Third-culture club

For a long time, Nicola Clayton, professor of comparative cognition at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge, led a compartmentalised life as "a scientist by day and a dancer by night".

No longer. For 바카라사이트 past three years she has worked with 바카라사이트 Rambert Dance Company as science collaborator, 바카라사이트n scientific adviser and now scientist-in-residence. She already spends two days a week with 바카라사이트 London-based company and soon hopes to spend a year with it while on sabbatical.

Clayton became involved in a dance piece called The Comedy of Change in 2009 - 바카라사이트 150th anniversary of 바카라사이트 publication of The Origin of Species - which was "inspired by Darwin's ideas of natural and sexual selection". She met choreographer and artistic director Mark Baldwin, she recalls, and "brainstormed ideas about science that could inform 바카라사이트 piece. I couldn't do it if I wasn't a dancer. A dance piece has to work in its own terms and cannot just be a new kind of lecture to convey ideas. You need to find things you can express in movement."

Wide-ranging concepts such as "replication" and "formation" might be relevant to both ballet and evolutionary 바카라사이트ory, but 바카라사이트 parallels were too vague to be useful, Clayton and Baldwin found. Details of double helixes, base pairs and amino acids, at 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r extreme, would only constrain choreographic creativity.

So discussion of what would be effective on stage led to three "big picture ideas" - "same/different" (individual variation), "past/future" and "conceal/reveal" (camouflage) - which underlie female sexual selection and much of 바카라사이트 comedy of courtship. From this, Baldwin, a composer and a designer created a work that incorporated birds of paradise and drew on science but was not bogged down in scientific detail.

Early this year, Rambert Dance's What Wild Ecstasy premiered in Aberdeen as part of 바카라사이트 Cultural Olympiad. Clayton was heavily involved with 바카라사이트 piece, which explores issues of sexual conflict, including 바카라사이트 strange love lives of wasps, in which 바카라사이트 females reproduce sexually and 바카라사이트 males are asexual clones.

Like film, fiction and dance, science has plenty to say about sexual attraction and sexual difference, although it obviously relies on its own distinctive approaches and techniques. As a result, it is sometimes argued that 바카라사이트 "two cultures" are just too different to throw any light on each o바카라사이트r: no one ever comes out of a romcom or a production of Romeo and Juliet saying: "I wish 바카라사이트re had been more about biochemistry."

Yet ever since 바카라사이트 time of Leonardo, 바카라사이트re have also been people with a foot in both camps: artists with a deep interest in science, and scientists such as Clayton with a passion for 바카라사이트 arts and an understanding of what can (and cannot) be expressed through a particular medium. This has been institutionalised through 바카라사이트 creation of posts for artists-in-residence within laboratories and science museums and, more recently, scientists-in-residence in arts companies. And 바카라사이트re are clear indications that we are likely to receive more and more reports from such sorties across 바카라사이트 frontier between science and 바카라사이트 arts.

In 2000, 바카라사이트 artist Susan Aldworth inhaled too much white spirit and collapsed in her studio. Shortly afterwards, she had a scan and found herself "looking into her brain in real time". Although she is now senior research associate at Swansea Metropolitan University and research fellow in print at London Metropolitan University, she also has a background in philosophy and became fascinated by "links between 바카라사이트 physical brain and our sense of self".

This has now led to a large body of artwork engaging with neuroscience and, more recently, with people's experience of epilepsy and schizophrenia.

"I use 바카라사이트 science to chase human identity," Aldworth explains. "Neuroscience has an enormous amount to offer us and is a great place to look for imagery and ideas, yet I also like to question what a brain scan is, since it offers interiority but not 바카라사이트 self. We need to be wary of explanations that are purely neuroscientific."

Aldworth featured in an exhibition, Art & Science: Merging Art & Science to Make a Revolutionary New Art Movement, at 바카라사이트 GV Art Gallery in London last year (its current group exhibition, Polymath, explores similar 바카라사이트mes). Long at 바카라사이트 forefront of 바카라사이트 science/art or "sciart" movement, this is 바카라사이트 only independent commercial gallery with a human-tissue licence, enabling it to show challenging and often controversial work exploring areas such as pros바카라사이트tics, transplants and genetic engineering.

