ARS SCIENTIA series (Part I - Conversations Series)

ARS SCIENTIA debuts at the Chicago Cultural Center JANUARY 12

Exciting new series, part of Science Chicago, combines art & science

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs presents Ars Scientia, a
series of conversations and salons which explores the fascinating
intersection of art and science, and professional collaborations that
have sprung from it. The public is invited to learn about the work of
pioneering artists, dancers, musicians and culinary artists, and the
biologists, neuroscientists, mathematicians and engineers who have
partnered with them. The series is held bimonthly on Monday evenings
from 6:00 - 7:30 pm, beginning on January 12, 2009.

Ars Scientia is part of the year long Science Chicago festival, and
will be held at The Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St.

Admission is free.


location: Claudia Cassidy Theater:


The Chemistry of Cooking
January 12

Chef Homaro Cantu is well known for making food that snaps, crackles,
freezes and evaporates into thin air. Science, nature and technology
have inspired Chef Cantu's culinary creations at Moto Restaurant and
the unique inventions at his company, Cantu Designs. Learn how Chef
Cantu and his partner at Cantu Designs, scientist Dr. Linda Kawano,
collaborate, share ideas and meld science, art and business.

Structuring Change
February 9

Artist Inigo Manglano-Ovalle's technically sophisticated and formally
elegant investigations employ forms and systems found in nature -- like
clouds, icebergs and DNA -- to address issues ranging from immigration
to cloning to gun violence and climate change He will converse with
computational scientist Mark Hereld, Senior Fellow in the Computation
Institute (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago) and
artist Siebren Versteeg.

The Magic of Perception
March 9

Magician Apollo Robbins and neuroscientist Dr. Susana Martinez-Conde of
Martinez-Conde Laboratory of Neural Science in Arizona collaborated on a
study of perception -- how do we know what is really happening?
Robbins, a "professional thief," once pick-pocketed President Carter's
Secret Service escort -- keys, IDs and wallets -- in a demonstration of
the vulnerability of our perception.


The series title, Ars Scientia, is based on a Latin
phrase, ars sine scientia nihil est, loosely translated as Art without
Knowledge is Nothing, which the late artist Leon Golub had painted on
his studio wall.