Artists-in-labs program

Reunion of artist Nadine Schütz and mycologist Artemis Treindl at the Art-science symposium Beyond Communication .

Artemis and Nadine exchanged during extensive field trips in Switzerland in autumn 2023 as part of the artists‘ Master Series Residency, when she was a student at the MA Curatorial Studies of ZHdK .

During the field work, they observed each other’s ways of conducting research, reflected its framework, their relation to the landscape and the subject of their common interest: fungi.

The Master Series Residencies are a collaboration between the artists-in-labs program and the Master Transdisciplinary Studies of ZHdK.

Final presentation and pop-up exhibition by Karya Anliak .anliak and Madeleine Hykes , students of the MA Industrial Design and Master Series residents in 2026. The students / designers shared insights into their two-months exchanges at the intersection of design, art and science with the community of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology Empa .

Hykes presented her investigation into the acoustic world of energy data and the infrastructure that provide society with electricity - topics she engaged with during her exchange with researchers of the Urban Energy Systems Lab. Anliak elaborated on her experimental approach towards the research at the Cellulose and Wood Materials Lab, where she explored the intersection of material science, microbiology and industrial design.

The Master Series Residencies are a collaboration between the artists-in-labs program and the Master Transdisciplinary Studies of Zurich University of the Arts .

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR MASTER STUDENTS OF ZHDK MASTER SERIES RESIDENCIES 2027

APPLICATION DEADLINE: 26 APRIL 2026

PRELIMINARY CONVERSATIONS (ON INVITATION): 12 MAY 2026

All important information about the research groups, the general conditions and the application procedure can be found on www.artistsinlabs.ch/en/residency_programs
organized and curated by the artists-in-labs program in cooperation with the MA Transdisciplinary Studies / Minor Art &
Offered are four residencies at the intersection of art and science:

Urban Energy Systems Laboratory (Empa)
Phytopathology Group (WSL)
Ecological Genetics Group (WSL)
Plankton Ecology Group (Eawag)

Master students from all departments of ZHdK are invited to submit a project idea within the framework of the call „Master Series Residencies 2027“.

Interested students are offered a unique opportunity for mentored, process-based artistic research in the context of scientific research. For a total of two months in January and February 2027, the selected students become part of a scientific research group and get to know questions, methods and tools. In addition to become part of the daily routine of scientific research, students have the opportunity to participate in field research (within Switzerland, depending on the possibilities of the research group) as well as in laboratory work.

The “Master Series Residencies” aim for a process of mutual exchange in which both sides can and should contribute their expertise, perspective and questions on an equal footing.
The journey is the destination: the output comprises sketches, notes, drafts and prototypes, as well as a final report. An artwork is not produced until after the residency.

Zurich University of the Arts Eva Vögtli
Trends & Identity, ZHdK ZHdK Theater
MA Visual Communication ZHdK ZHdK Game Design
ZHdK Industrial Design Cast / Audiovisual Media ZHdK Music ZHdK Film
Interaction Design ZHdK .master.art.education

ZHdK Kulturpublizistik

Art/Science - AIL Current Call for Projects Master Series 2022 Application Deadline: 16th January 2022 Residency Program National projects The artists-in-labs program is part of the Department for Cultural Analysis of Zurich University of the Arts and explores since 2003 current discourses between Art and Science. W...

Fluid Boundaries Switzerland event:

Splitters vs. Lumpers
Rapper and poet Mike «Dr Koul» Azkoul on how transdisciplinarity leads to an ecological perspective on art & science

Tuesday, 27 May
4 pm
Room FC-C24
Forum Chriesbach, Eawag
The event will be followed by an apero

After 3 months as an artist-in-lab at the Aquatic Research Institute Eawag, rapper and poet Mike "Dr Koul" Azkoul invites you to his farewell event.
Blending live performance, personal reflection, and interactive discussion, Dr Koul will share his experiences exploring transdisciplinarity between art and water research during his residency.

Mike’s discussions and collaborations with Eawag scientists have sparked a series of questions, that he will explore:
What are the connections and boundaries between art and science? What impact did rap and Systema martial arts workshops have on the scientists? How do the concepts of flow and sampling connect water research, artistic practice, and mysticism? What insights and questions does Dr Koul take with him – and what new questions and insights does he leave behind?

