Nature of Neptune
07/01/09 11:38 AM
Nature of Neptune
Exploring connections between Science and Art
November 16, 2008
Understanding Technology: Andrew Neumann's Use of New Media
When defining the purpose of this blog I aimed to "explore ways that objective truths can have meaning and relevance in
our actual lives." These "objective truths" being, specifically, the verified discoveries of modern science. If you stop to think
about that statement, you may wonder why it's a topic worth exploring at all. Discoveries from science that have relevance
in our lives... isn't that called "technology"? Don't all the devices and machines we see and interact with everyday show
exactly how ideas from science have come to influence our lives?
Yet, you may notice that the majority of the posts thus far on Nature of Neptune have focused on artist's use of scientific
concepts in their artwork, not on their use of technology. It is absolutely true that technology brings science to our lives, but
the question is how? When we look at an iPod, do we understand how it works, or how it has come to be in 2008 that this
device is able to be manufactured? Do we know the rules of the natural world that have been discovered that allow this
device to work the way it does?
These are the sort of questions that inspired this blog, and are part of the reason that successful examples of making
concepts from science relevant to our lives is so difficult and rare. The art world has certainly not ignored technology
however, as the field of New Media has exploded in recent years. New media artists use modern technology, often
computers or digitization, as their artistic medium. There is some excellent new media artwork out there, but much of it
falls victim to novelty for novelty's sake, creating new forms of "art" that, while certainly new, are conceptually empty. New
Media is just another tool for art making; simply using technology does not mean you are helping us understand
technology.
One artist whose work does help us understand technology is
Andrew Neumann, a Boston-based new media artist. Neumann's
fascinating wall pieces offer a unique glimpse inside electronic and
computing devices, baring their insides while also showing real time
interaction between system components. One piece, titled Quartet
(photo to the left, video here), consists of four small lcd screens
with their electronics exposed sliding back and forth on two metal
tracks. Two cameras on either side of the tracks are pointed at
different components of the moving system; one is focused on the
motor driving the screens back and forth, while the other points at a
switch mechanism that causes the screens to change direction when
they reach the end of the track. Two other cameras are mounted on
the moving lcd screens, pointing down the track back towards the
switch and the motor, respectively. Each of the four camera views
are projected on one of the screens, and the entire system is mounted on a wooden plank.
The cameras projecting four different views of the same slowly
moving system suggests security cameras inside a computer. While
Neumann's cameras are not for protection, like security cameras
they give a coordinated view of multiple aspects of the same system
as they change in real time. Each part of the system is related to
each other part, as power and function are transferred from one to
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each other part, as power and function are transferred from one to
another. Neumann doesn't try to wow the viewer with cutting edge
technology, but rather offers a unique and meditative view on the
concepts and structure behind modern electronic devices. This
allows the viewer to experience the concepts behind technology,
offering understanding rather than function. His work does not do
any physical or even virtual work, but opens a portal to the concepts behind technology. Neumann's artwork demonstrates
that new media art can be startlingly successful when attempting to understand the technology that comprises it.
The first photo is from the Bitforms Gallery website, and the second photo (of Neumann's piece titled Screw) is from the
artist's own website.
Posted at 02:47 PM in Computer Science, New Media, Physics, Sculpture | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
October 29, 2008
Metamorphic Metaphors: Brian Knep's Aging Series
Another Boston-based artist taking advantage of the area's rich and extensive scientific community (see Daniel Kohn) is
Brian Knep, and ongoing Artist in Residence at the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Knep, a new
media artist whose work is often interactive, has used his residency to develop a series of images and video installations
exploring the life cycles of frogs.
To create the video pieces for Aging, Knep took thousands of photos of tadpoles at different stages of development and
created a computer program to blend the images together (see an article from the Weekly Dig). The result (shown in the
second half of the video above) is an animal that morphs between tadpole and frog as it attempts to swim across the screen.
Gray lines moving from right to left add a sense of imperative as the frog appears to struggle against an unseen current. As
soon as the amphibian makes it all the way forward, it slips back again, struggling to stay on the screen.
