Previous Project

After finishing her doctoral work on Dance and Theology, Laura Hellsten had a post-doctoral position within the Stiftelsen Åbo Akademi-funded Centre of Excellence BACE. BACE is a collaboration centred on developing a platform for bioelectronic activation that enables the control of cell signals and, thereby, the stimulation of cell functions. Hellsten did ethnographic fieldwork with the research group investigating questions of Ethics and Science Communication. To study science communication, Hellsten developed and led the research project Avtryck i det okända – Forcing the Impossible, which created collaborations between artists and researchers in the broader context of Åbo Akademi.

Avtryck i det okända

var ett mångvetenskapligt- och konstnärligt forskningsprojekt vid Åbo Akademi mellan åren 2020-2022. Projektet förde samman spetsforskningsenheter vid Stiftelsen Åbo Akademi och samtliga forskningsprofiler vid Åbo Akademi med ett urval konstnärer. Forskare fick öva sig i att prata om sin forskning utanför vetenskapsgemenskapen. Konstnärerna illustrerade och tolkade det de hörde med hjälp sina respektive medier.
Projektet har gett upphov till ett antal vetenskapskonstnärliga samarbeten av vilka majoriteten presenterades under Forskarnatten i Åbo Domkyrka samt Lilla Fabbes och Sibeliusmuseet 24.9.2021.
Du kan titta på Forskarnattens paneldiskussion på YLE.

Forcing the Impossible

was a multidisciplinary research project combining science and art. Within the frames of the project, cutting-edge research(ers) at Åbo Akademi University met different artists. The scientists got to practice communicating about their research outside the scientific community. The artists got to interpret and illustrate what they heard, using their respective media.

The majority of the scientific-artistic collaborations were presented during Forskarnatten, the European Researchers’ Night event, which took place in the Turku cathedral and also at Lilla Fabbes and the Sibeliusmusem on September 24, 2021.

Some of the materials created are still found online!

Hellsten is currently writing a book on the challenges and possibilities of cross-disciplinary research, particularly on how theology may create fruitful collaborations with natural science projects when engaging with the arts.