From Galileo to Mars

13 Nov From Galileo to Mars

We are running to catch up this week. We put aside business-as- usual (as we are prone to do) to participate in one of Florence’s most surprising events: the symposium/exhibition FROM GALILEO TO MARS – RENAISSANCE OF THE ARTSCIENCES. The event was held between The Odeon and Palazzo dei Cartelloni, home of event organizer SACI – Scuola Arts College International.

In Florence people do tend to throw around the word Renaissance with the greatest of ease but after OMG Florence’s chat with SACI president Steven Britton we knew this wasn’t the case and that we couldn’t miss it.

It was a full day, for a lot of reasons, from the ambitious headline topic to the program, which clicked along at a nice pace, to the tenor of the guest speakers and presenters.

After a round of welcome messages and endorsement by local and international officials, Britton set us right on track. The next 3 hours were going to be an exploration of the collaboration between the arts and the sciences, and unexpected results and rewards with a list of guest speakers that was amazing, given how unpretentious the event was:

DAVA NEWMAN, NASA Deputy Administrator (and former MIT professor and researcher)
NICOLE STOTT, astronaut and artist
PAOLO NESPOLI, astronaut and researcher (via Skype from Kazakhstan)
GUILLERMO TROTTI, architect, industrial designer focused on extreme environments in collaboration with NASA and MIT
VITTORIO CAFFAGGI, CEO of D-air Lab, leader in development of airbags-for-humans technology
LIA HALLORAN, Artist, astronomist and Director of Painting and Drawing Dept at Chapman University.

Apart from being impressed by the group of individuals that SACI managed to bring together, we were inspired by what their different perspectives had in common with each other and with us. We couldn’t help but jot down some words, ideas, phrases that are part of our life. We are inspired to know that these are also part of the lives of these individuals and the people they work with:

Radical collaboration
Tiny but Significant
Carrying humanity with us
Inspired by Nature
To protect is not to damage
Interdisciplinary consumption of culture
Exploration of the experience of weightlessness
How to find things by not looking for them.
Whole brain experience
Design as journey of exploration and process of discovery
Infinite Diversity

What remains after that morning was a sense of delight on coming across something novel yet so very sensible and holistic, curiosity and, best of all, possibility.