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BiomorphismPerceptual and conceptual approaches of life forms

PROJECT FOR AN EXHIBITION/ SYMPOSIUM

© Sylvie Pic - Photo : Claude Almodovar

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Biomorphism 4PERCEPTUAL AND CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES OF LIFE-FORMS

The project 5

An arti exhibition 7

Scienti"c symposium for the general public 8

Scienti"c Research Symposium 9

Speakers / Participants 10

Our partners 11

Organization - Contacts 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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BIOMORPHISMPERCEPTUAL AND CONCEPTUAL APPROACHES OF LIFE-FORMS

Our ambition is to enlarge and update the notion of biomorphism ("rst mentioned at the end of the 19th century, at the intersection of anthropology, ethnology and the history of arts), by emancipating it from its context of emergence, to make it a pole of interdisciplinary re#ection, capable of mobilizing arts, sciences and philosophy, so as to re#ect on the contemporary stakes of our relationship with life-forms.

Whether we examine the theoretical issue of the nature of life-forms, the epistemological issue of our ability to know them, the politico-ethical question of our life within the biotic community, or then again the artistic matter of the aesthetic stakes of life-forms, every time the same obstacle stands in our way. We are one among all life-forms, and enjoy a familiar relationship with them. Such proximity could lead us to believe it is su$cient to grasp them directly – that we do not need any mediation, be it theoretical, conceptual, or imaginary. Life-forms are so close to us, are they not?, that any authentic relationship with it should be immediate, as though we just had to keep our eyes open and passively observe them to grasp them and situate ourselves in relation to them… But are they, actually?

This is a particularly relevant issue regarding life-forms. To grasp life-forms, to implement a morphology, whether for scienti"c, artistic or any other purposes, is it not enough to reproduce the immediate data collected from our sensitive perception? The biomorphist’s answer is "nal and conclusive: no way! Our relationship with life-forms will be authentic and relevant only by way of a mediation that removes us away from the raw data of our perception.

�is willingness to study life-forms by refusing to make do with the mere immediate picture, echoes very topical and recognizable philosophical and scienti�c standpoints across the whole spectrum of contemporary �elds of knowledge that deal with life-forms.

Artwork : Amélie de Beau"ort - Drawings and collages

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The projectAN ART-EXHIBITION COMBINED WITH SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUMS

I. An art-exhibitionArtists will display a choice of biomorphic works at the Friche de la Belle de Mai art-center. This exhibition area will be the venue of cultural meetings between the general public, the artists, and the researchers.

II. Scienti"c symposiumsTwo cycles of interdisciplinary conferences around the topic of the biomorphism, or more speci"c topics that this subject in-volves (the inert and the living; the mathematics of life-forms; morphogenesis; dynamic materials, etc.) have been envisaged.

• A symposium intended for the general public will take place in the Friche de la Belle de Mai, in parallel with the art-exhibition. It will be conducted by the artists and scientists taking part in the project. It aims at making the general public aware of the artistic and scienti"c themes raised by biomorphism.

• A symposium orientated towards research will take place at the IMéRA. Besides theoreticians, art historians and artists, we will invite philosophers, biologists, mathematicians, and specialists in literature and the sciences of matter (physicists and chemists). It aims at producing a publication on the interdisciplinary nature of biomorphism.

III. Pedagogical actions • A research seminar will start as early on as September,

2016, whose objective is to de"ne the di*erent meanings of the term «biomorphism» while preparing the scienti"c symposium. .

• The students preparing the «Sciences and humanities» Bachelor’s degree will work on the organization of lectures and on the production of synthetic documents about the topics to be dealt with, which are particularly in tune with the interdisciplinary courses o*ered to them.

EUROPEAN DYNAMICS

Constance, Germany, May-June 2015Julien Bernard, a philosopher, together with Julie Pelletier, an artist, have put together a philosophico-artistic exhibition entitled « Gedankenge#echte » (the woof of thought) at the BildungsTURM in the cultural centre of Constance, in collaboration with the city of Constance; the research centre of excellence «Zukunftskolleg»; the University of Constance and the French Institute of Munich.Information : http://philo-bernard.fr

Lisbon, Portugal, February-March 2016The Biomor"sm exhibition took place at the Fabrica Braço de Prata, thanks to the invitation of Nuno Nabais and Carlos Lobo, in relation with the study day : « The morphological: at the intersection of the empirical, the formal and the logical ». The works that were displayed were produced by Amélie de Beau*ort, Julie Pelletier and Sylvie Pic. Julian Bernard gave a lecture on the philosophical topics linked to artistic biomorphism, and introduced the series of European events he organizes on the topic of biomorphism.Information : http://philo-bernard.fr

Further to the success of both events, the organizers have been approached to renew this type of event in Barcelona (Spain) and in Esch (Luxembourg).

