As part of the City and Science Biennial, the Daniel and Nina Carasso philanthropic foundation presents the financial aid scheme that will be launched in March of this year through two round tables in which we will learn about some of the projects that have been carried out. The financial aid scheme “Gathering knowledge to understand contemporary challenges” is addressed to multidisciplinary projects that combine art with other branches of knowledge, such as science or technology, in order to understand contemporary challenges from new perspectives and find solutions to them.

The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation was created in 2010 in memory of Daniel Carasso, the founder of Danone, and his wife Nina. It is a family-based foundation, totally independent of the food group, which funds projects associated with two major fundamental areas so that human beings may live full lives: food, for maintaining life, and art, for enriching the spirit. With its financial support, it facilitates the meeting between worlds that do not normally communicate with one another (for instance art and science) to make possible what seemed impossible and bring about the appearance of innovative actions.

Table 1. Medicine, Health and art: forms of collaboration to improve people’s lives
12:30 to 2:30 pm

Hospital units such as cancer or intensive care are environments in which patients are exposed to a high degree of stress due to the seriousness of their illness, circadian rhythms and high noise levels. In these units, it has been shown that the use of certain artistic processes, such as music, is an effective way of reducing patients’ stress levels, and protocols have even been developed about how to implement them. With the presence of artists, doctors and project managers who link art to health, the participants in this round table will discuss how art can help to improve people’s health, and even to question notions such as "health" and "illness".

Carlos Almela Mariscal
Francisco Díaz
Juan Alberto García de Cubas
Moisés Mira Flores
Roser Sanjuan Plana
Elisa Ortiz
Moderator: Javier Rodrigo Montero

Table 2. Ecology and art: forms of collaboration to improve the life of the planet
3:30 to 4:45 pm

Scientific and technological discoveries have been growing day by day since the Industrial Revolution, and they have radically transformed ways of life and thought, as well as our relationship with the environment, and especially with the planet. In order to understand the complexity of systemic phenomena such as climate change, the decline of the countryside, or excessive production and consumption, we have to tackle these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. In this round table the following speakers, in charge of different projects that promote respect for the environment, will discuss how art can contribute to understanding and meeting these challenges:

Clara Boj
Mónica Gutiérrez
Fernando García-Dory
Moderator: Pablo Martínez

Photographs: Gloria Lapeña