About the project “Fluid Boundaries”:
Mike Azkoul’s residency is part of an international transdisciplinary research project “Fluid Boundaries: the Interplay of Water, Art, Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems” that brings artists, scientists, curators and indigenous practitioners from South Africa, Brazil and Switzerland into a transdisciplinary exchange about water.

Water is an essential resource for life on Earth, and a key element in the history and contemporary of societies across the globe. Stories and myths about water, reverence towards its spiritual meanings, policies and strategies linked to its politics, and processes and technologies of its uses and applications, may be traced across times and geographies. Within the sector of water there are many commonalities, but there are also significant divergencies of contexts, indigenous knowledge systems and practices.

It is from this rich, complex, and often contradictory terrain that “Fluid Boundaries” emerges — and with it, Mike Azkoul’s artist-in-lab residency at Eawag. The project takes a process-driven approach to research and artistic practice, using the intersections of art and science to examine how we feel, think, and act in relation to water.

As part of this ongoing experimental inquiry, the event will include a dedicated space for audience dialogue, inviting reflection and discussion on these relationships.

Fluid Boundaries is supported by Pro Helvetia.

www.instagram.com/drkoulnotkool
www.instagram.com/fluidboundariesresearch
www.fluidboundaries.org
www.artistsinlabs.ch

Art meets life sciences – contradiction or fruitful dialogue? The international symposium «ArtoPod BioCraze» brings together artists and researchers to explore the interfaces between art and life sciences from 19 May to 20 May 2025 in Nürnberg. Two days full of lectures, discussions and workshops that will inspire, irritate and open up new perspectives.

Join artists-in-labs’ Irène Hediger for her talk «Art & Science: In between spaces and the importance of not-knowing» on Tuesday, 20 May, 17:45.

Speakers include Alex May, Sonja Bäumel, Dr. John Paul and Regine Rapp (Art Laboratory Berlin), as well as contributors from the Bavarian State Natural History Collections (SNSB), the Bionicum, the Archaea Center Regensburg and many more.

The symposium will be held in German and English. The complete program is available on the website.

Participation is free of charge – registration is required : artopodbiocraze.adbk-nuernberg.de

Bildunterschrift Miranda Moss artist-in-lab in 2017 will be back in Zurich for this years’ edition of REFRESH Festival

Join her Masterclass (in collaboration with Urs Gaudenz ) on Saturday, 11 November from 2:00 to 3:30 pm

The Masterclass is free of costs, reservations have to be made: refresh.zhdk.ch/refresh-5/tickets

In this session under the title “Are Friends Piezoelectric? Sticky and Speculative Recipes for Ambient Energy Harvestin” Miranda and Urs will share their research on wild electricity, or electricity-producing phenomena which have evaded domestication by the capitalist, patriarchal and colonial-driven industrial revolution. Investigating the field of Energy Harvesting from an holistic perspective, they will unfurl their practice of kitsch kitchen bioelectrochemistry, which aims to agitate knowledge hierarchies and shift collective energy imaginaries. In this masterclass, we will explore hands-on, tastebuds-in experiments together, and see how it feels to situate ourselves as Energy Custodians, tending to the diverse and intertwingled forces we live amongst, while investigating the possibilities of alternate electro-futures based on compassion, tenderness and care, instead of extraction and exploitation. Also, it will be delicious.



verfassen …

Register now for our winter school 8 - 10 February 2024 (link in bio)

Experimental workshop on fungi, in German and English.

Developed and conducted by

, artist/designer and currently Master Series Resident
, artist/researcher/innovation counselor
Irene Hediger, Head of the artists-in-labs program
fischer , research associate at the artists-in-labs program
Dr. Martina Peter and Dr. Simone Prospero, researchers at WSL

.rickli presenting his work at Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution Group to kick-off his Master Series Residency.

First impressions from the Master Series Residency of on funghi, in exchange with researcher Artemis Treindl. Photos by Nadine Schütz, made in near Alt Sankt Johann and at the