Talk: When Science meets Art with Thijs Bierstecker (Villars Institute)
As seen floating above Lac Leman, when art and science meet you get the best of two worlds. Artist Thijs Biersteker and Heidi Sevestre have created a unique collaboration about melting glaciers, making the climate crisis tangible, understandable and emotional. Thijs Biersteker will explain how this piece came to being and how he weaves together the facts and the feelings for mayor institutions like Unesco, Fondation Cartier, WHO, and the Villars Institute.
About Thijs Biersteker
Thijs Biersteker, an award-winning ecological artist and three-time TED speaker, transforms scientific environmental data into immersive art installations that turn facts into feelings. Along with his team, he collaborates with renowned scientists and institutions, making complex environmental issues accessible, understandable, and deeply relatable.
His work is recognized in the art world as a unique and fluid fusion of data, sensors, living trees, kinetic engines, fragile mycelium, big data visualizations, recycled plastics, and the interplay of plant and artificial intelligence, and is celebrated as heralding a new generation of science communication.
From Beijing to Helsinki, Biersteker’s unique, science-driven artworks have captivated millions, showcased in leading museums and prominent conferences, extending the reach and influence of environmental research.
In his quest to create new ways of science communication he founded the Woven Foundation for creative climate communication. The foundation creates new narratives and unique ways to tell the climate and biodiversity stories through art, datavisualisation and other assets created to empower decision makers and scientists.