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Opposite and below, from the left to the right:Barbara Sarreau

« Yané », Teruhisa SuzukiVariations around the chrysalis, Julie PelletierPas vu (not seen) 16, Jean ArnaudAugmented reverie, Nathalie DelpratShell Life, Peter BriggsDrawings and collages, Amélie de Beau*ortArticulations, Sylvie Pic

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Julie Pelletier She is a graphic artist, a graduate from the École des Beaux Arts (Fine Arts school) in Tours. Following her earlier exhibitions in France, she spent two years in Germany, where, in 2015, she exhibited her biomorphic sculptural works in Constance. She has now settled in the Provence region in Southern France. Her works question the relationships between the body and space. Not only do her works express the links organic forms establish with their habitat; the notion of space is also studied across the scrambling of codes throughout the art exhibition; her installations are unsettling for the spectator as they over#ow his/her space. www.julie-pelletier-art.com

Barbara Sarreau Barbara Sarreau is a choregrapher, interpreter and pedagogue. After having studied in the "Conservatoire National of Region" in Paris, she embraced contemporary dance at the National choreographic center in Aix-en-Provence and Angelin Prejlocaj Ballets. She afterwards taught dance in the « Conservatoire d’Aix-en-Provence » and the « école du Ballet National de Marseille ». In 1998, she created the SB03 Company and since, she set many projects linking french and african ( Morocco, Mali) choreographic and dance institutions. In the Biomorphism project she will propose contemporary dance performances using elements from Julie Pelletier's artistic works.

Nathalie Delprat A physicist and teacher-researcher at the Pierre and Mary Curie University in Paris, she is conducting her research at the LIMSI-CNRS in Orsay, with the Audio and Acoustics group. She co-directs the art-science VIDA theme (Vir-tuality, Interaction, Design and Art) in this laboratory and is in charge of the Workshops in History and Philosophy of Sciences for the Jussieu doctorate students. Her works explore links between virtual materiality, the body and imaginary awareness. https://perso.limsi.fr/delprat

Jean Arnaud An artist and a University professor in graphic Arts, he is a member of the Laboratory for Studies in the Sciences of Arts in AMU. These are his research areas: structures of the contemporary visual narrative, studies on space mor-phologies in art-works (foliages, forms of scrambling, saturations and inter-ferences…), and the archeomodernity of contemporary animal represen-tations, morphogenesis and metamorphosis. He currently works on a joint publication entitled « Interferences and narratives in contemporary art», and on an arts-sciences project with the Aix-en-Provence natural history museum, called « Sauver sa peau! » (Saving one’s hide!) - « Naturalization and animal representation » comprising an exhibition and a lectures-day.

I. An exhibition In the artistic domain, biomorphism used to refer (among 1930s theoreticians) to a pictorial and sculptural trend, across a great number of 20th century schools of thought. This trend consists in producing forms that, although abstract, refer to the organic world. It then refers to a Middle Way between mathematical abstraction and returning to a purely "gurative view of art.

How can this concept be suited to contemporary artistic practice?

Today’s biomorphist artists no longer consider that type of abstraction in reaction to mathematical abstraction. Biomorphism and mathematics can enrich each other, provided we go beyond elementary geometry and so long as we get into curved areas mathematics, topology, fractals or then again the theories of dynamic systems and disasters. The opposition between mathematical abstraction and organic abstraction was partly based on an archaic vision of mathematics.

Besides, at sculptural level, biomorphism in the 1930s would still often use classical, hard and "xed materials (wood, stone, etc.). At present, contemporary production of biomophic volumes expresses itself more readily in #exible materials with complex dynamic properties. In this sense, biomorphism followed the path leading from sculpture as such to graphic arts.

In partnership with the Friche de la Belle de Ma i, which supports the project by making available a 700-m² exhibition space, the artists listed below will present to the public a choice of biomorphic works.

Teruhisa Suzuki Teruhisa Suzuki was born in 1956 in Shizuoka, Japan. He lives and works in Ermont in the Val d’Oise. A graduate (MA) from the Tokyo École des Beaux Arts (Fine Arts School). Teruhisa Suzuki is interested in performance places that enable him to work as close to nature as possible. Each of his installations is designed and achieved in harmony with a speci"c context of presentation. The concept arises from attending the place of each possible intervention or from the resources that document it. Every time, the point is to try and engage all the visitor’s senses, in a dialogue between his/her perception of what is supposed to be « natural» and the perception of a protean human activity, constantly introducing new devices and new questioning about them.

