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| EPURES | |
|---|---|
| Name | EPURES |
| Type | Research consortium |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Bucharest, Romania |
| Area served | International |
| Key people | Ion Popescu, Maria Ionescu |
EPURES
EPURES is a research and production collective focused on experimental performance technology and sustainable materials research. It integrates interdisciplinary teams from institutions such as University of Bucharest, Politehnica University of Bucharest, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, European Space Agency, and CERN to prototype instruments, stage systems, and materials for artistic and industrial uses. EPURES collaborates with festivals, museums, and laboratories including Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Venice Biennale, Tate Modern, National Theatre Bucharest, and Deutsches Museum to bridge research, production, and public engagement.
EPURES operates at the intersection of applied science, contemporary art, and industrial design, bringing together engineers, composers, choreographers, and conservators from institutions like Royal College of Art, Juilliard School, Bauhaus Archive, MAXXI, and Smithsonian Institution. The consortium emphasizes cross-disciplinary methodology seen in partnerships with MIT Media Lab, Fraunhofer Society, RIKEN, CNRS, and SPring-8 and engages producers such as BBC Radiophonic Workshop, NHK, Deutsche Welle, and Arte. Its governance model echoes structures used by UNESCO, European Commission, Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation, and Horizon 2020.
Founded in 2009 by researchers from University of Bucharest and visiting fellows from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Royal Academy of Arts, EPURES first exhibited at events like Siggraph, Ars Electronica, SXSW, and ISEA. Early collaborations included residencies at ZKM, FACT Liverpool, Laboratory for Aesthetics and Ecology, and X-Workshop and cultural projects funded by Creative Europe, National Endowment for the Arts, Fondation Cartier, and Ford Foundation. Over time EPURES expanded to work with industrial partners such as Siemens, Bosch, ABB Group, Schneider Electric, and Thales Group and with performing institutions including Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Bolshoi Theatre.
EPURES design principles derive from precedents in Bauhaus, De Stijl, Constructivism, and the research practices of Buckminster Fuller, Le Corbusier, Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, and Renzo Piano. Physical infrastructure has been installed in venues like Palazzo Grassi, Hayward Gallery, Schauspielhaus Zürich, and Carnegie Hall using materials developed with collaborators from DuPont, BASF, Dow Chemical Company, 3M, and ArcelorMittal. Acoustic and spatial strategies reference projects by Iannis Xenakis, John Cage, Philip Glass, Maurice Ravel, and Gustav Mahler. Technical design draws on electronic systems influenced by Leon Theremin, Robert Moog, Alvin Lucier, Pierre Schaeffer, and Delia Derbyshire.
EPURES produces multi-sensory performances staged at festivals including Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Festival d'Avignon, La Biennale di Venezia, Lincoln Center Festival, and Coachella. Performances combine choreography influenced by Pina Bausch, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Akram Khan, and William Forsythe with live electronics inspired by work from Kraftwerk, Pink Floyd, Throbbing Gristle, Radiohead, and Aphex Twin. Sound design and composition collaborations have involved composers from Björk’s production teams, ensembles like Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, and conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Rattle, and Riccardo Muti. Visual and stage collaborations draw on scenographers from Robert Wilson, Es Devlin, and Adolphe Appia.
Technologies developed by EPURES have been repurposed across sectors including cultural heritage conservation with institutions like The British Museum and Louvre Museum; biomedical prototyping with Karolinska Institute and Johns Hopkins University; aerospace materials testing with European Space Agency and NASA; and urban installations with municipalities such as City of Barcelona, City of Amsterdam, City of Tokyo, City of New York, and City of Berlin. Industrial partners have adapted EPURES outputs for product design at Ikea, Philips, Apple Inc., Samsung, and Google.
EPURES has received awards and recognition from bodies such as Prince Claus Fund, Turner Prize-adjacent juries, Praemium Imperiale, Pulitzer Prize committees (in related collaborator projects), Cannes Lions, and Ars Electronica prizes. Critical response in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, and Corriere della Sera highlights both innovation and debates about sustainability referenced by Greenpeace and WWF. Critics from outlets like Artforum, Frieze, Domus, Dezeen, and Architectural Digest have questioned issues also raised by activists in Extinction Rebellion and policy analysts at Chatham House.
EPURES navigates intellectual property frameworks including treaties and statutes connected to WIPO, European Patent Office, United States Patent and Trademark Office, World Trade Organization, and national offices. Compliance intersects with regulations enforced by European Chemicals Agency, REACH Regulation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and safety standards from ISO and IEC. Collaborations with universities require agreements consistent with policies at Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and University of Tokyo.
Category:Research organizations