The Renaissance ideal can be expressed as a creative synthesis between cultural disciplines. Meet the experts who approach the synthesis of art and science as their modus operandi - a tool for creativity, research and practice.

The Renaissance Panel will be held this year at CHI 2008 in Florence, Italy on Monday, April 7th. CHI's theme this year is "Art, Science, Balance" and the panel exemplifies this difficult balancing act. CHI is being held at the fascinating fortezza da basso.

The Renaissance ideal can be expressed as a creative synthesis between cultural disciplines, standing in stark contrast to our traditional focus on scientific specialization. This panel presents a number of experts who approach the synthesis of art and science as the modus operandi for their work, using it as a tool for creativity, research, and practice. Understanding these approaches allows us to identify the roles of synthesis in successful innovation.

The panelists include well known members of the human computer interaction, free software, visualization, art and science communities.

• Prof. Hiroshi Ishii of the MIT Media Lab
• Prof. Maurizio Seracini of UC San Diego’s calit2 and editech
• Prof. Paolo Galluzzi of the Museum of the History of Science in Florence
• Sergio Dulio, Mass Customization consultant to the Italian Shoe Industry
• Fernanda Viegas of IBM Visual Communications Lab
• Banjamin Mako Hill of the MIT Media Lab, Wikimedia and Ubuntu