A Scientific Encounter: The Complex

Description

A collaboration between Newcastle University and the Museum of Palazzo Poggi - University Museum Network | University of Bologna co-curated by Gino Gianuizzi and Wolfgang Weileder.

Featured Artists: Aurelio Andrighetto (IT), Sergia Avveduti (IT), Irene Brown (GB), David
Casini (IT), Silvia Cini (IT), Gianluca Codeghini (IT), CuoghiCorsello (IT), Garry Doherty
(GB), Amy Dover (GB), Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva (MK/GB), Daniel Laskarin (CA), Janet
Laurence (AU), Claudia Losi (IT), M+M (DE/LU), Dörte Meyer (DE), Maurizio Mercuri (IT),
Stéphanie Nava (FR), Giancarlo Norese (IT), Marco Pace (IT), Jasmine Reif (DE/GB), Eva
Sauer (IT/DE), Albrecht Schäfer (DE), Francesco Voltolina (IT), Wolfgang Weileder
(DE/GB), Alberto Zanazzo (IT)

A Scientific Encounter: The Complex explores the intersections between cultural and
scientific heritage, focusing on the concept of the “complex”—a term coined by Luigi
Ferdinando Marsili (Bologna, 1658–1730). A polymath—scientist, academician, diplomat,and general—Marsili founded Bologna’s Institute of Sciences and Liberal Arts, housed in
Palazzo Poggi since 1711. The Institute’s early prestige is underscored by the 1714
incorporation of the local Accademia degli Inquieti, which transformed it into the
Accademia delle Scienze dell'Istituto di Bologna. This institution encompassed an
educational centre, a scientific museum, and the Academy of Fine Arts.
Marsili’s vision of the “Complex” championed innovation through collaboration, debate, and experimentation between science and art. By pairing works by internationally recognized artists with artifacts from the museum’s collections, the exhibition reimagines the historical relationship between art and science. It interrogates how historical collections—spanning anatomy, optics, chemistry, geography, nautical science, physics, and astronomy—can be
reinterpreted through contemporary artistic engagement, while simultaneously expanding artistic practice through encounters with these objects.

The project seeks to reassess the historical entanglement (and disentanglement) of art
and natural sciences; engage public interest in scientific museum collections by
commissioning contemporary artists to highlight shared heritage; examine the agency of objects—how they shape human understanding, drawing from methodologies in science anthropology (e.g., Bruno Latour’s theories).
The exhibition is not didactic; contemporary artworks neither subordinate nor merely
complement Museum of Palazzo Poggi’s collections. Instead, they intervene dynamically—dialoguing with or contrasting against displayed objects (fossils, scientific instruments, fortress models, anatomical waxes). The museum’s itinerary —featuring geography, nautical science, military architecture,physics, natural history, chemistry, human anatomy, obstetrics, and the Aldrovandi’s naturalistic collection— becomes a site of free dialogue, where artistic interventions provoke questions, challenge assumptions, and offer alternative visions.

A Scientific Encounter: The Complex reimagines historical scientific objects as catalysts for new ways of seeing and thinking and uses artistic imagination to uncover latent meanings and challenge linear/teleological narratives of scientific progress. It also acts also as a “rearview mirror” on the evolution of knowledge, reflecting shifts in material culture embracing a philosophical turn redefining object-subject relationships, revitalizing the role of material culture in natural sciences. By engaging with these collections through an object-oriented lens, artists liberate their latent potential, recontextualizing them for contemporary discourse.

CURATORS
Gino Gianuizzi is an independent researcher and teaches Urban and Spatial Intervention Design at Bologna’s Academy of Fine Arts.
Wolfgang Weileder is an artist and Professor of Contemporary Sculpture in Newcastle
University’s Fine Art programs. He directs the PhD seminar series in Fine Arts and
oversees international exchanges for the department.

This exhibition extends the research initiative A Scientific Encounter: On Inter-Objectivity (2017, University of Montpellier Faculty of Medicine), a collaboration between Newcastle University, École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Montpellier, and the University of Montpellier. The earlier project explored how scientific objects mediate human-world relationships through Bruno Latour’s concept of “inter-objectivity.”

Period	9 Jun 2025 → 30 Jun 2025
Event type	Exhibition