Art and science collide: MSU welcomes second artist in FRIB residency program

New resident artist Violeta López López is the second artist to participate in the MSUFCU Arts Power Up Arts Residency at FRIB Program. The young initiative offers an innovative combination of art and science, encouraging students to explore both from new perspectives. 

The project is a collaboration between several campus organizations, including the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), MSU Museum, STEAMpower Project, Arts MSU, and MSU’s art, science and culture collaborative.

López López began her work here in September and will continue it for the remainder of the 2024 fall semester. 

Originally from Spain, she studied in Valencia and earned undergraduate degrees in fine arts and music and continued with a master’s in fine arts.

As an interdisciplinary artist, her current work explores intersections of seemingly unrelated fields. Using interactive exhibits and tech, she expresses her interpretation of linguistics and physics and their parallels through art. 

“I really like mixing things, it’s kind of the core of my work,” López López said. “Taking different fields and different disciplines and ideas that are not supposed to be related and finding unexpected ways of looking at things.”

As niche as a scientific artist may be, López López said she was drawn to the position here at MSU because of her past experiences in similar roles.  

Two years ago, she worked at a residency in Germany where she contributed to another project involving a particle accelerator. That was the introduction of merging science and art for López López, and she has been working with physics in art since.  

Most recently, she worked in Brazil on a project involving sound, looking at language and linguistics with a physical lens.

“I kind of tried to find the physical world of language,” López López said.

Although her native language is Spanish, López López works and speaks in English due to her international background. While this makes public talks difficult, she said she has gotten used to it as an international artist because English is so common.

Before López López, Abel Korinsky was the first artist to come into the new residency program in spring 2024 and finished his work earlier this year. His art focused on the dynamics of sound, light and architecture through an immersive, auditory/visual experience. 

Korinsky’s work, “Momentum,” is described by the museum website as “his understanding of the astrophysical and nuclear processes that created all the chemical elements for the Earth and all humans ever born, from the beginning of the Universe in the Big Bang to the ongoing supernova explosions and neutron star collisions.”

Using generative tools, the website says, Korinsky configured “visual representations of data taken from stars into humanlike forms.”

“Momentum” is currently on display at the MSU Museum’s temporary exhibition space until Dec. 14. Due to ongoing construction at the museum, a temporary space is available on the sixth floor of 311 Abbot Road in downtown East Lansing, just off north campus.

López López brings a new perspective to the residency, with a focus on revealing new ways of perception. She hopes to introduce familiar topics for her audience to absorb in completely new ways.

“We can hear visuals and see sounds, with an altered perception,” she said.

She is currently halfway through the program and in the research phase of her residency. 

In this portion of the program, the artist has the opportunity to be a student as well, spending time embedded and engaged with scientists and researchers at MSU’s FRIB. For now, she is gathering insights and materials from the scientists while studying subjects like physics to deepen her understanding and integrate these concepts into her work.

The research phase also involves López López working directly with Professor Artemis Spyrou, who oversees FRIB outreach. Spyrou’s work is in experimental nuclear astrophysics, designing and conducting experiments to study nuclear reactions and the properties of stars with the goal of understanding their functions and reproducing those elements. 

Next, López López will move to the working phase of her residency. She will then create art in her vision from the knowledge she has gained while collaborating with FRIB researchers. 

On the MSU Museum’s side, Abbie Stevens manages the residency program, introducing the MSU community to the artists by producing engagement opportunities and public programs.

“It’s a really immersive experience for the artist so that they in turn can then create an immersive exhibition experience that the MSU Museum puts on for the public to then come and enjoy,” said Stevens, who is the manager of programming at the museum’s CoLab Studio. 

While some may see art and science as vastly different, Stevens believes that the two naturally mesh as people find creative ways to understand the world around them. 

Spyrou agrees that the two topics coming together is not new, despite the program being early on. Outreach at FRIB has included the arts for several years now in efforts to share its work with different audiences and the general public.

“Not everyone is either interested or has the background to dive into the deep topics of nuclear science,” Spyrou said. “We also recognize that people just learn in different ways, and they are interested in different things.”

Besides her work with scientists at FRIB and her art, López López has connected with  students via class visits, public talks and museum workshops.

Having modern, international artists available to interact with students is special, Stevens said.  

“Artists like Violeta, who are engaging in new media, they’re just on the cutting edge of the different technological advancements that we have and how you can create art with it,” Stevens said. “So giving students the chance to directly chat with them, it is a really fantastic opportunity.”

To have so many differing mediums combined and in the same places offers a unique chance for students to understand, interact and connect with diverse fields, Spyrou said. The combination of linguistics, physics and art in one project is not exactly common, and it allows students unfamiliar with FRIB to gain understanding of some of the work that takes place here on campus.

“Through a program like this, where you communicate the science through art, even people who are not traditionally interested in physics can get something out of it, they’ll learn what’s going on here at FRIB,” Spyrou said.

While she has a general idea of what she wants to do for her work here, López López is still currently researching and keeping her options open. 

“It’s nothing fixed, I know that I want to develop a virtual environment, like a video game,” she said. “It’s not going to be a video game where you go do missions, but an environment that you can navigate and experience. Because I’m working with the idea of phonetics and morphology and syntax, all these things that are in language, and I am finding their connections with sound and physics.”

Stevens said the Residency at FRIB Program offers amazing opportunities for everyone involved.

“There are a lot of discussions going on, it’s both us talking about our science and the artists talking about their creative process,” Spyrou said. “We all have things to exchange in this interaction.”

López López’s work and interactive exhibition will go on display in the MSU Museum’s temporary gallery this coming fall 2025.

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