Knep uses the striking changes frogs experience in their development to create a metaphor for human life. The frog appears
to struggle to make forward progress, but the progress never lasts and seems almost fruitless as the frog slips backward to
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to struggle to make forward progress, but the progress never lasts and seems almost fruitless as the frog slips backward to
start the struggle forward all over again. The struggle is the same for all stages of the frog's life, as it constantly morphs back
and forth into frog, tadpole, and breathing tadpole, each kick forward echoing through each stage of development. What
could be a frustratingly obvious existential metaphor questioning the meaning to life is elevated to a subtle display of
interconnectedness, transformation, and beauty. Forward progress may not be the right way to gauge our lives; perhaps
beauty and satisfaction can be found in the cycles of our species and our lives.
While Daniel Kohn has attempted to develop useful visualization tools to help scientists as well as find an abstract visual
language for "genomic space" inside cell nuclei, Knep has gone another route by relating ideas from science to our own
lives. Moments in his work yield a special kind of relevancy that isn't often seen in the art world: cold hard facts of science
transformed into metaphors for the human struggle. In fact, Knep could benefit greatly by including even more scientific
concepts in his work that further nuanced his metaphor for human life. Incorporating the frog's metamorphic changes with
incredibly rigorous and precise observation is very compelling, but suggests further questions: Why does the frog go through
such a life cycle? What causes these changes to occur? How do these changes occur within the frog's body? While Knep's
work would benefit from the inclusion of even more ideas from science, the way he ties scientific concepts and observation
to human emotion has made his Aging series a true success.
Read more about Knep's work at Harvard Medical School in an interview at ArtSake and an article from the Boston Globe.
The photo is from Knep's website.
Posted at 06:06 PM in Biology, New Media, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
September 27, 2008
Sculpted by Larvae: The Experiments of Hubert Duprat
As the effects of human industry threaten our planet with pollution, climate change, and existential crises, both the science
and art worlds have begun looking to nature for more efficient and environmentally friendly ways to create technology, as
well as ways to rediscover the beauty in natural systems. A growing number of scientists and engineers study natural
processes to guide their design, while a corresponding number of artists and architects such as Andy Goldsworthy and
Benjamin Aranda and Chris Lasch create work that brings direct attention to the beauty and complexity of natural systems.
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French artist Herbert Duprat turns this idea of using natural processes in engineering and art on its head in his work with
caddisfly larvae (Trichoptera). Duprat took several caddisflies from their natural habitat and placed them in tanks filled
with gold flakes and precious stones. Caddisflies, who are often found in stream beds, are known for the protective cases
they form around their bodies from pebbles, twigs, or sand. When placed in a tank with flakes of gold and gemstones, the
caddis flies simply created their protective sheaths from these materials instead.
The resulting structures are strikingly gorgeous, but confounding to see surrounding a hairy water bug. Who, in fact, is the
artist? Is it Duprat, or is it the fly? Is this even art? Duprat brilliantly exploits a natural process, showing both the
complexity of nature as well as questioning how we judge beauty. And this is exactly why Duprat's work is art, because it
challenges our ideas about the man made and the natural not through a chain of reasoning, but by our personal reaction to
his images.
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Both images are from Cabinet Magazine, where you can read more about Duprat's work with caddisflies. Also see
Genetologic Research and Leonardo On-Line for an interview with Duprat and more information on Trichoptera.
Posted at 05:35 PM in Biology, Sculpture | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
September 08, 2008
Anne Lilly's Purity of Motion
In the history of science, images and words have dominated the way concepts are
conveyed to colleagues, students, and the public. Books, prints, photographs,
graphs, and diagrams have been the easiest way to portray profound ideas in
scientific disciplines for centuries.
What can often fall by the wayside in science education is how things move. In
science we see dazzling images of swirling galaxies, intricate cells, and dashing
animals, but it is very hard to get a sense of the real motion of these objects. What
causes different types of motion? Why do objects move the way they do? Why do
some movements seem graceful while others appear clunky? And most importantly,
rather than conceptualizing the motion of an object, how does the motion relate to
our own bodies?
Artist Anne Lilly builds exquisite stainless steel sculptures that directly explore these
issues of motion. The pieces created by the Boston-based artist (and friend of
Arthur Ganson) are propelled by the viewer's hand, giving a direct cause and effect
experience for each viewer. Once set in motion, Lilly's sculptures demonstrate how
beautiful and simple motion can arise from simple rules of physics and mechanics.
