UPF is announcing a scholarship for creators interested in the field of biomedical sciences

The Department of Medicine and Life Sciences of Pompeu Fabra University (MELIS-UPF), in collaboration with the Vila Casas Foundation, is announcing an artistic research grant for creators interested in the field of biomedical sciences.

The scholarship consists of a grant to finance the temporary stay of an artist in the University's facilities in the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB), in order to exchange experiences with researchers and seek synergies and points of interest. encounter between art and science. The selected artist will develop a project of completely free artistic format and technique. All artistic languages are included, from traditional disciplines - photography, painting or sculpture - to more experimental languages.

“We need art and science to talk, to look at each other, to be inspired, to learn from each other, to stimulate each other's creativity. They are different visions in trying to understand and interpret the world and can stimulate each other and help open unexpected and unexplored doors, ”explains Jaume Bertranpetit, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at UPF and promoter of the project.

In the words of Manel Jiménez, Vice-Rector for Educational Transformation, Culture and Communication, “this initiative is part of the UPF Culture program and, specifically, the set of relations between the University and the artistic, cultural and creative institutions with those that our institution is carrying out various activities. The impetus of this scholarship relates the energetic expression of the UPF to understand science and culture as an indissoluble binomial, and university and society as a naturally shared territory ”.

“The future of art depends in large part on its ability to be grafted onto other languages, and in this sense we are convinced that the intersections between art and science will be increasingly fruitful and revealing. This scholarship therefore encourages contemporary creation in a decisive line for the future and we are very happy to be its catalysts ”, points out Àlex Susanna, art director of the Vila Casas Foundation.

Individuals can participate individually or as members of groups, who will stay during the year 2022, with a minimum duration of three months. The jury will consider the artistic interest of the proposal, the synergies that can be established with the scientists, and the transversality of the proposal.

This initiative is the result of an agreement signed in 2020 between UPF and the Vila Casas Foundation to promote contemporary art and artistic creation within the University. It is part of the UPF Culture Program, through which the University wants to contribute to social change also through culture, understanding that, from its natural activity as a center of knowledge, many initiatives emanate that go beyond the academic environment and that they propose mechanisms to improve the environment.

Projects can be submitted between March 2 and April 2, 2022.

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