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Leonardo Introduction: Art and Science: Similarities, Differences and Interactions Author(s): Jacques Mandelbrojt Source: Leonardo, Vol. 27, No. 3, Art and Science Similarities, Differences and Interactions: Special Issue (1994), pp. 179-180 Published by: The MIT Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576047 . Accessed: 10/06/2014 12:00 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . The MIT Press and Leonardo are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Leonardo. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 91.229.229.126 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:00:11 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Art and Science Similarities, Differences and Interactions: Special Issue || Introduction: Art and Science: Similarities, Differences and Interactions

Leonardo

Introduction: Art and Science: Similarities, Differences and InteractionsAuthor(s): Jacques MandelbrojtSource: Leonardo, Vol. 27, No. 3, Art and Science Similarities, Differences and Interactions:Special Issue (1994), pp. 179-180Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576047 .

Accessed: 10/06/2014 12:00

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

The MIT Press and Leonardo are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toLeonardo.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 91.229.229.126 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 12:00:11 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Art and Science Similarities, Differences and Interactions: Special Issue || Introduction: Art and Science: Similarities, Differences and Interactions

ART AND SCIENCE:

SIMILARITIES, DIFFERENCES

AND INTERACTIONS

hile many past articles (and several special issues) of Leonardo describe

applications of new technologies to the visual arts, a far smaller number have dealt with the interaction of art and science, as this special issue does. This is not surprising, since the links between art and science are less apparent than those between art and technology; however,

they are no less important, since science provides us with insight about our world and how we relate to it. This insight is based not only on scientific results or concepts but also on the way science is made.

Both art and science allow us to confront or grasp reality, and it is enlightening to compare the ways in which they make it possible (see, for example, the articles in the first section of this issue). Whether the end result is a work of art or science, the act of creating has many similarities. At the same time, the differences between the two disciplines can reveal much about the nature of both. It is obviously as difficult for an artist to "step inside" the mind of a scientist as it is for a scientist to fully understand the artist. However, descriptions of the cre- ative work of artists and scientists themselves-first-hand accounts of the thoughts and feel-

ings that guide or accompany the work-can be illuminating to practitioners of both disci-

plines. Creative work can also be analyzed from a philosophical point of view or from that of neuroscience.

Scientific concepts themselves can also be used to describe and aid the understanding of some aspects of art (see, for example, the articles in the second section of this issue). These

concepts can also influence or inspire artists who use science as the subject matter or basis of their work (see the articles in the third section of this issue). When scientists want to describe or understand a reality that is beyond what we can see with our eyes-for example, the infi-

nitely small, the cosmos or extremely high speeds-they cannot refer to our usual intuition, which is formed during our experience with objects on our own scale. Scientists have to ac-

quire a new intuition, to discover or invent new concepts (which often can only be correctly expressed mathematically) or find new ways of thinking that perhaps are not specific to sci- ence but that science has brought to light [1].

New scientific concepts, in addition to their poetic appeal, have the capacity to enlarge the

imagination and the artistic vocabulary of an artist. An example of such a "new" concept is that of the "wave-particle," which sometimes behaves like a traditional wave and sometimes like a traditional particle but is different from both. The subtle image this concept conveys is used to describe matter on the atomic scale. Although scientific concepts are valid subjects, it would be naive to think that their mere use as a theme or even a structure on which to base a work of art automatically insures the artistic interest of this work (in the same manner that the use of new technology does not insure that an artist will create a contemporary work of

art). The aim of art is not to illustrate science any more than Cezanne's apple was intended to illustrate horticultural catalogues. An artist can also "include his experience (of science) as

part of his total human experience," according to L. Alcopley [2], thereby expressing scien- tific culture instead of using isolated scientific concepts [3]. Alcopley does just this with the two wide brush strokes shown on the front cover of this special issue, creating a painting as clear as scientific reasoning by retaining only relevant elements.

In the scientific and technological world in which we live today, it is as important to situate art with respect to science as it was to situate art with respect to religion in the Middle Ages. Indeed, the comparison of art and science can lead to a better understanding of both.

LEONARDO, Vol. 27, No. 3, pp. 179-180, 1994 179 ? 1994 ISAST

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Page 3: Art and Science Similarities, Differences and Interactions: Special Issue || Introduction: Art and Science: Similarities, Differences and Interactions

Considerations similar to these led to a call for papers on the subject from L. Alcopley, Giorgio Careri and myself and to the plan for this special issue of Leonardo. The sections of this special issue are as follows:

CREATIVE PROCESSES

In the first section, articles by Giorgio Careri, L. Alcopley, Jacques Mandelbrojt, Jean-Pierre Changeux, Georges Coppel, and Gideon Engler describe, analyze and compare creative pro- cesses in art and science, their similarities and their differences.

SCIENTISTS LOOK AT ART

In the second section, scientists discuss the work of artists. Art and science are contrasted by Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond, while Michel Mendes France and Alain Henaut examine art in the

light of scientific concepts. Istvan Hargittai and Magdolna Hargittai show how art can convey an intuitive image of scientific properties.

INTERACTION In the third section,Jesfis R. Soto, Kenneth Snelson, Michele Emmer, Serge Salat and Francoise Labbe, Neva Setlow, and Marcel Fr6miot show how scientific concepts can inspire art or provide a necessary structure for art. Conversely, Jean-Claude Risset shows that art sometimes spurs sci- entific research.

Alcopley, one of the three guest co-editors of this special issue of Leonardo, died during its prepara- tion. He was both a scientist and an artist and was involved in Leonardo from its very first issue. We

thought it a fitting tribute to have one of his paintings on the front cover of this issue.

JACQUES MANDELBROJT Honorary Editor of Leonardo

Special Issue Guest Co-Editor

References and Notes

1. Conversely, E. Sch6dinger, one of the creators of quantum theory, discussed "the question of how far the picture of the physi- cal universe as presented to us by modern science has been outlined under the influence of certain contemporary trends which are not peculiar to science at all." See E.C. Schr6dinger, Science, Theory and Man (New York: Dover, 1957).

2. L. Alcopley, "On Art Fashions and the Artist's Preoccupation with Science," Leonardo 2, No. 2, 161-162 (1969).

3.J. Mandelbrojt, "Has My Practice of Science Influenced My Art?," Leonardo 24, No. 5, 519-524 (1991).

180 Introduction

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