A scientist in a lab coat, mask, and gloves holds a vial before her eyes. Behind her, organic shapes in red spread across the frame, as if the microscope lenses had been turned inside out, and suddenly the tiny beings that previously fit only on microscope slides reveal their beauty to all.
The scene is one of more than 70 works featured in the exhibition 'The spectacle of things in the 125 years of...' IOC', inaugurated on April 1st, in the A. Overmeer Rare Books Section, in the Moorish Castle of Fiocruz, in Manguinhos (RJ).
The exhibition brings together works by 16 artists and proposes a dialogue between art and scientific production, based on experiences lived in the laboratories of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz).
The exhibition runs until May 25th, Tuesday through Friday (except holidays), from 10 am to 16 pm. Admission is free. Throughout the period, the works will be renewed, allowing visitors to return and discover new pieces with each visit.
Held in partnership with the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EBA/UFRJ), the exhibition is the result of the extension project 'Short Circuit – Art, Science and Innovation', which, since 2018, has been integrating visual arts students into research environments of the IOC.
The initiative aims to bring artists closer to everyday scientific life in order to create new ways of interpreting and communicating science. The result is works that move between the figurative and the abstract, inspired by both biological collections and the processes and routines of laboratories.
The curation is by Anunciata Sawada, from the Laboratory of Innovations in Therapies, Teaching and Bioproducts of IOC, and Dalila Santos, from EBA/UFRJ.
For Dalila, the encounter between art and science is more natural than it seems.
"Science and art, despite seeming like distinct fields, are constantly intertwined. Art is present in our lives, just like science, in the smallest things. You just have to pay attention to what's around you," he stated.
For Anunciata, the choice of the Moorish Castle of FiocRuz as an exhibition space also reinforces this dialogue.
"The castle itself is a work of art, and when it hosts an exhibition like this, it is fulfilling its purpose," the expert pointed out, recalling that Oswaldo Cruz was an art lover.
The artwork described at the beginning of this report is by visual artist Alex Matheus da Hora, one of the 16 participants in the exhibition. Inspired by the daily life of science, he sought to translate, in image, what he observed in the laboratories.
"I had been following the researchers' routine for a while, and seeing that moment, with the scientist focused on her work, caught my attention," he said.
From this scene, the artist sought to record not only the scientific gesture, but also the forms that emerged before the lens.
“I saw many colors, microorganisms, and things I didn’t recognize. As an artist, however, I saw abstraction, and I brought that into the work,” he explained.
Depicted in the work is postdoctoral researcher Ludmila Fiuza, from the Cell Biology Laboratory of IOCShe highlighted the impact of seeing herself represented artistically.
"It's exciting, because when we choose to work with biology, with laboratory science, we know that we often stay behind the scenes," she said.
For her, the visibility provided by art helps to recognize the collective work that sustains scientific production. The researcher also emphasizes that the work contributes to breaking down stereotypes within the scientific community.
"The painting dispels the idea of the scientist as someone strange and shows that there is beauty both in what he does and in himself," he added.
Visual artist Juliana Gonçalves described her experience with the laboratories as a process of personal and professional transformation. According to her, her interest in the natural world dates back to childhood, but it took on new dimensions after her time at the Institute.
“It was a completely different world, where everything was incredible. The smells, the colors, everything caught my attention,” she said, recalling the time when she started frequenting the laboratories of IOC.
Juliana's journey within the project also spanned different areas of knowledge. A graduate in Arts from EBA (School of Fine Arts), she worked in various laboratories—such as the Biology and Parasitology of Wild Mammal Reservoirs and the Malacology laboratory—and ultimately broadened her training beyond the artistic field. Today, in addition to studying and working in education, she is also drawn to biology, incorporating diverse experiences into her career path.
This multiplicity also appears in his works, which seek to bring together different dimensions of scientific practice, from the laboratory to the field, including outreach activities and contact with the public.
