There is a quiet kind of alchemy that happens when two disciplines, long kept in separate rooms, are finally introduced. One speaks in data points and peer-reviewed certainty; the other in textures, metaphors, and the unresolved questions that linger after the gallery lights dim. When they sit at the same table, something shifts. Not a solution, exactly—more like a new way of seeing the problem. This is the premise behind SCI_ART 2026, a transnational gathering that brings artists and scientists from Canada and the European Union into shared space, asking them to examine environmental transformation not as a subject to be studied, but as a reality to be sensed, questioned, and collectively reimagined .
Now in its fourth edition, the symposium unfolds across Vancouver Island, Vancouver, and the Okanagan from late September through early October 2026. Organized by UBC Okanagan's Critical Future Studio/Lab, with support from the European Union and the embassies of Austria, Croatia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, and Slovenia, the event positions artistic practice as a form of research—not as illustration of science, but as a co-productive methodology . Under the theme After the Data/Cultural Climate Futures, participants explore how climate systems, Northern research, and technological infrastructures might be engaged through embodied, immersive, and critically situated approaches .
Dr. Suzie Currie, UBCO's Vice-Principal and Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation, notes that dialogue between artists and scientists creates opportunities for discovery that neither field could achieve alone. The projects emerging from these collaborations, she suggests, invite audiences to engage with climate issues through perspectives that combine scientific knowledge with artistic imagination, making complex environmental problems more accessible while opening new avenues for inquiry .
Dr. Megan Smith, associate professor and Director of the Critical Future Studio/Lab, frames the symposium as a space for exchange among artists, scientists, policymakers, and the public. Addressing environmental change, she observes, requires perspectives from many disciplines and communities—and SCI_ART creates room for shared questions about resilience, sustainability, and the futures we want to build .
The program includes artist residencies, performances, public presentations, and collaborative research activities. Participants investigate how creative practice contributes to environmental understanding and action, using technologies such as satellite imaging, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, computation, and immersive media to make complex systems perceptible . Discussions also examine artistic research as a way of rehearsing possible futures, preserving knowledge generated through interdisciplinary experimentation, and bringing creative and scientific perspectives into environmental policy, diplomacy, and public decision-making .
On October 7, the Austrian Embassy Ottawa partners with UBC and SCI_ART to present a free selection of award-winning works from the Ars Electronica Animation Festival 2025, followed by a panel discussion and presentations on October 8 . The event is free and open to the public, with registration available through the symposium's website.
In a world where climate data arrives with increasing urgency yet often struggles to move people beyond paralysis or denial, the SCI_ART symposium offers something quieter but perhaps equally necessary: a space where knowing and feeling are not competitors but companions. The artists and scientists gathered in British Columbia this October may not emerge with a single answer. But they are practicing a form of attention that the moment demands—one that holds data and imagination together, and asks what kind of future might grow from that union.
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AI Image Disclaimer: The illustrative images accompanying this article were generated by artificial intelligence and are intended for visual enhancement only.
Sources: UBC Okanagan News; EEAS (European Union Delegation to Canada); Castanet Kamloops; Catalan Arts; Plumtri
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