While Newton's laws describe how objects move, Lilly's sculptures describe how these motions can appear to a human
observer. In her piece Parietals (see a video here), Lilly uses conservation of angular momentum to beautifully transform
steel rods into both a science demonstration as well as a mesmerizing display of pure, graceful motion. By presenting a
graceful motion in such a simple way, the artist allows the viewer to contemplate each moment of cause and effect that
causes the motion.
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Because the motion in Lilly's sculptures is so simple and so pure, it is not hard to relate it to motion found in nature. In her
recent series of spinning steel rod pieces, specifically "There's a Certain Slant of Light", "Polaris", and "Parting" (click each
to see a video), the motion of emergent flocking is suggested, such as the mesmerizing movement of starling flocks (also see
Richard Barnes' photographs of the same subject). The long, thin rods in Lilly's sculptures appear to move independently
one moment, and then form a coherent motion the next. They expand and contract, cohere and dissolve, much like many
forms of natural flocking.
On another level, the same series of sculptures call to mind electrons swirling around
an atomic nucleus. Lilly's pieces are specifically geared so that none of the rods will
ever touch another, which strongly parallels the Pauli exclusion principle forbidding
any two electrons from simultaneously occupying the same quantum state. In
quantum theory, the enormous empty space surrounding an atomic nucleus is filled
by a cloud of electrons that never "touch". While the exact paths of the electrons can
never be known (see the Heisenberg uncertaintly principle), the regions that they are
most likely to be found can form very interesting geometric shapes. Lilly's sculptures
seem to provide an impossible view of how electrons would move through their
probability regions if we could actually follow their individual motions. Always
surrounding an invisible nucleus, they never touch, sometimes appear random, but
nonetheless form coherent patterns from simple underlying principles. Form is
created not by objects or images, but by pure motion itself.
All images and videos are from Anne Lilly's personal website, and the Arden Gallery
website.
Posted at 12:18 AM in Biology, Kinetic Art, Physics, Sculpture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
August 25, 2008
Vigorous Simplicity: Conrad Shawcross's Spinning Machines
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Though they approach the question differently, both scientists and
artists have long been concerned with the relationship between the
simple and the complex. Scientists strive to find simple, elegant
mechanisms and equations that describe the complexity seen on our
planet and the universe beyond, while many artists explore the ways
that simple forms can create complex emotions, or how complex
patterns and designs can cohere into unified visions.
English sculptor Conrad Shawcross addresses this age-old concern
with a series of intriguing light-based kinetic sculptures. One set of
pieces, called Loop System Quintet, consists of five large wooden
contraptions that rotate around their base, and each hold an arm
with a bright light attached that spins independently of the base.
The effect is a long row of complex and intimidating wooden machines that trace elegant patterns of light in the air at an
unnervingly fast speed. Shawcross has determined the motion of these machines using specially chosen gear ratios,
resulting in movements that continue to repeat themselves.
The jarring speed of these complex contraptions convey the vigor of some unfathomable industrial machinery, while also
clearly showing the rigor of a carefully planned, and ultimately simple, repeating process. The work brings to mind several
topics from contemporary science. As the artist himself admits, the sculptures reference string theory by the way they
repeat their motions in "harmonic" patterns, creating three dimensional light traces from a one dimensional point of light
(string theory proposes that all physical particles in the universe are actually created by strings that vibrate at different
resonant frequencies - like the specific notes created by plucking a guitar string). Shawcross' use of harmonics is intriguing
in the way his machines seem complex but continue to follow very elegant lines of motion. However, the beautiful long
exposure photographs of the three dimensional light traces (shown above) are not actually visible when viewing the
sculpture.
What can be seen watching the sculptures is how the path of the light changes from moment to moment. The simplicity of
this motion contrasted with the almost ugly jerkiness of the machines calls to mind the elegant motions of the planets, the
paths of electrons around nuclei, or the dance between a binary stars. Rather than show the simplicity in a complex system,
as scientists strive for, Shawcross explores the complexity behind simple systems. By using complex wooden machinery to
create simple harmonic forms, the artist suggests that there may be more layers below the surface of simple forms and
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create simple harmonic forms, the artist suggests that there may be more layers below the surface of simple forms and
motions. And yet, the complexity of Shawcross' machinery is ultimately deterministic -- the forms repeat themselves;
nothing is left to chance. This is another aspect where the piece does not successfully address the quantum nature of string
theory, but still stands up to larger scale metaphors such as planetary motion.
