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Nature of NeptuneExploring 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 two-

page 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.

Posted at 01:04 AM in Biology, Photography | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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.

Posted at 11:39 PM in Chemistry, Installation Art, Sculpture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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.

Posted at 11:44 PM in Biology, Painting | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)