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Shaking the boundaries between culture and science: the anti-seismic wallpaper

Scientific culture. What a program. If science, technology and culture have much in common, we must well distinguish the importance and necessity of scientific culture in our society - where innovation has become a grail conveying positive values ​​- and the links between art and science which, when art is defined as " the rout of an existing technique" , is almost totemic for the Forum d'Avignon.

We are all frequently flabbergasted- and this is also a major reason for hope - by the experiences and innovations in science, without being able to immediately analyze the reasons why these innovations affect our minds and imaginations.

Latest of this kind is the anti-seismic wallpaper.

Recently developed by a team of German researchers, made of fiberglass, this new type of wallpaper paper soften the walls and allows them to withstand seismic shocks, making possible the evacuation of people present in the building. A true revolution when rethinking of the damages, human and material, immediate and longer-term, resulting from past earthquake disasters: the earthquake that shook the city of Christchurch, New Zealand in February 2012 had, for instance, led to the death of 185 people, mainly because of significant alterations of buildings and infrastructure.

What can a priori be the link with the issues tackled by the Forum d’Avignon that seeks to promote the role of investment - in all its forms (personal, economic, in places, in the promotion of conviviality) - in culture and creative industries, the fruitful links between culture and economy, the ferment of social cohesion that are supporting the arts and artistic disciplines, in all their diversity.

This link seemed straightforward for us: the walls covered with a protective canvas, as blank spaces, can sometimes be unstable whereas they symbolize the protection of the home, giving free range to creativity. Wallpaper - sometimes decorated - is something that many of us visualize on a daily basis: the walls of a room, of an office, the underlying layers which ornament buildings, like the preparatory work of a fresco, which is based on highly technical features.

To know more about the anti-seismic wallpaper, click here

Credits photo : katielips