Lucía Ayala

Humboldt University, Berlin
Granada University, Spain
CSTMS Research Unit: Office for the History of Science and Technology
Affiliation period: December 2011 - October 2013
lucia@luayas.net
Degrees PhD, Art History and European Doctorate :: University of Granada and Humboldt University of Berlin (Germany) (2011)
Master degree, Curatorial and Cultural Practices in Art and New Media :: MECAD–Media Center of Art & Design and Ramon Llull University, Barcelona (2005)

Research Areas

History of western modern astronomy and contemporary astrophysics, art-historical approaches to science, scientific images, contemporary media art.

Within the broad and complex context of history of astronomy, Ayala's historical work mainly revolves around the representation of the Universe on large scales, paying special attention to the role of artists in the production of scientific images. She approaches the process of shaping modern theories on the Universe (i.e. from the modern era onwards) from a visual perspective, stressing some important episodes on the consolidation of the new astronomy that was triggered by the idea of a plurality of worlds.

Besides her historical research, Ayala's work also concerns current artistic and scientific practices – for that reason, she usually collaborates with artists and scientists. Regarding contemporary astrophysics, her main research topics are numerical simulations in cosmology and dark matter, since these are some of the main aspects of the large scale studies on the Universe today. In the contemporary art field, her work is focused on the use of diverse technological media (the so-called "media art").

Ayala is currently working on a project at UC Berkeley entitled "Visual Genealogy of Modern Cosmology."

 

Webpages

www.fluid-skies.net

www.luayas.net

last updated: November 20th, 2017