NWO & ARIAS Smart Culture Working Conference

For a detailed report on the evening, written by Brenda Tempelaar, please click here to download.


An NWO and ARIAS collaboration, the Smart Culture Working Conference, took place on November 16th in Utrecht. Focused on providing fresh perspectives and more insight on the topics of arts, research and science. This Smart Culture Working Conference displayed and questioned the diversity of artistic research with special consideration for the four PhD projects of the NWO programme ‘PhD Research in the Arts’. With that focus at hand, the conference leaned towards an investigative and activating approach, with an ‘exposium’ on research in the arts, as well as four workshops that explored the relationship between art under four themes: ‘Art and reflection on art’, ‘Bio Art and Design’, ‘Inclusiveness & Queer community’ and ‘Art and Technology’. The three contributors of the day were Jonas Staal, Jeremiah Day, and Yvonne Dröge Wendel, whose presentations were met with respondents from related fields. Additionally, the conference featured a screening of Lonnie Van Brummelen’s film, ‘Episode of the Sea’, because Van Brummelen herself was unable to attend.