The photo above was taken by Jonathan Shaw, and can be found at London's Walker Art Gallery website. See more about
Shawcross' work at Pixelsumo.
Posted at 10:26 PM in Astronomy, Kinetic Art, Physics, Sculpture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
May 23, 2008
Tiny Universes
While I've written before that straight-up scientific images -- as pretty as they can be - are not necessarily art, they can most certainly be inspiring. Canadian biologists
Eric Lecuyer and Henry Krause have recently published a stunning image of genetic
material in fruit fly embryos that challenges boundaries between scientific images and
visual art.
View the full sized image here (warning: 27MB file, but well worth seeing!).
Lecuyer et al. published the image for the cover of the Oct. 5, 2007 issue of Cell
journal, which contains a corresponding article about their research. The image
shows the separation of genetic material during several stages of Drosophila (fruit fly)
embryonic development. The researchers were testing how much the distribution of
messenger RNA (mRNA) dictates the distribution of proteins in a cell. Using high
resolution imaging, they found a strong correlation between mRNA localization and
protein localization, showing that mRNA is a major influence on cellular organization,
and thus cellular growth and differentiation as well.
The blue in the images correspond to mRNA, while the red
shows the cell nuclei. The mRNA and cell nuclei were stained,
and the color was applied artificially using image analysis
software. The images in the article are red and green, which
the researchers say provided the best contrast, suggesting that
the red and blue combination must have been chosen for the
cover for aesthetic reasons.
The embryo images are not only visually stunning in terms of
color, luminosity, complexity, detail, and abstract patterning, but provide several layers of conceptual meaning. First, it
doesn't take a biologist to recognize the exquisitely detailed mitosis (cell separation) occuring in several of the embryos.
This is the fundamental process of reproduction in animals, and seeing it occur in
relation to an entire embryo conveys a breathtaking sense of scale. Secondly, and
maybe this has to do with my experience in astrophysics, the embryo images strongly
conjure up all-sky images of the night sky, particularly the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) shown to the left, that has been such a hot research topic in the
past couple decades. The embryo images suggest windows into the tiny universes of a
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past couple decades. The embryo images suggest windows into the tiny universes of a
new organisms. Swirling luminescent material, bright points of dense nuclei, and fuzzy blobs of diffuse substances all
suggest a strong connection between the tiny and the vast, and our bodies and the universe.
Is the image art? I believe it could pass for art if presented as such, but that said, I think there is much more an artist could
do with these images than the scientists have done that would bring out the conceptual issues I described, and quite possibly
even more.
On that note, the researchers have a beautiful online database of their embryo images sorted by gene. Click any gene and it
pulls up stunning high resolution images that show the genetic expressions.
CMB photo from Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Posted at 06:07 PM in Biology, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
May 16, 2008
Murmur
A small black bird, the European Starling is known for flocking in astonishing
numbers, occasionally totaling over one million individual birds in one flock. Not
only are starling flocks large, but they expand, contract, and spiral in breathtaking
unison, without any apparent leader. In his series Murmur, photographer Richard
Barnes has captured the spectacular aerial displays of the thousands upon
thousands of starlings that gather annually in Rome, Italy. Barnes' beautiful grainy
black and white photographs call attention to a slew of issues involving science
while achieving powerful emotional impact.
At first look, Barnes' photographs appear to be swirling clouds of gritty smoke or
dark leaves. On closer inspection (by viewing the photos large), one can see that
the tiny objects are in fact the shapes of birds. Barnes has done a wonderful job
capturing many scales of starling flocks in a single frame, overlaying the seemingly
sporadic patterns of closer birds with the tight clusters of birds further in the
distance. The perplexing shapes of the formations turn out to be the result of decisions made by living organisms rather
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distance. The perplexing shapes of the formations turn out to be the result of decisions made by living organisms rather
than just scattered objects in the wind. Barnes makes excellent use of film grain in many of his photos, allowing the sizes
and contrast of the bird shapes to approach the size and appearance of the film grain. The result is a sea of dark splotches,
some are birds, and some are grains of background tone. Where do the organisms begin, and the particles end?
The flocking Barnes has recorded in Murmur are stunning examples of emergent
behavior in complex systems. A hot topic in science, computer engineering, and
design, emergence describes the behavior of complex systems and structures that
arise out of simple rules or interactions. Some scientists believe that starlings flock
in order to avoid predators, but the reasons for their peculiar and breathtaking style
is still unknown. This fact makes Barnes' beautiful photographs appear even more
dark and ominous.
