Computer Science Meets Art

Computer Science, art, recognition and remembrance will come together next Thursday, 22 October, at the School of Informatics of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV).

This will take place as part of a two-part event, beginning at 12.30 pm at the entrance to the ETSINF (Building 1G, opposite the Rector's Office), and will include both the renovation of the permanent exhibition dedicated to the Turing Awards and the unveiling of the new mural on the building's façade, which adorns the new entrance to the Museum of Computing.

The Turing Awards become part of the School itself

For years, the ETSINF has hosted a permanent exhibition dedicated to the winners of the Turing Award, the most prestigious prize in the field of computing. The award, awarded annually by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), is popularly regarded as the Nobel Prize of Computing.

Now, the exhibition is taking a step further and moving away from its previous format to become an integral part of the School's architecture and day-to-day life: the classroom doors themselves have become the new canvas for the exhibition, showcasing the figures who have shaped the history of computing in the very spaces where future professionals are trained.

The person responsible for shaping this new project is the designer Diego Mir, who was tasked with revamping the exhibition's image and adapting it to a format that makes the ETSINF spaces integral to the exhibition narrative.

"We wanted the exhibition to cease being something that is simply viewed and instead become part of the School itself," explains Javier Palanca, director of the ETSINF-UPV Museum of Computing. "Bringing the Turing Awards right to the doorsteps of the lecture theatres allows us to interact every day with those who have shaped much of the history of our discipline. Diego Mir had a perfect understanding of the idea and has achieved a truly elegant and aesthetically pleasing integration," he adds.

The museum entrance: a 15-metre mural to raise its profile

The second project transforms the entrance to the Computer Science Museum with a mural approximately 15 metres long that covers the east façade of the School, making the Museum's presence visible from the outside.

The work was carried out in collaboration with the UPV's Faculty of Fine Arts, through the 'Painting and Environment' course led by lecturers Juan Canales and Álvaro Porras. A group of Fine Arts students, under the supervision of Alba Granell, took part in its creation.

"We had a museum with a very significant collection and programme of activities, but from outside the building, it was practically non-existent. With this mural, we want to change that: we want the Museum to reach out to the outside world, to attract attention and to make anyone passing by curious to find out what lies behind those doors," says Palanca.

The location of the project reinforces this objective. Situated opposite the Rector's Office and next to one of the main access routes to the campus, the new façade makes the Museum a recognisable feature from the outside, giving it a greater presence within the UPV.

The project also stems from the long-standing collaboration between the Museum of Computing and the UPV's Faculty of Fine Arts – a well-established relationship which, once again, has yielded excellent results.

"For us, it was important that this project wasn't merely decorative," emphasises Palanca. "We wanted an artistic work with its own personality, and that's why the collaboration with the Faculty of Fine Arts made perfect sense. Alba Granell and her team have done a magnificent job and have succeeded in giving the Museum a presence it didn't have before," he concludes.

The artists, present at the event

The launch event on Thursday, 22 October, will be attended by both artists, Diego Mir and Alba Granell – alongside their teams – who will publicly explain the creative and working processes behind two installations that bring a new splendour to the ETSINF and strengthen ties within the UPV university community.