Speaker
Description
This contribution explores how figurative art, specifically photography, can open new perspectives for public engagement with advanced research. At Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, the photographer Giorgio Di Noto revisited the daguerreotype technique—one of the earliest photographic processes—within the context of synchrotron light and nanoscience. By juxtaposing the tangible, material qualities of historical photography with the immaterial phenomena studied at the nanoscale, the project created aesthetic objects that act as conceptual mediators between scientific practice and public imagination. Exhibitions and dialogues with audiences showed how figurative photography, with its emphasis on materiality and visual resonance, fosters curiosity and reflection on otherwise inaccessible research domains. The case demonstrates that art–science hybrids are not merely communicative add-ons but can serve as epistemic bridges, expanding the cultural presence of large research infrastructures and reconfiguring the relationship between image, knowledge, and engagement.