Amélie de Beau*ortBorn in 1967, Amélie de Beau*ort is a Belgian artist, a graduate from the Brus-sels Royal Academy of Fine arts, where she has taught drawing since 1994. Since 2015, she has worked speci"cally on what she calls « surfaces épinglées» (pinned surfaces). The opposition between support and work is blown to bits. The support, that origin of the drawing, becomes a living surface, somewhat like a « hide ». These surfaces are worked upon by way of piercing techniques. The results, both tactile and visual, are intended to « grasp a palpitation simi-lar to that of life itself, at the edge of their fragility and of in the heat of their sensual intensity».

Peter BriggsBorn in 1950, Peter Briggs is an artist, an art professor and a sculpture teacher at the École des Beaux Arts (Fine Arts school) of Tours, and a graduate from Hornsey College of Art. His works are often nomadic and perpetually evolving. Currently, he wonders about the « induced ladder». His works is related to the ladder of the body, its relation with artifacts, clothes, pieces of furniture or other hand-crafted objects. His installation, « Shelf Life», comes together with a performance. www.peterbriggssculpture.com

Sylvie PicBorn in 1957, Sylvie Pic lives and works in Marseilles, where she teaches art history, in relation with the history of sciences at the level of the Sciences and humanities Bachelor’s degree.Her work as an artist can be summed up as an attempt to clarify sensitive and perceptive processes, with the aid of topological models. Her research comes in the form of long thematic series of drawings that explore the possible variations of these morphological models. She has held a great number of exhibitions, residences and publications in Europe and America. www.documentsdartistes.org/pic

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Sylvie PicThe straight and the curved: biomorphism in architecture. In reaction to prevailing modernist functionalist theses (standardization of housing and rational/technocratic space management), some architects in the 20th century o*ered di*erent ways to design human accommodations. They got their inspiration not from geometry but from living forms and biology: a home should not be a mere box, a packaging, but an organism in living relationship with the dweller and with a speci"c environment. Through examples, chosen notably in theoretical writings and plans by the Austro-American architect Frederick Kessler (1890-1965) and in some works produced by the 1960s - 1970s organic architecture movement, as well as in concomitantly reconsidering vernacular architectures, we will try to highlight the indissolubly philosophical, aesthetic and political characteristics (ecological concerns) of this school of thought and of such a di*erent way of using space.

Julien BernardPhilosophical resonnances of biomorphic art. Biomorphism, an art movement that intends to produce abstract forms inspired from life-forms, creates resonances between a range of traditional philosophical problems: the frontier between the inert and the living; relationships between sensitivity and concepts; the assessment of the pertinence of mathematics to understanding life-forms, etc. Contemporary biomorphic sculpture, under its plastic form, make these problems ever more complex, by instituting new dynamic relationships between the artist, the form as well as artistic material, and the spectator. We will introduce the panorama of the philosophical questions that resonate in contemporary artistic biomorphic practice, and wonder what bene"ts art and philosophy can withdraw from their dialogue around these problems.

Thomas Vercruysse The arabesques of nature. Islam, an aniconic religion, has stimulated an artistic production whose intention was not how to represent God, but how to show God at work, hence to present forms in

II. Scienti"c symposiums

• Symposium for the general public Organised at the Friche de la Belle de Mai during the exhibition, this symposium aims at informing the general public about di*erent themes approached by biomorphism. Here are, for example, some of the lectures on o*er:

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nature. In so doing, that activity, which consisted in emulating nature in its productions, and not in imitating its products, boiled down to imitating God himself. It will be necessary to return to the foundations of this view of the arabesque, which sets great store by « formative forces» at work in nature. To do this, we will start from texts on the arabesque written by Valéry, the Mediterranean poet, the author of particularly deep meditations on the act of creating.

Giuseppe Longo Science against scientism. What is scientism? It is the loss of the critical sense and ability of science to know how to « step aside» to question the very principles of a scienti"c domain. The acritical transfer of techniques borrowed by a very speci"c science towards other forms of knowledge, requesting to include life-forms and man, or even to govern the world through optimization methods, in areas envisaging all possible trajectories... It is considered this is in contrast to the scienti"c method; it causes it to lose its meaning, its potentiality in the development of knowledge, its chances of engaging a constructive dialogue with other areas of knowledge. On the contrary, we will re#ect on these new areas of interface-knowledge, capable of creating new possibilities, between constructing scienti"c objectivity and the creativity peculiar to humanist thought.