This month's issue of Seed Magazine profiles Murmur, and displays several twopage spreads of the photos. Picking up this copy (May/June 2008) is well work it.
Also read Jonathon Rosenthal's illuminating article about Barnes and starlings
from the New York Times.
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All photos are from Barnes' website.
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April 27, 2008
The Way Things Go
Peter Fischli and David Weiss's 1987 film, The Way Things Go, has become a classic art film, still shown in contemporary
art museums around the world. The Swiss artist's timeless work, which documents a thirty minute long chain reaction
using commonly found objects, is still as fascinating to watch today as it was twenty years ago.
The chain reaction was set up in a large warehouse room, and includes objects like tires, planks, water, gasoline, candles,
and fuses. The clip above shows a segment of the film especially devoted to fire and pyrotechnics. There is no mystery to the
work; the artists do a fantastic job of breaking down physical phenomena into simple, mesmerizing steps. It is an exercise in
ways to transfer energy between different objects and systems.
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The real genius of The Way Things Go is its timing. The reactions are paced in a way that makes clear what is happening at
each step, but also has a spellbinding rhythm in which objects speed up, slow down, and build into each other. This
fastidious pacing is what sets this piece apart from a mechanical assembly line, or many Rube Goldberg contraptions. This
use of time scale calls to mind the kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson, and perhaps Ganson was influenced by Fischli and
Weiss.
Posted at 05:05 PM in Chemistry, Installation Art, Kinetic Art, Physics | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
April 22, 2008
Measuring Reality: Spencer Finch's Light Installations
As a philosophy, the scientific method holds one axiom above all others: objectivity. Unbiased observation of measurable
evidence forms the basis for reproducible experiments that seek to uncover fundamental truths about nature. The
objectivity of this method has helped push the frontiers of our knowledge to incredible limits.
However, the proliferation and success of the scientific method has led us to sometimes assume that objectivity equals
truth. Artist Spencer Finch demonstrates the precariousness of this assumption through large scale, thought-provoking
installations. In these installations, Finch takes of careful, studied observations of certain characteristics of scene, such as
hue and luminosity of light, and recreates them in a new context.
Recently exhibited at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, CIE 529/418
(Candlelight) consists of an entire wall of stained glass windows that reproduce the
exact same color profile as candlelight (photo by srdaly11). Finch used a
colorimeter to precisely measure the RGB values of the light eight inches from a
burning candle. The room is beautiful and hypnotizing to stand in, and asks the
viewer how similar and how different the experience really is to the illumination
from a room full of candles. He has broken candlelight into window panes of
different color that vary in luminosity with the strength of the sunlight. If the light
in the room is precisely the same hue as the light from a candle, is it the same
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in the room is precisely the same hue as the light from a candle, is it the same
light? Finch shows how important context is to the meaning of objective measurements.
The photo to the right is of another piece by Finch that uses similar ideas as
Candlelight (photo by Spor). This piece, called Shade (At the Grave of Walt
Whitman, October 19, 2006, 10:15 am), recreates the hue and luminosity of the light
at an exact place and an exact time. Again, Finch is asking the viewer what exactly
these objective measurements have to do with the emotions and feelings associated
with a scene. Is any emotion conveyed? And if so, is it due to the precise
measurement of light, or to the stylistic way Finch has broken the light up into
overlapping colored ovals?
The MASS MoCA restrospective also included
the piece to the left, called Night Sky, Over the Painted Desert, Arizona, January 9,
2004 (photo from Finch's website). In this installation, Finch mixed colors of
pigment to achieve the precise hue of the sky described in the title. He then created
light bulb models of each of the pigment's molecular structures. By hanging these
from the ceiling, Finch compares the hanging lights to the way the actual sky would
have looked. In doing so, he asks how well scientific models can recreate reality. The
beautiful installation does seem to convey a sense of the original Arizona night sky,
but only to a point. The piece occupies a middle ground between abstracted concepts
and recreating an actual scene, asking the viewer how closely objective measurement really brings us to the truth.
Read more about Finch's work in the Boston Globe and the New York Times.
