Exposition Nanotechnologies

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The first difficulty we encounter when trying to understand what is at stakes in the development of nanotechnologies lies in the notion of scale: how can we imagine nature at the scale of the billionth of the metre (10-9)? How to apprehend objects and phenomenon escaping our perception? How can we imagine the invisible?

The exhibition deals with these subjects, essentially in the units 2 and 4, first from the perspective of technologies developed to “see and manipulate the invisible” (atomic force microscope, scanning tunnelling microscope); then from the perspective of the imaginary and the representations of nanotechnologies and their uses or misuses. We attempt to make visitors “feel” the Nanoworld: by an installation made of a “curtain of strings” in the 1st unit, then by a force feedback device in the 2nd unit.

Other sensitive propositions are worth implementing during the presentation of the exhibition, such as workshops, artists in residence and/or performing arts shows. Indeed, an increasing number of artists from all fields (visual arts, music, performing arts, architecture, etc.) are applying themselves to exploring the universe of nanotechnologies.

During its first presentation in Grenoble, the NANOTECHNOLOGIES exhibition gave rise to the following projects:

Choreographic performance “Nouvelles du fond”, by the scalène_y.erdos/ m.chabanis company

Artistic expression workshop for young audiences: “Nano art” with visual artist Bruno Leray

Theatre creation “Quelque Chose” (“Some Thing”), of Serge Valetti starring Christian Mazzuchini

Spectacle chorégraphique "Nouvelles du fond"

Photo de l'atelier d'expression artistique "Nano Art"

Photo de la création théâtrale "Quelque Chose"

3 dancers lead the audience through 4 scenes created for each unit of the exhibition. Dance, music, video creation and multimedia installation are at the service of the dancers’ sentiments: to live the Nanoworld, to plunge into the infinitely small and its peculiar dynamics… with a winking reference to Richard Feynman, the Nobel Prize physician who is credited with the famous expression: « There’s plenty of room at the bottom ».

You can host this performance during the presentation of the NANOTECHNOLOGIES exhibition. For more information, contact Gaëlle LEPEU, public relations manager for the Scalène Company.

Following a guided tour of the exhibition, 10 children aged 8 to 12 years old, came at La Casemate each week during a 2 month period to create various devices (painting, installation, collage, and photography). Their works have then been presented to the public from February 3 to February 18, 2007 during the final month of the exhibition’s presentation in Grenoble.

The objective of this workshop was to lead children in the creation of their own representation of the infinitely small world. Bruno Leray, the visual artist who took part in this action has been a collaborator of the CCSTI Grenoble on different projects (as an example, see the exhibition "Pourquoi tant d’ADN ?").

To organize such type of workshop during the presentation of the NANOTECHNOLOGIES exhibition, contact Bruno LERAY, Grenoble-based artist.

Just before the end of the exhibition presentation in Grenoble, the “Rencontres i, arts sciences enterprises” festival took place, from March 2 to March 14, 2007. In this context the Hexagone Scène Nationale of Meylan, initiator of the festival, has ordered an original text to French writer Serge Valetti. The show took place in the evening of March 2, 2007. The subject: how can a non-scientist, the society, a poet, seize the nanotechnologies?

For more information on this show, contact Eliane SAUSSE, administrator of the Hexagone Scène Nationale of Meylan.

Resources ONLINE

Website Internet Actu (in French) to discover the “Nanoart”

Website of the American artist Cris ORFESCU (in English), creator of the “Nanoart”

Website of the « NANO » exhibition (in English), a project associating young artists and young scientists on the campus of University of California in Los Angeles.

Website of the Scalène Company to find the “Nouvelles du fond” performance (in French)

Website of the “Rencontres i, arts, sciences, entreprises” festival to find information on the “Quelque Chose” performance (in French).

« Nanotechnologies : extremely small, maxi challenges», is the first French travelling exhibition about nanotechnologies.

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