I´m Guillermo Muñoz and I really happy to co-moderate this discussion.
Actually i´m post-doctoral researcher in the cross disciplinary area
between quantum-optics, nanostructured semiconductors and fiber optics
engineering. I´m interested in photon correlation experiments, for single
photon emitters, entangled photons pairs and photon indistinguishability.
This is a fascinating researh area that cover fundamental physics
(Gendanken experiments, Bell inequallities, basic quantum mechanics
principles) and applied physics (quantum computing, quantum cryptography,
quantum teleportation). In this area we are trying to push semiconductor
technology to obtain more efficient devices for these quantum technologies
(building high efficient single photon and entangled photon diodes), and
taking the advantage to include fiber optics engineering to develop new
spectroscopy tools (Fiber Bragg Gratting filterings and interferomenters,
multicore spectroscopic tools for entanglement swapping, ...). In my
secondary school, i was not really interested in Physcis and Chemistry,
because all of these subjects were terrible descontextualized to any human
and social issues. We were studying rules, but anything about why arose
these rules and not others. In fact, I decided to study Physics during my
philosophy lectures, because there we have access to all the context (we
used to visualize COSMOS and after we had a discussion about the chapter).
So, I always needed science in a contextualized fashion (historial,
humanistic, emotive, social, political). So, some (not all) of the ideas
because I included art/sci in my research are:
1) To enrich my science work. In some way similar than Andrew Pelling wrote
in past August Leonardo:
*"Indeed, enormous emphasis is being placed on the importance of
"interdisciplinary" in scientific inquiry. However, this notion is
generally accepted to be limited to the interactions between specialized
scientific disciplines alone. Interdisiciplinarity is also often praised as
an approach to solve specific problems more effectively. However, this
utilitarian valuation has little room for curiosity-driven research. (…)
Collaborations with diverse scientific disciplines, artists and social
scientists have facilitated the movement of an international contingent of
people within and through our lab. This has fostered a culture in which
open questions and experiments are developed, often falling outside the
accepted norms of scientific practice. Equally important, broader
discussions are also occurring in the lab about the environmental, ethical,
societal and scientific implications of particular experiments or
directions of inquiry"*
2) So, art/sci interaction help to me to include social aspects to my
research, to include new perspectives and ideas, to develop better
visualization/sonification techniques, and so on ... and afterwards i
understood that, in this way may be i develop art. So, if i will be an
artist, is because i will be a scientists. Even it is good to have
separated disciplines, but communicated, networked. My intentions nowadays
is to develop my own research group (i´m writing projects for ERC starting
grant ans so on), and i want to include phylosophers, artists, poets as
permanent researchers (just joined to the conventional physics
researchers); to include students exchanges (i will send my students to
art/sci residences, included in the more traditional exchange programs
(science stayings, summer shools, congress, …), I will include social
programs: citizen science and public engagement programs ..., but all of
these contextualized to study Quantum Optics in Nanostructured
Semiconductors. I know that this has risks, but not to do it has another
kind of risks. It is very nice that we are having a good time for the
art/sci perception, and may be is a good time to do it.
3) Finally, i understand science practice in someway as a political action.
I like a lot this sentence from Royal Society of London (Nullius in
Verba)), so kind of political standing in the world*.* In my point of view,
the deepest implications for these kind of collaborations is to learn how
to "open the eyes", more and more, or in other words, how to "enhance our
ears", make us more sensible, doing collaborations to include more
sophisticated inputs and, to brake rules*. *This is kind of disruptive
thinking.
I´m sure that art/sci collaborations helps a lot to enhance this disruptive
thinking, to include social and political issues, to develop more
sophisticated visualization/sonification techniques (the basic for
experimental work), even, as we will discuss, this need a lot the concept
of translation, as we don´t speak same "languajes". May be, nowadays we
approached languajes (we use quite similar technologies), but still be
different "dialects".
Best,
Guillermo
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