Terms & CONDITIONS

[Figure 1.A.] The Scientific Art Exhibition

1. Competition

The association [Figure 1.A.] The Scientific Art Exhibition organizes the scientific art competition and exhibition [Figure 1.A.] 2025. The [Figure 1.A.] association is tasked with collecting artworks, organizing a jury selection process, printing, framing, advertising, and presenting images in an exhibition format.

 

2. Terms and conditions

2.1 Participants

The [Figure 1.A.] competition is open worldwide to:

  • Scientists from universities, companies, hospitals, public and private institutes. This includes students, faculty, staff - medical, technical, administrative, postdocs, PhDs, lecturers, medical doctors, professors, etc. Group leaders must specify the name of the researcher(s) who have participated in the scientific project when submitting their images.

  • Artists and photographers inspired by science and technology and incorporating it in their art.

  • The following persons cannot take part in the competition:

  • current members of the competition jury;

  • current members of the organizing committee.

Participation in the competition is free of charge.

 

2.2 Exhibition

A maximum of 30 selected artworks will be displayed in an exhibition, which will be presented in a gallery space (to be determined) in 2024.

All displayed artworks will be printed in postcard formats and offered as a token for donation, with proceeds going to the [Figure 1.A.] association for the organization of the event. At the end of the exhibition, the authors can request any remaining postcards to be sent to them by post. A full record of the event budget proceeds from sales and a list of sponsors will be released by [Figure 1.A.] association after the conclusion of the event to all funding bodies and upon request from interested parties.

 

3. Submissions

3.1 Submission requirements

There are no restrictions on the type of submissions. All forms of visual art generated via photography, data acquisition, microscopy, computer-generated images, data visualization, drawings, painting renditions of scientific images, and sculptures can be submitted. Submitted scientific images must not be identical to published data. Researchers who wish to submit images already published or submitted to scientific journals can do so after modification (contrast, brightness, size). The participants guarantee that the entries have been produced by themselves and that they hold all necessary rights and authorizations. The works submitted must respect image ethics.

3.2 Categories

CATEGORY 1: SCIENCE INSPIRED ART

  • Artworks generated from experiments, data acquisition, or technical-scientific material collected during research and scientific experimentation. This category welcomes all types of images and videos documenting science: photography, microscopy, computer-generated images, data visualization, etc.

  • The category is open to both scientists and artists who have conducted and documented scientific experiments.

CATEGORY 2:  ART DRIVEN BY SCIENCE

  • Artworks inspired by scientific topics or art projects incorporating scientific methodologies. This category welcomes all types of images, videos, drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital art, etc. The authors need to be as specific as possible when describing how the artistic work engages with a scientific topic.

  • The category is open to both scientists transforming their scientific images into a purely artistic rendition and to artists drawing inspiration from science or incorporating scientific methodology and technology into their work.

The [Figure 1.A.] 2025 exhibition proposes the theme: “EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS.” This special theme is designed to take participants to explore other organisms' “success stories.” Using scientific concepts as inspiration, participants are encouraged to explore and portray their answers to the following questions in the two aforementioned categories:

  • As Earth’s temperatures rise, will humans need to adapt similarly?

  • How can we achieve this adaptation?

  • What factors determine extremophiles’ resilience?

  • What might a human look like in the year 2500?

  • Which physical, psychological and technological limits do we face, and how do we push past what is typically considered possible?

3.3 Technical requirements

Digital files must be uploaded on the [Figure 1.A.] website submission form. Allowed file types are jpg, png, tiff, tif, mpg, mp4, flv, avi, mov, with a maximum size of 100MB and a minimum resolution of 300 dpi. Submit the highest resolution possible (not up-RESed), low resolution submissions will not be considered. Digital touch-ups are permitted. A maximum of 3 submissions can be made by the same author. For videos, if higher quality files require more than 100 MB submission, submit a compressed version for preview and add a note in the technical description that if the artwork is selected, a better quality file is available upon request.

 

4. Participation

Scientists and artists who wish to participate must complete the online submission form by May 31st, 2025, at 23:59h CET at https://figure1a.org/submissions/.

 

5. Prizes

 

5.1 Jury Prize

A jury appointed by the [Figure 1.A.] association and specified on the association’s website will evaluate the artworks and select a maximum of 30 art pieces that will be presented in the main exhibition. On the day of the vernissage, 5 jury favourites will be selected.

5.2 Audience Favorites Prize

Visitors can vote for their favourite artworks in person throughout the entirety of the exhibition. The 3 best artworks selected by the audience will be announced at the end of the exhibition during the finissage.

5.3 [Figure 1.A.] Team Favorite

The [Figure 1.A.] Team will announce a Team Favourite prize on the day of the vernissage.

5.4  Prizes

All prize awardees will be given a 2-ticket entrance for an art exhibition in the city where the author is affiliated (maximum value of 100 CHF). All winners will be specially featured on the [Figure 1.A.] website www.figure1a.org/finalists and on all [Figure 1.A.] social media with credits to their authors. Arrangements for the 2-ticket entrance voucher will be made with each winner individually after the end of the exhibition onwards via email.

 

6. artwork rights

The authors of the artworks retain copyright over their original image. They allow the [Figure 1.A.] association to publish the submitted artworks online as well as on social media and to use images to promote and advertise future events. The participants allow the [Figure 1.A.] association to modify them for this purpose by adding the logo of the event and relevant text/information. When posted on the [Figure 1.A.] website www.figure1a.org the images are listed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (for more information https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). The authors retain the right to inform the organization or other interested parties if they would like a lift of that particular CC attribution.

The participants agree for their artworks to be used in future [Figure 1.A.] productions such as a presentation of “The Best of…” images. These events will take place in various locations, such as galleries and museums in Switzerland and abroad. [Figure 1.A.] is required to inform the participants when their work is selected for such exhibition.