Unfortunately, the 2020 edition of 'Science and Culture at the Royal Palace of Brussels' cannot take place in situ. However, the Belgian Science Policy Office came up with an alternative but original route, adapted to the circumstances, through a virtual exhibition, starting July 20, 2020.
This year, the unexpected came to disturb everyone's normal rhythm of work. Nevertheless, we do not want to deprive the general public of the results of all the preparatory work already delivered by the federal scientific institutions, and we wish to preserve the continuity of an established tradition. The federal scientific institutions offer a route through a selection of works of art, objects or films on the theme of Birth. They are followed by Sciensano, CINEMATEK, the National Geographical Institute (NGI) and the Coordination Cell of the BCCM Consortium (Belgian Co-ordinated Collections of Micro-organisms) of BELSPO. We therefore hope that the exhibition Birth will be able to take place in the next few years at the Royal Palace and take its place in the Science and Culture cycle at the Royal Palace.
Through the virtual exhibition "Birth", the federal scientific institutions offer the general public the opportunity to explore a broad thematic framework, including works of art, natural specimens and phenomena, scientific research topics and archival documents or photographs. In selecting them, our scientific institutions faced an immense dilemma. In the end, some thirty objects, works of art and films linked to the theme of birth were selected that sometimes show subtle similarities and address multidisciplinary and transversal subjects. The theme of birth and origin in the broadest sense is a recurring theme for many researchers working in sometimes very diverse fields, including astrophysicists, historians, archaeologists, biologists, doctors, geologists and paleontologists. From their respective fields, they look at the theme of birth from their own specific point of view. How did the universe, heaven and earth come into being? How does a living being come to life? How do natural phenomena arise? What cultural practices are associated with birth and how do they understand it? Why are documents kept as birth certificates? The virtual journey is built around open sub-themes that can show mutual similarities and offers new perspectives for associating themes.
- Origin of the universe
- Origin of natural phenomena
- Origin of life
- Human birth: Celebrations & rituals - Mother, foetus and newborn - Objects linked to birth - Documents and souvenirs linked to birth - Origin of knowledge
- The creative moment in art: Origin or emergence of forms
- Origin of a scientific project
- Origin of a scientific collection.