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• « Research » symposium

Nathalie DelpratThe paradigm of Augmented Reverie: from the virtual representation of the body to self-awareness.Based on philosopher Gaston Bachelard’s works on imagination linked to a material, the RêvA project explores the cognitive impact of a virtual change in body density, thanks to a device of real-time simulation permitting to interact with a cloud-avatar. The point is to question the links that are woven between body and space, the time of the intimate and of the virtual, imagination and sensory experience, by means of the new mode of engaging pictures o*ered by the paradigm of Augmented Reverie. As part of research in cognitive sciences and creative practice, a great number of avenues can be explored in the area of cognitive and emotional remediation, in the study of new forms of correlations between subject and picture or in the context of augmented performances.

Organized at the IMéRA, during the exhibition, this symposium is meant for graduate students and researchers. For example, here are some of the lectures on o*er :

Thomas VercruysseMorphogenesis and hermeneutics.This lecture aims at presenting the foundations of a form of morphohermeneutics (according to which producing comes down to interpreting) showing that the production activity of types of life-forms is performed together with an interpretation activity of the environment, according to which forms are informed by their environment, an environment they, in turn, are able to modify.

Giuseppe LongoThe sense of limits: unpredictableness and Big Data.Huge quantities of data pervade our domains of thought. These can be used to do science, to enrich our knowledge or to proclaim the « End of Science»: “with enough data, numbers speak for themselves. Correlation supersedes causation, and science can advance models even without coherent, uni"ed theories”, as has been said for some years. Fortunately, mathematics allows showing the nonsense of using algorithms without a theory, by means of some results from the theories of algorithms. A couple of classical theorems will be introduced, which will show the presence of nonsense, in unpredictable form, where only regularities are being sought. More deeply, what lies behind the presence of such unpredictable regularities in disorganized data? Or then again, on the contrary, in what sense does the unpredictable contribute to organizing life-forms? This is an occasion for re#ecting on the unpredictable, from Darwin’s intuitions on the production of biological diversity to the role of rare events in historical sciences, such as biology.

Artwork: Julie Pelletier - Variations around the chrysalis 2

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THE AMU THEORETICIANS

THEORETICIANS OUTSIDE AMU

Giuseppe Di Liberti A University Lecturer in philosophical aesthetics and the philosophy of arts, a researcher at the Ceperc, he has recently joined the team of the Aix-en-Provence philosophy department..

Baptiste Morizot A philosopher and teacher at the level of the Sciences and Humanities Bachelor’s degree and a researcher at Ceperc, he is notably a specialist in the philosophy of biology, particularly in the evolutionist context..

Julien Bernard A philosopher of sciences, he teaches at the level of Sciences and humanities Bachelor’s degree at Ceperc. His research deal with the philosophy of contemporary mathematics and physics. He is the author of the work entitled « Form and Matter in Three Dimensional Biomorphic Art», where he o*ers an introductory reading in contemporary biomorphic sculptural practices, from a general philosophical point of view.

Florence Boulc’h A chemist and teacher at the level of the Sciences and Huma-nities Bachelor’s degree, she has lately implemented transdis-ciplinarity in her research practice, by studying materials used in some pictorial practices.

Carlos LoboA philosopher and phenomenologist, a member of the CFCUL (Centro de Filoso"a das Ciencias da Universidade de Lisboa), and program director at the International College of Philoso-phy. His research focuses on phenomenology, logics and the philosophy of sciences.

Giuseppe Longo A specialist of mathematical computer science and of epis-temology, he is a head of research at the NATIONAL CENTRE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (CNRS) and at the École Normale Supérieure de Paris. He "rst specialized in the mathematics of logic and computer science, and then enlarged his research subjects to the interface between mathematics, physics and biology.

Estelle Zhong An art historian, she currently works within the Centre d’His-toire de Sciences Po Paris.

Sylvie Pic Invited as an artist and arts theoretician (see p.8).

Thomas VercruysseA Teacher-researcher in French literature at the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).

Nathalie DelpratA teacher-researcher at the University Pierre and Mary Curie in Paris and within the LIMSI-CNRS in Orsay, her initial research domain concerns signal-processing applied to the musical sound and the mechanics of #uids. A co-representative of the VIDA themes (Virtuality, Interaction, Design and Art), her current research focuses on virtual materiality and develop as part of an approach at the intersection of art, science and philosophy.

II. Scienti"c symposiums• The Speakers/ParticipantsHere are the people who have already aired their support and intention to be actively involved in symposiums linked to this scienti"c and artistic project:

JEAN PETITOT A philosopher and mathematician, he is a director of Studies in CAMS at the Paris École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; a retired professor at the École Polytechnique; and former director of the Research centre in Applied Epistemology. His numerous research areas notably include the study of applying dynamic systems to cognitive sciences, and the philosophy of form. He is also a specialist of René Thom’s thinking.

