1986 Venice Biennale: Art and Science

The 1986 Biennale’s theme, Art and Science, was a topic largely ignored by major institutions for the past decade.

The event marked what Grant Taylor in When the Machine Made Art described as a renewed “interest in technoscience paradigms” of the time. It did but only to a point.

The event may have been indicative of a growing acceptance of science and technology in the arts after video games and personal computers helped dull techno-science fears of prior decades. Yet this resurgence in interest at the Biennale largely covered work in the firs thalf of the twentieth century as opposed to focusing on the most contemporary applications of science and art, such as the work of Craig Reynolds or Loren Carpenter.

Jasia Reichardt, beloved curator of Cybernetic Serendipity, covered “this special event with its unexpected juxtapositions of ideas and objects.” She continued, saying:

“The Art and Science exhibition was the major event of the Biennale. It covered Alchemy, Space, Biology, Technology and Informatics, Wunderkammer (Cabinet of Curiosities), Colour, and Science in the Service of Art.”