Magmas

Poetry and science share a restless stance towards the world, an appetite for nonconformist inquiry, always steeped in doubt and questions. With the tools of risk, rigour, intuition, and freedom, poetry and science are engaged in a quest for deeper understanding of reality. In pursuing this end, they both defy established conventions and push their languages to the limits of their possibilities.

Groundbreaking science will change our way of understanding life and the relationship that we, as humans, have with the planet and the universe. It is therefore crucial that all the challenges presented by this project are addressed from every facet of humanism, moving into frontier areas and without compartmentalising.

Creation, in both science and poetry, arises from tension between the known and the uncertain. Four contemporary Catalan poets have accepted the challenge of becoming immersed in the everyday existence of four research centres to compare standpoints with scientists, share concerns, and come together in making their languages travel through surprising spaces.

Curator
Joan Duran

Poets and research centres
Pol Vouillamoz / Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
Lluís Calvo / ALBA Synchrotron
Mireia Casanyes / Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC)
Anna Aguilar-Amat / Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE)

“Radical Science” is a cultural project resulting from the research strategy devised by the Complementary Joint Research Plans fund, which is coordinated in Catalonia through ICFO, ALBA Synchrotron, IBEC, and IFAE.