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The Licence Sciences et Humanités The Sciences and humanities Bachelor’s degree originated from the common reflection, over several years, by specialists in disciplines as varied as ethnology, biology, history, mathematics, philosophy,physical sciences, the sciences of language

or sociology. This is a necessarily demanding training, which ambitions to train the actors of 21st century trades. Indeed, the biggest stakes of the century will no doubt hinge around technical, environmental and ethical issues, whose answers cannot be brought only by academic subjects specialists. So, this Bachelor’s degree will, in an interdisciplinary way, train students in the practice of « thinking in a complex way ». http://sciences.univ-amu.fr/licence-sciences-humanites

The CNRS (National Center For Scienti"c Research) The National Center for Scienti"c Research is a state-

run research agency (an EPST placed under the tutelage of the Ministry of Education and of Higher education and Research). It produces knowledge and puts it at the service of society. With about 32,000 employees, it is set up around the whole national

territory. The National Center for Scienti"c Research applies its expertise to all "elds of knowledge and relies on more than 1,100 service and research units. http://www.cnrs.fr/

Aix-Marseille UniversityThe Aix-Marseille University is today one of the largest and youngest universities in France, as regards the number of students,

personnel and budget. These are so many assets that qualify the Aix-Marseille University as an « of excellence» establishment of higher education and research.This university offers trainings in all fields and subjects: the arts, literature, languages and human sciences; Law and political sciences; economics and management; health; sciences and technologies.http://www.univ-amu.fr/

The CEPERC (Centre d’ÉPistémologie et d’ERgologie Comparatives)

This research laboratory associates AMU and the National Centre for Scienti"c research. It is attached to the Department of Philosophy and to the Institute of human and social sciences of the CNRS. The research conduc-

ted there focuses on the comparative study of objects, concepts and methods peculiar to the various scienti"c disciplines, from a three-fold historical, ontological and foundational viewpoint. www.ceperc.cnrs.fr

The IMéRA (Institut d'études avancées Exploratoire Méditerranéen de l’Interdisci-

plinarité)

A foundation of the Aix-Marseille Université, IMéRA is a member of the Network of French Institutes for Advanced Studies (within the Réseau Français des Instituts d'Études

Avancées, RFIEA) and of the EURIAS program (Instituts d’études avancées européens). The IMÉRA accommodates researchers, artists and a number of multiple-subject in-residence teams. Research subjects explore and develop areas that can arise between disciplines, and some new objects of studies likely to be

created there. http://www.imera.univ-amu.fr

The LESA (Laboratoire d’Études en Sciences des Arts)

This laboratory regroups AMU’s artistic sectors. It supports research and works specialising in graphic arts, arts of the stage, the cinema, aesthetics and the sciences of arts, cultural mediation, music and the sciences of music. It fosters transverse projects highlighting common

problems in the sciences of arts, leading to a methodological re#ection on epistemological, historical, critical and philosophical practices on the relation between theory and practice. http://lesa.univ-amu.fr

The « Friche de la Belle de Mai » The « Friche de la Belle de Mai » is both a working area for its 70 residential structures (400 artists and producers work there) and a place for dissemination (600 public artistic proposals a year).

The Friche de la Belle de Mai receives about 300,000 visitors a year. It is a public space, combining a mix of play and sports areas, a restaurant, 5 performance and concert halls, shared gardens, a bookshop, a day nursery, a 2400-m² exhibition area, an 8,000-m² rooftop terrace and a training centre. http://www.lafriche.org/fr/

• Organising partners

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Exhibition Commissioner for Marseilles

Karin Gra�k.gra"@orange.fr

06 42 99 04 12

Organization

Sylvie Pic - Artistsylviepic@yahoo.com

04 96 12 42 27

Julien Bernard - Cepercjulien.bernard@univ-amu.fr

07 85 52 08 76

Jean Arnaud - Lesajean.arnaud@univ-amu.fr

Baptiste Morizot - Cepercbaptiste.morizot@univ-amu.fr

Julie Humeau - CepercO#cer for the administration and management

Sylvie Pons - Ceperc

O#cer for communication and scienti$c mediation

More information www.ceperc.cnrs.fr

http://www.ceperc.cnrs.fr/spip.php?article373

Ceperc - UMR 7304Aix-Marseille Université - Site Schuman

Maison de la Recherche29, Av. Robert Schuman

13621 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 1

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