If, at the beginning of this report, the microscope seemed to have been turned inside out, by the end, the feeling remained that it had expanded and occupied the entire A. Overmeer Rare Books Section in the Moorish Castle of the Fiocroz.
With the exhibition, what was once part of the daily routine in laboratories takes on form, color, and history, and is shared with the public from new perspectives.
As the director of the School of Fine Arts at UFRJ, Daniel Aguiar, summarized during the opening of the exhibition, "science and art are only two separate things when you don't look under a microscope."
The official opening of the exhibition, held in the Arthur Neiva auditorium on April 1st, brought together representatives from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute and the School of Fine Arts to mark the consolidation of the partnership between the institutions.
During the ceremony, the director of IOCTania Araujo-Jorge highlighted the collective and continuous nature of the initiative. According to her, the so-called 'ScienceArt' — a concept that expresses the integration between the two fields — creates an unconventional but essential space for exchange.
According to Daniel Couto, director of EBA/UFRJ, the initiative broadens the scope of academic training by connecting students to other fields of knowledge.
Service
Exhibition “The spectacle of things in the 125 years of IOC"
Opening: April 1st, starting at 9:30 AM
VisitationApril 1st to May 25th, Tuesday to Friday (except holidays), from 10 am to 16 pm. For more information, visit [website address]. Museum of Life website
Location: Rare Books Section A. Overmeer, in the Moorish Castle of Fiocruz (Av. Brasil, 4365 – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro)
Price: free
Participating artistsAlex Matheus da Hora, Ana Luiza Monteiro, Antonio Lúcio Martin, Antonio Reis, Beatriz Lemos, Cecilia Abreu, Clara Vieira, Juliana Gonçalves, Marcelo Frutuoso, Maria Paula Estrella, Meri Lane Oliveira, Miguel Neves, Nicole Lobo, Sara Fonseca, Valentina Terra and Vitória Veríssimo
A scientist in a lab coat, mask, and gloves holds a vial before her eyes. Behind her, organic shapes in red spread across the frame, as if the microscope lenses had been turned inside out, and suddenly the tiny beings that previously fit only on microscope slides reveal their beauty to all.
The scene is one of more than 70 works featured in the exhibition 'The spectacle of things in the 125 years of...' IOC', inaugurated on April 1st, in the A. Overmeer Rare Books Section, in the Moorish Castle of Fiocruz, in Manguinhos (RJ).
The exhibition brings together works by 16 artists and proposes a dialogue between art and scientific production, based on experiences lived in the laboratories of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute (IOC/Fiocruz).
The exhibition runs until May 25th, Tuesday through Friday (except holidays), from 10 am to 16 pm. Admission is free. Throughout the period, the works will be renewed, allowing visitors to return and discover new pieces with each visit.
Held in partnership with the School of Fine Arts of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (EBA/UFRJ), the exhibition is the result of the extension project 'Short Circuit – Art, Science and Innovation', which, since 2018, has been integrating visual arts students into research environments of the IOC.
The initiative aims to bring artists closer to everyday scientific life in order to create new ways of interpreting and communicating science. The result is works that move between the figurative and the abstract, inspired by both biological collections and the processes and routines of laboratories.
The curation is by Anunciata Sawada, from the Laboratory of Innovations in Therapies, Teaching and Bioproducts of IOC, and Dalila Santos, from EBA/UFRJ.
For Dalila, the encounter between art and science is more natural than it seems.
"Science and art, despite seeming like distinct fields, are constantly intertwined. Art is present in our lives, just like science, in the smallest things. You just have to pay attention to what's around you," he stated.
For Anunciata, the choice of the Moorish Castle of FiocRuz as an exhibition space also reinforces this dialogue.
"The castle itself is a work of art, and when it hosts an exhibition like this, it is fulfilling its purpose," the expert pointed out, recalling that Oswaldo Cruz was an art lover.
