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There has long been a perceived gulf between the arts and the sciences, as well as between those who pursue careers in either discipline. Yet throughout history there have been examples of artists who are also scientists and scientists whose work can only be described as art. The most notable example is probably Leonardo da Vinci, the 15th-century polymath who painted what is possibly the most famous work of art in the world, the Mona Lisa, but who also created a conceptual version of a flying machine and an armored fighting vehicle.
The arts and the sciences can support and inspire one another, which is why Leonardo@Djerassi was established in 2014. This annual five-week residency program offers a tranquil, distraction-free setting where selected artists and scientists can live together, share ideas and, potentially, collaborate on projects.
The Djerassi Ranch, a 583-acre ranch located high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, was established in 1979 by Carl Djerassi, noted chemist and founder of Syntex Corporation. Djerassi, surely a Renaissance man, was also a novelist, playwright, art collector and art advocate. He and his family created the Djerassi Resident Artists Program to give artists the time and space to work. Since its inception, more than 2,700 artists from around the world have enjoyed the opportunity to live in a communal setting with other artists and focus solely on their art. So why did Djerassi decide to add science to the mix?
“The partnership began when Djerassi and Leonardo/ISAST (International Society for Arts + Sciences + Technology) launched a residency under its original name, Scientific Delirium Madness. The collaboration was a natural meeting of the two organizations: Djerassi had long provided artists with uninterrupted time, space and community, while Leonardo had spent decades fostering exchange among artists, scientists and technologists. Together, the organizations created a residency where people from these fields could live alongside one another long enough for genuine intellectual and creative exchange to develop,” said Mushi Wooseong James, creative director at Djerassi.
James said that peer panels of professionals in both spheres review applications from science-based artists. “Artists are expected to demonstrate a sustained engagement with scientific ideas or methods; scientists must be engaged in art-related research, maintain an artistic practice, or propose an original integration of the two fields,” she said. A final cohort of 10-12 is invited to come to the ranch, where they are provided with individual living quarters and studios but are expected to have meals in a communal setting.
The interactions at meals and in the evenings are an important component of the retreat, said Craig Adams, executive director of Djerassi Resident Artists Program. “It creates a space for the kind of interdisciplinary conversation that happens informally at dinner every night here, but formalizes it into something with its own outcomes and momentum. And practically, it gives us a recurring touchpoint with the scientific and technical community, which strengthens the case that art and science aren’t on parallel tracks.”
SLIDE: Artist Nina Elder created lightweight pieces that “interacted with the invisible forces of wind and air and gravity,” such as an inflatable object in “Heavy Light,” seen here in a process shot from artist Nina Elder’s video shoot with Saul Villegas. Courtesy Saul Villegas 
SLIDE: “Heavy Light” incorporated an inflatable piece, seen here in a process shot from a video shoot with Saul Villegas. Courtesy Nina Elder.
The Weekly interviewed, via email, four artists who were recent Lenardo participants to learn why they applied, what they did while there and what they took away from the experience.
Nina Elder said that the program had long been on her radar because “it is one of the best artist residencies in this country, in one of the most spectacular settings.”
Her original plan was to make sculptures inspired by local plants but shortly after arriving at the ranch, her home in Colorado was threatened by wildfires. She pivoted to sculptures that were wind-activated. Using a variety of materials, she created kites, windsocks, balloons and inflatables. She took these out into the landscape “to get in touch with invisible forces of wind and air and gravity.”
Elder said that the most valuable part of the residency for her was, “The relationships. We had extraordinary conversations that touched our hearts, reverberated in our minds, and will continue through collaborations and mutual inspiration.”
Anna Raupach, who is from Australia, said that she began her residency just by taking walks around the property. She joked that she was surprised at how cold summer in the Bay Area could be, but also found that she became obsessed with the fog that inevitably rolled into the mountains each day. “I made works from pulling hyper-local weather data from global satellite systems to make sense of the fog rolling over Djerassi, making kites printed with life-sized figures of my fellow residents, and considered underground tree root networks in relation to the size of the networks of satellites in orbit.”
She also felt the interaction with fellow residents was invaluable. “The cohort shared many overlapping interests, yet was wonderfully diverse in how we approached similar aims from different vantage points.”
In terms of impact on her current work, she said, “It allowed me the time and space to consider new approaches, and also the opportunity to go all in on creating some new pieces that will contribute to upcoming exhibitions, new iterations and future collaborations for a long time to come.”
San Francisco-based artist Christine Marie arrived at the residency with plans to advance an immersive installation project, already in process. Inspired by the local landscape, she said that the project evolved “significantly” during the five-week retreat.
“I photographed trees, flowers, moss, roots and landscapes around Djerassi, then printed the images as black-and-white transparencies. Using five vintage Japanese overhead projectors, colored gels, actuators and small motors, I transformed the still photographs into moving, layered projections through flickers and slow cross-dissolves. I also filmed the surrounding landscape and used AI images to imagine those same places transformed by wildfire.”
Like Elder, the threat of wildfire loomed large in Marie’s thinking and inspiration. “Standing among the forests at Djerassi, I couldn’t help but wonder how long these places will remain as we know them. We never know when a forest, a meadow or a beloved place might disappear, making the natural world feel all the more precious and fragile.”
Although participants are not required to produce a particular finished work, Janani Balasubramanian, a multidisciplinary artist, used the 2023 retreat to work with colleague and fellow resident Natalie Gosnell, a professor of physics, to develop a prospectus for a book on art-science collaboration.
In between conducting interviews for the book, Balasubramanian described how much they enjoyed and were inspired by the “magical” ranch setting: “Each night the fog would roll in from the Pacific Ocean and it would make the Artists Barn (where we lived and worked) appear to float in the sky. The place nourished my spirit and helped me build longer-term thoughts, ideas that I was able to churn and articulate whose unity will extend far beyond my individual lifespan.”
Their book, “Art-Science Undisciplined: A Playbook for Transformative Collaboration” was published by UC Press this past spring. Balasubramanian has since joined the board of trustees for the Resident Artists Program.
When asked what Carl Djerassi would think of the Leonardo@Djerassi program, James pointed out that “his life makes a powerful case that the arts and sciences should not be placed in competition or treated as separate domains.”
She added, “Leonardo@Djerassi does not redirect artistic support toward conventional scientific research. Instead, it reflects the reality that many artists today are already deeply engaged with scientific ideas and methods and that interdisciplinary thinking is central to the Djerassi ethos. I think that Carl would have understood the collaboration as an argument for expanding support for creative inquiry, rather than dividing it into opposing categories.”
The next Leonardo@Djerassi Residency will take place in June and July 2027. For more information, visit leonardo.info/leonardo-at-djerassi. Visitors can take docent-led art hikes to tour installations around the Djerassi property created by resident artists over the years. The final summer art hikes take place Aug. 22-23, 27 and 28, and the fall hike schedule runs Sept. 23 through Nov. 16. Hike admission is $50 per person. Djerassi is located at 2325 Bear Gulch Road, Woodside. djerassi.org/events/art-hikes.
