image, Vanderbilt Planetarium, Beall Center for Art+Technology, and Bruges Triennial. Her work is represented in the Spalter Digital Art Collection and Thoma Foundation and she has been featured on Science Friday. Her research has been supported by the Simons Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Creative Australia, EY Metaverse Lab, NEW INC at the New Museum, and AS220’s National Endowment for the Arts Digital Arts Fellowship.

00:23:05 Sue Huang – studiosuehuang.com

Sue Huang is a new media artist whose work examines collective experience, ecological intimacy, and speculative futures. She is the 2025–2026 Rutgers–New Brunswick Laureate for Bodies of Flora, a project exploring botanical loss and social memory. Huang has exhibited nationally and internationally at MOCA, Los Angeles; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; Philadelphia Contemporary; ISEA, Montreal; and Ars Electronica, Linz, among others. Her residencies include Leonardo@Djerassi, LMCC, NEW INC, and the Studios at MASS MoCA. Huang holds an MFA in Media Arts from UCLA and a BS in Science, Technology, and International Affairs from Georgetown University. She is an assistant professor of Art & Design at Rutgers University–New Brunswick.

01:06:24 Janet Biggs – jbiggs.com

Janet Biggs is a research-based interdisciplinary artist known for immersive work in video, sound and performance whose work focuses on individuals in extreme landscapes and situations. Navigating the territory between art, science and technology, Biggs has worked with institutions including NOAA, NASA, and CERN. Her work has garnered support from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and recognition from The New York Times, ArtForum, and ARTNews. Her work has been exhibited and collected at museums and institutions worldwide. Biggs is a member of The Explorers Club and works with Cristin Tierney Gallery (New York City), Analix Forever (Geneva, Switzerland), and CONNERSMITH (Washington, DC).