The artwork described at the beginning of this report is by visual artist Alex Matheus da Hora, one of the 16 participants in the exhibition. Inspired by the daily life of science, he sought to translate, in image, what he observed in the laboratories.
"I had been following the researchers' routine for a while, and seeing that moment, with the scientist focused on her work, caught my attention," he said.
From this scene, the artist sought to record not only the scientific gesture, but also the forms that emerged before the lens.
“I saw many colors, microorganisms, and things I didn’t recognize. As an artist, however, I saw abstraction, and I brought that into the work,” he explained.
Depicted in the work is postdoctoral researcher Ludmila Fiuza, from the Cell Biology Laboratory of IOCShe highlighted the impact of seeing herself represented artistically.
"It's exciting, because when we choose to work with biology, with laboratory science, we know that we often stay behind the scenes," she said.
For her, the visibility provided by art helps to recognize the collective work that sustains scientific production. The researcher also emphasizes that the work contributes to breaking down stereotypes within the scientific community.
"The painting dispels the idea of the scientist as someone strange and shows that there is beauty both in what he does and in himself," he added.
Visual artist Juliana Gonçalves described her experience with the laboratories as a process of personal and professional transformation. According to her, her interest in the natural world dates back to childhood, but it took on new dimensions after her time at the Institute.
“It was a completely different world, where everything was incredible. The smells, the colors, everything caught my attention,” she said, recalling the time when she started frequenting the laboratories of IOC.
Juliana's journey within the project also spanned different areas of knowledge. A graduate in Arts from EBA (School of Fine Arts), she worked in various laboratories—such as the Biology and Parasitology of Wild Mammal Reservoirs and the Malacology laboratory—and ultimately broadened her training beyond the artistic field. Today, in addition to studying and working in education, she is also drawn to biology, incorporating diverse experiences into her career path.
This multiplicity also appears in his works, which seek to bring together different dimensions of scientific practice, from the laboratory to the field, including outreach activities and contact with the public.
If, at the beginning of this report, the microscope seemed to have been turned inside out, by the end, the feeling remained that it had expanded and occupied the entire A. Overmeer Rare Books Section in the Moorish Castle of the Fiocroz.
With the exhibition, what was once part of the daily routine in laboratories takes on form, color, and history, and is shared with the public from new perspectives.
As the director of the School of Fine Arts at UFRJ, Daniel Aguiar, summarized during the opening of the exhibition, "science and art are only two separate things when you don't look under a microscope."
The official opening of the exhibition, held in the Arthur Neiva auditorium on April 1st, brought together representatives from the Oswaldo Cruz Institute and the School of Fine Arts to mark the consolidation of the partnership between the institutions.
During the ceremony, the director of IOCTania Araujo-Jorge highlighted the collective and continuous nature of the initiative. According to her, the so-called 'ScienceArt' — a concept that expresses the integration between the two fields — creates an unconventional but essential space for exchange.
According to Daniel Couto, director of EBA/UFRJ, the initiative broadens the scope of academic training by connecting students to other fields of knowledge.
Service
Exhibition “The spectacle of things in the 125 years of IOC"
Opening: April 1st, starting at 9:30 AM
VisitationApril 1st to May 25th, Tuesday to Friday (except holidays), from 10 am to 16 pm. For more information, visit [website address]. Museum of Life website
Location: Rare Books Section A. Overmeer, in the Moorish Castle of Fiocruz (Av. Brasil, 4365 – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro)
Price: free
Participating artistsAlex Matheus da Hora, Ana Luiza Monteiro, Antonio Lúcio Martin, Antonio Reis, Beatriz Lemos, Cecilia Abreu, Clara Vieira, Juliana Gonçalves, Marcelo Frutuoso, Maria Paula Estrella, Meri Lane Oliveira, Miguel Neves, Nicole Lobo, Sara Fonseca, Valentina Terra and Vitória Veríssimo
The non-profit reproduction of the text is allowed as long as the source is cited (Comunicação / Instituto Oswaldo Cruz)
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