The ArtScience research group is part of the Center Leo Apostel for Transdisciplinary Studies (CLEA) at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). In ArtScience we pursue a common practice rooted in both art and science: curiosity, play, collaboration and experimentation. We employ the term “artscience” as shorthand to refer to an expanded transdisciplinary field that encompasses all modes of creative knowledge production, including, but not limited to, philosophy, social sciences and the humanities, indigenous knowledge practices, ancient and modern mythologies and cosmologies. This approach facilitates the emergence of new ways of thinking, perceiving and understanding the world. This mission is based on the insight that combining multiple disciplinary perspectives enriches our understanding of complex systems and stimulates the emergence of new ideas. In this, we continue CLEA’s long-standing objective of bridging between the “two cultures” as first expressed in the university-wide “Einstein meets Magritte” conference that CLEA organized in 1995. Through artistic research and creative practices, we focus on systems and processes that evoke a deeper insight into the universe and the way it relates to human beings. Thus, we extend existing CLEA research through a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates diverse worldviews, cosmogonies, principles of self-organization, and creative methodologies. ArtScience is committed to addressing the critical challenges of our time, such as climate change, ecological awareness, the technosocial dilemma, and the implications of artificial intelligence.
Our research is grounded in cybernetics, systems theory, complexity and ecology, i.e. theories that foreground process, interaction, relation and emergence. We focus on the role of play as a methodology where new ideas, connections and possibilities can freely emerge between disciplines and practitioners of all ages. Cultivating an ecosystem of practices where adults and young people learn together, integrating art, scientific research, and education into a holistic worldview essential for thriving in a complex world. Through these endeavours, we not only expand the boundaries of artistic and scientific research, but also explore the potential for cybernetics, emergence and play to serve as interconnecting principles in the process of knowledge creation.
Learn more about our approach to ArtScience here.
Projects
Systems At Play
Systems at Play is a self-organising symposium that brings together artists, scientists, and others from all over the world, in a transdisciplinary contact zone for creative exchange, exploration, and play. Participants collaboratively tackle creative challenges, developing embodied models of ideas like emergence and self-organisation through live games, performances, scores, and presentations, with inputs and outputs shaping the process. Participation is flexible—attendees can propose, join, or opt out of activities, creating an adaptive ecosystem that evolves according to the group’s collective interests. Reflecting on its own self-organisation, SAP has also explored the Noosphere in collaboration with a.pass. SAP has sparked an active online community and, to date, over 200 further collaborations among participants. The next SAP is provisionally (un)planned for 2025.
Learn more about Systems At Play here.
Open Call: Imaginary Institute
Imaginary Institute is a freethinking laboratory for intradisciplinary collective intelligence, complexity, and play. The goal of ii is to imagine together, through play and imagination, what an institute for the collective imagination could be. ii is a place to practise becoming a social imaginary together, i.e. to practise becoming a collective intelligence, and cultivate techniques and technologies for collective intelligence, and the creative dimension of our shared lives on the planet. ii is a hyperstition, meaning it is a fiction that will become a reality through the collective imagination. ii is a place for what doesn’t exist, to come into existence. The Imaginary Institute will also be a place to pursue collaborations with other members of the ii.
Learn more about the Imaginary Institute here.
Buckminster College
Buckminster College is a play-based education for complexity,focuses on preparing young people to navigate a complex, interconnected world. Rooted in adventure, nature, democratic principles, cybernetics and systems thinking - through play, this school programme fosters a learning environment where children collaborate with artists, scientists, and philosophers in an intergenerational ecosystem. Our educational approach challenges the traditional right/wrong binary, allowing children to explore, experiment, and engage in problem-solving through playful interaction with the natural world, in so doing, the program aims to help young people intuitively grasp the principles of complexity while retaining their innate playful genius. Adventure and nature are integral, immersing participants in the dynamics of ecosystems, fostering a relational understanding of the world.
For more info: https://buckminstercollege.org/
Artscience Courses and Workshops
We offer courses led by members of the Center Leo Apostel (CLEA), a globally recognized hub for transdisciplinary research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. CLEA’s experts specialize in the study of complex systems, collective intelligence, and the integration of knowledge beyond disciplines. CLEA researchers do fundamental research in principles that foster adaptive thinking and innovative problem-solving, such as systems theory, cognitive science, ecology, AI, evolution and complexity science.
What makes our courses especially unique is that with the help of the ArtScience department at CLEA, we integrate this specialist knowledge in complexity, ecology and systems thinking with strategies from artistic practice, theatre, play as well as other embodied practices. Making this knowledge widely accessible, intuitive to understand, by introducing course participants to a wide variety of modalities of experience. By combining CLEA’s transdisciplinary expertise with artistic thinking, embodied cognition, and the principles of play and theatre, the course offers a unique, immersive approach to creativity. Participants will not only encounter intellectual frameworks but also experience hands-on methods that stimulate imagination and foster creative problem-solving. This synthesis of rigorous research and playful exploration equips individuals and organizations to approach complex challenges with fresh, innovative perspectives.
Current & Recent Workshops
Systems at Play: 101 - Introduction to Play and Systems Thinking
Time: 16.00-17.00
SYSTEMS AT PLAY: SYSTEMIC SIMULATIONS – BECOMING SWARM, ORGANISM, ALGORITHM
Time: 17.00-1800
December 1st, 2024, CurieuCity Festival, Brussels
Imagine, if one could simply play, and, through play, we could gain an understanding of the complex workings of systems that exist in the world; from ecosystems to cosmic systems? What if we didn’t have to leave play behind as we grew older, but instead, we just got better at playing together, coming to understand play as a collaborative tool for exploring scientific, social, philosophical, and technical systems. In these workshops, led by members of CLEA ArtScience, you can experience the collective dynamics of systems through play. The Center Leo Apostel (CLEA) is a unique transdisciplinary research hub at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, (VUB) where scientists, artists, and philosophers work closely together on some of the most intriguing questions. These include: How do natural systems organise themselves without a central leader? How do brain systems work? How do ecosystems function? And how might we combine artistic knowledge and scientific knowledge in interesting ways? These are just a few of the aspects we’ll explore in this participatory workshop.
Click here for information.
On Becoming Imaginary, For Real
Date: November 28th and 29th, 2024
Location: De Plek, Brussels
This workshop explores how an emergent collective imaginary—rooted in playfulness, wonder, and shared joy—can arise through our co-constituency with the world. It examines how this delicate sense of play can persist in the face of real-life challenges. While often dismissed as frivolous, play provides the necessary detachment from rigid problem-solving, cultivating space for creativity. To solve problems, we must first release them, not by seeking clear answers, but by softening our focus, questioning assumptions, and tuning into the background conditions where new possibilities emerge. Paradoxically, true systems-at-work are achieved in unity with systems-at-play—moving beyond fixed meanings into the fluid realm of affordances. Free play eventually morphs into games as it meets the symbolic need for structure, serving as a form of preparation for the real world. By re-engaging the imaginary through play, we can soften the rigid structures of life, allowing the rules that govern us to become more fluid. In doing so, life itself can transform back into a game, leading us towards a state of playfulness and creative spirit. This event will be hosted in two separate sessions, November 28th and November 29th, by the Imaginary Institute — Orion Maxted, Damien Rudd — and co-facilitated by Joris de Kelver, Cadell Last at the Multiversity.
To find out more about our upcoming courses, to get involved, and for booking enquiries, send us an email:
orion.maxted@vub.be or damien.rudd@vub.be
Current Active Members
Orion Maxted
Damien Rudd
Loretta Mesiti
Elizabeth Doran
Prof. Francis Heylighen