Synergetica ArtScience Salon #4: Liquid Lattice

Glazen Huis – Sunday, June 29

3 – 6 PM

Tickets: 5 euro
Reservations Info@zone2source.net

Slightly over a century ago a new state of matter was discovered, between liquid and solid, with the remarkable propensity to self-organize into intricate lattices. Extremely sensitive to light, heat, electrical and magnetic stimulus, this breed of soft matter, known as liquid crystal, comprises all biological and cell membranes, soap solutions as well as most current display technologies. Inspired by the ephemeral dynamics of liquid crystallinity, artist Jet Smits collaborated with soft matter physicist Stephen Picken (TU Delft) to create the installation, LC Environment.  Offering a visually saturating experience of live liquid crystal behavior, Smits and Picken will present LC Environment and its underlying research at this edition of Synergetica ArtScience Salon.

Jet Smits explores digital technologies empirically and analogously. She investigates the transition point where data becomes sensorial, trying to capture that exact moment of change. She situates herself in the area of science and technology related to perceptual research. Her phenomenological approach results in the use of various media and technologies to create immersive, contemplative installations.

Stephen Picken is a professor of polymer materials at TU Delft and works in the field of LCP’s, block-copolymers and (functional) polymer nano-composites. He previously was the section leader of the NanoStructured Materials section at the Delft Chemical Technology department, he is now a member of the section Advanced Soft Matter. He is/was advisor for the Dutch Polymers Institute clusters Engineering Polymers and Functional Polymer Systems, member of the IOP surface technology and self-healing materials programme committee and advisor for various companies. He has published over 190 papers in peer-reviewed journals and holds various patents relating to the science and technology of polymers and liquid crystals.
In addition he is involved with science popularisation via ‘Dr. Picken’s Electrical Cabinet’, which has been done in The Hague, Delft, Groningen, Eibergen, Amsterdam (at the ADM squatters terrain, most fun so far) and recently in Rotterdam at the ‘Iedereen Einstein’ event.