This exhibition – co-curated by Edinburgh International Science Festival, Summerhall and ASCUS Art & Science – celebrates some of the very special works created when artists and scientists get together; showcasing collaborations and interpretations of real data that provide new windows onto some fascinating and intriguing areas of science.

What happens when art and science connect, when artists and scientists meet and collaborate? The arts and sciences have long been regarded as separated disciplines, but they share a fascination with making sense of the world around us and our place in it. Both, albeit in their own ways, seek answers to the same fundamental questions: who are we, why are we here, and where are we going?

They may ask very different kinds of questions about human nature, the world we inhabit, and the relationship between the two, but they both build models of human experience in order to extend the boundaries of human capacity. On its own, science can have limited scope to tackle societal change, but in an increasingly connected world there is growing recognition of the complementarity between the sciences and the arts and humanities and the potential for creativity and innovation that these connections can generate.

More and more artists are inspired by scientific ideas and concepts, and many scientists are using art to depict and explain the (often obscure) ideas that they grapple with every day, with artistic thinking influencing science and scientific methodology reaching into the arts. Through residencies, ongoing collaborations and the sharing of ideas, artists take inspiration from real-world research and transform it into experiences that engage, enthral and raise some profound questions about the connections between art and science and our relationship with our world and with each other.

Contemporary Connections is supported by Heriot-Watt University in association with Summerhall and ASCUS Art & Science with The Leverhulme Trust, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy and Natural Resource, the University of Cambridge; Universidad Nacional de San Martin; Instituto del Artes Mauricio Kagel.

01 April – 12 May 2017

Open 11:00 – 18:00 / closed Mondays