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April 15, 2008
Art in the Lab: The Artist in Residence
Many of the the posts on this blog have examined the work of artists who incorporate
concepts or methods from science into their artwork. This, however, is only one way
the incongruous worlds or Art and Science can combine. What happens when, rather
than bringing science into the studio, we bring art into the lab? This scenario is
happening in research institutions more and more, often in the form of the Artist in
Residence, an artist brought into a lab to create artwork, or to offer a new viewpoint
on the research being done.
Daniel Kohn, currently an Artist in Residence at the Broad Institute in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, is one such artist who has been invited to work at a premier genetics
research center. For a place to create artwork, Kohn was given part of a research lab
to covert into his studio. I recently had a chance to sit down with Daniel to discuss
his experience at Broad and the work he has created while there.
The mission of the Artist in Residence is two-pronged. First, the artist must absorb the research being done around him or
her and translate or incorporate it into artwork. Secondly, the artist should try to influence or augment the actual research
being done. Certainly the dialogue between artist and scientist should go both ways.
Kohn dove into the first objective head-long, unabashedly questioning the Broad
scientists, and trying to learn and absorb what he could of the research being done
around him. While allowing the scientific concepts to "wash over" him, he started a
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around him. While allowing the scientific concepts to "wash over" him, he started a
long series of water color paintings exploring "genomic space." He used these
paintings to work through different ways of representing concepts from genetics,
such as the linear string of nucleotides in a strand of DNA, or the spiral structure of
chromatin. The results are lush, abstract paintings, often with swirling movement
and a strong sense of depth and ambient light. A vague but fundamental sense of
structure comes through as spiral/circular motion is contrasted with a linear/gridded
framework.
Clearly, Kohn has successfully incorporated scientific concepts into his own visual
language, but do his paintings speak about science? The work is a pleasure to view,
but it is fair to say that almost no one looking at them without any background knowledge would guess that they are based
on the structure of DNA. This is where we must ask if Kohn's work at Broad is engaging both directions of dialogue between
artist and scientist. Certainly his artwork has been influenced by the science, but how can the artwork itself return the
favor, and in turn influence the science?
This is a tough question. It applies not just to Kohn's work at Broad, but to the work of any artist working closely with
scientific research. There seem to be a few possible ways of achieving this goal. One way is rather than directly influencing
research, artwork can set a framework for scientific knowledge by putting it into the context of our own lives, specifically
through our senses and emotions. The work won't drive new scientific advancements, but can instead show a new way of
understanding the information. Successful artwork of this nature is very difficult to achieve. It requires a very thorough
and fundamental understanding of both the physical properties of an object or system, and the subjective experience of
encountering the object. Kohn acknowledges this, remarking that the process of turning his work at Broad into "art" will be
a very long one. See the work of Andy Goldsworthy or Ned Kahn for stunning examples of artwork that place scientific
concepts in the context of our own everyday experiences.
Another way an artist can influence science is to address the methods rather than the
concepts. As visual thinkers, artists can offer new viewpoints about how to visualize
scientific data in order to see information in a new light. In fact, this is the method
that Kohn has used at the Broad Institute in order to influence scientific research.
Together with a group of researchers, Kohn is helping to develop "functional
visualization" tools that aim to help scientists understand complex biological
systems. Rather than working to provide generalized visualizations for
communication with nonspecialists, the team is building tools that will drive new
science.
Thus, one way of creating artwork that addresses science is to contextualize or
personalize it; i.e. make art that brings scientific facts into the realm of personal
experience. The problem with this method is that it is very unlikely it will ever
directly influence scientific research and help uncover new facts. Another way artists can influence science is by using their
visual skills to help scientists develop new methods of visualizing or modeling data. However, this isn't actually artwork, it
is design. It uses visual methods to achieve specific, practical goals, and therefore must ignore many essential attributes of
artwork: perception, emotion, and reflection.
Herein lies a fundamental difference between Art and Science. The objectivity of science cannot, by definition, be influenced
by the subjectivity of artwork. Any notions that artwork could provide a missing key to driving scientific research are simply
illusions. When becoming involved with science in any way, an artist must choose between helping push the science
without using actual artwork, or contextualizing the science without directly influencing it. Kohn's success has been doing
the former, and it will be interesting to see how other Artists in Residence will address this fundamental difficulty.
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the former, and it will be interesting to see how other Artists in Residence will address this fundamental difficulty.
All images are from Daniel Kohn's Broad Institute webpage.
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