In acclamation of the fusion of art and science, the Academy established the ArtScience™ Initiative with the objective to promote the appreciation and outstanding creations of arts towards culturation of sciences among Malaysians. The initiative also aims to nurture creativity at the convergence of arts and the sciences. ASM ArtScience™ Prize is one of the programme under this initiative to recognise the artworks and projects related to the ArtScience™ philosophy. The Prize is awarded to outstanding works that embody the union of art and science. The Prize is the first-ever to be established in Malaysia to celebrate the emergent community of artist-scientists.

The evaluation exercise was held on 28-30 September 2020 at ASM by 6 Panel Jury.

ASM Artscience™ Prize Winner
Project Leader: Dr Ahmad Hanif Ahmad Baharin
Institution: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
Team Member: Mohd Nasir Baharuddin & Muhammad Hafiz Mastro
Title of Project: Digital- Tropical Breathing the Waves
Prize: RM 20,000, Challenge Trophy, Certificate & Residency Attachment

Digital-Tropical: Breathing the Waves Digital-Tropical is a project that converges the analogue data and the digital flow into ‘reality analogical’ between the historical resonance of the past with the wave of current technology. In this work, we explore the use of physical computing for data visualisation. Historical data of oceanic wave heights from a renewable energy research project, collected from a location near Tioman Island for two years, are represented using lights which illuminate the underside of a 300-year-old traditional tropical home, Istana Puteri Bongsu at Taman Pantun UKM. This work is not just an artistic representation of scientific data, but a Malay traditional architecture as a form of high culture relic, is being used as a new reality through the manner of representation. Through a process of multidisciplinary discourse, Digital-Tropical extends the scientific explanations of how things are to an artistic/scientific amalgamation of how things can be.

ASM ARTSCIENCE™ PRIZE TROPHY DESIGN COMPETITION

The ASM ArtScience™ Prize Trophy Design Competition is organised to find the best design for the Challenge Trophy that will be awarded to the Winner of the ASM ArtScience™ Prize. The winner of this competition would be working closely with ASM ArtScience™ Initiative Strategic Partner, ForceMaker Division of Nazca Scientific Sdn Bhd for the fabrication of the trophy.

Factsheet (2020) At a Glance?

Engagement Programmes

The ASM ArtScience™ Engagement Programme aims to engage professionals, artists and scientists to promote the philosophy of convergence between the arts and the sciences. The activities in this programme shall promote the convergence of arts and sciences and allow the participants to interact with experts.

ArtScience™ Webinar for All

The ArtScience™ For All webinar is organized in conjunction with Minggu Sains Negara 2020 which was held on the 9 June 2020 moderated by Academician Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor FASc, member on Task Force on ASM ArtScience™ Initiative. Minggu Sains Negara is an initiative by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to promote the understanding of science in the community. The webinar was delivered by artistscientists, Dr Roslina Ismail, Deputy Director (Postgraduate and Research) of the University of Malaya Cultural Centre and Dr Mohammad Kamal Sabran, a Lecturer from the Universiti Sains Malaysia. The webinar garnered 1,200 views with 100 registered participants.

RISING STAR AWARD WINNER
Name: Dr Roopesh Sitharan and Dr Mohd Hafizuddin Mohd Yusof
Institution: Multimedia University (MMU)
Title of Project: Artificial autonomy and the question of subjectivity in AI
Prize: Trophy, Certificate & Residency Attachment

Artificial autonomy and the question of subjectivity in AI

This research endeavour ruminates the possibility of an autonomous technology in being able to attain subjectivity through its algorithmic intelligence. The rapid acceleration of computing capabilities in recent years forged the creation of autonomous machines whereby instigating an enduring fascination with Artificial Intelligent (AI) and its benefit to human activities. This has led to the mass deployment of AI in daily life, especially in economic affairs and social administration thus making the AI an essential component for the veracity of digitisation. Arguably, no domain or discipline is free from the influence of AI. However, reflecting this phenomenon from an anthropocentric view, especially matters concerning cognition reveals the absorbing of physical and cognitive labour of human into its technical systems. Essentially an AI learns from human culture through data analysis, highly contextual interpretation of content and classification of knowledge. In other words, the data in which AI learns, classify, counts, measures, evaluate and correlates derives from the perception model of a humanistic subjective reality. Based on this premise, the project contends the objective deification of AI considering the data in which an AI depends to build its autonomy encompasses a human worldview.

Interview at the Fresh Brew@RTM2.

Interview with Fresh Brew from RTM2 was held on the 31 May 2020. The panels were YBhg Academician Professor Emerita Dato’ Seri Dr Mazlan Othman FASc and Puan Wan Zaleha Radzi. The interview was held to promote ASM ArtScience™ Initiative to the public. It also served to introduce and promote the 2020 ASM ArtScience™ Prize which is one of the main programme under this initiative.