Since 2017, the Yale Quantum Institute (YQI) Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program has welcomed artists for year-long residencies in our laboratories. During their time with us, these artists create collaborative quantum science-based artwork, participate in a series of public talks to explain both their work and the science behind it, and bridge the gap between the humanities and the sciences. This year, YQI continues its commitment to the intersection of art and science by welcoming Italian Visual Artist and Art Historian Serena Scapagnini as our 4th AiR for the 2024–2025 academic year.
Serena Scapagnini’s work is deeply rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration. For the past decade, she has focused her artistic research on neurons, working closely with Professor Michael Higley, a neuroscientist at Yale School of Medicine, on a project titled SYNAPSES, dedicated to exploring the mind. Using fluorescent neuroimaging techniques to visualize neurons, Serena creates media works that define an internal landscape, following the flow of neurons like the tributaries of a river, connecting through synapses to form the shapes of our thoughts. Her body of work spans painting, drawing, video art, and installations.
In her exploration of the osmotic relationships between cells—and more broadly, between structure and space—Serena creates spatial works supported by delicate copper cables, forming complex systemic organizations. These compositions suggest a rhythm that runs through overlapping papers, echoing natural dynamics. The proportions, order, and quality of these works evoke the geometric structures underlying various forms in nature. Paper, Serena’s preferred medium, is transformed as dense layers of paint on one part of the picture gradually evolve into ethereal forms, allowing the dendritic branches to dissolve into the white surface of the paper. Transparencies and the rarefaction of neurons on the empty white spaces create an environment where images rest, and perception unfolds into silence, as if thoughts could extend into a moment of transcendence.
Earlier this summer, Serena delivered a public talk at YQI titled “The Shape of Thoughts: Down the Flowing River of Tributary Neurons,” as part of our non-technical talk series, where she shared insights into her work and practice.
Serena holds a master’s degree in Medieval Art History, Iconography, and Iconology from the University of Siena. Her art education began at Université Paris VIII and continued in New York, where she completed a Master’s program in Painting and Mixed Media at the School of Visual Arts. Her work has been exhibited and collected in the United States, China, India, Sweden, Hungary, Spain, and Italy. Her latest artwork, Hemispheres, is currently on display in the Pio Monte della Misericordia Church in Naples, Italy, alongside Caravaggio’s masterpiece The Seven Works of Mercy.
We are thrilled to welcome Serena as our Artist-in-Residence. In this role, she will engage with our faculty, researchers, and students, attend our colloquia and events, and create artwork inspired by and in collaboration with YQI researchers.
Additional public events will be hosted at YQI to showcase the work that Serena and the YQI members will create during the residency. To be informed of the upcoming events, consider subscribing to the YQI public events newsletter or check our calendar. To learn more about our artist-in-residence program or our previous artists, visit art.quantuminstitute.yale.edu.