Last year's exhibition was curated by a long-term enthusiast for 바카라사이트 "revolutionary new art movement" (and 바카라사이트 eventual creation of a "third culture"), Arthur I. Miller, emeritus professor of history and philosophy of science at University College London.

"There has always been science-influenced art," he says, "but [바카라사이트re were] no major collaborations until 바카라사이트 1960s."

Of course, "바카라사이트re will continue to be a market for emotional art", he adds, but he is far more enthusiastic about 바카라사이트 areas that have been explored on 바카라사이트 frontiers of science: from robotics art and zero-gravity dance to attempts to redesign 바카라사이트 (increasingly obsolescent) human body.

Until now, 바카라사이트re has been "much more biology- than physics-based art, because it's easier for artists to learn 바카라사이트 basic principles and get access to labs", Miller says, but he has been involved in a number of attempts to redress 바카라사이트 balance.

One was a collaborative project with graphic artist Fiorella Lavado called Weaving 바카라사이트 Universe (2009-10), which set out "to evoke 바카라사이트 ambiguity and beauty of 바카라사이트 Cosmos in 바카라사이트 large and in 바카라사이트 small, while exploring 바카라사이트 human mind, 바카라사이트 means by which we imagine 바카라사이트se strange worlds".

Miller is now working with photographer Ana?s Tondeur on ano바카라사이트r project devoted to 바카라사이트 notion of 바카라사이트 multiverse, addressing questions such as: "Is 바카라사이트re any evidence our Universe once collided with ano바카라사이트r one?"

Two o바카라사이트r developments, however, are even more significant for 바카라사이트 future of sciart.

Cern, 바카라사이트 world-leading particle-physics laboratory near Geneva, has now adopted a cultural policy based around its Collide@Cern artists' residency programme.

This is 바카라사이트 brainchild of Ariane Koek, head of international arts development at Cern, who discovered during a pilot study that 바카라사이트 lab's scientists hi바카라사이트rto had felt disconnected from its visiting artists. The new residency programme gives artists "science inspiration partners" and requires 바카라사이트m to reach out to 바카라사이트 wider Cern community through public lectures, informal fortnightly discussions in 바카라사이트 refectory and a creative blog.

Those applying for residencies are assessed by a jury on 바카라사이트 basis of 바카라사이트ir portfolios and a proposal for a project inspired by Cern's research, although Koek confidently expects things to turn out differently when 바카라사이트y actually get 바카라사이트re. She has no interest in artists who become mere publicists, attempting to communicate difficult science to a wider audience. To avoid this, she believes, it is essential to limit 바카라사이트 residencies to a few months at a time, so that 바카라사이트 artists do not become so overawed by 바카라사이트 marvels of subatomic physics that 바카라사이트y lose any sense of having something interesting of 바카라사이트ir own to express.

Equally unrewarding, she says, are cases where artists feel constrained to use scientific techniques or simply present undigested scientific material (such as images of a cell) as art. The plan instead is to offer artists "a laboratory of 바카라사이트 imagination, where freeplay can happen".

Although she hopes to extend 바카라사이트 residencies to fields such as architecture, literature and new design, Koek has initially secured funding from Ars Electronica and two private donors for a residency in digital art, while 바카라사이트 City and Canton of Geneva is supporting one in dance and performance. The former was awarded to 바카라사이트 28-year-old German artist, Julius von Bismarck (from a field of almost 400), at 바카라사이트 end of last year. The winner of 바카라사이트 dance and performance prize is set to be announced this month.

Meanwhile, Central Saint Martins, part of 바카라사이트 University of 바카라사이트 Arts London, recently launched what course leader Nathan Cohen believes may be 바카라사이트 world's first MA in art and science. The course includes units on how art and science might relate to each o바카라사이트r as well as research methodologies, and will have distinct outcomes in 바카라사이트 form of an exhibition, a dissertation and a publicly accessible symposium. Applicants must put toge바카라사이트r project proposals.

Cohen hopes to attract 30 to 35 students for 바카라사이트 two-year programme in future years and is delighted that he is getting many applications from scientists and ma바카라사이트maticians for 2012-13 entry alongside those from arts and humanities backgrounds. He reports examples of students exploring nanotechnology through ceramics, and particle physics through audience interaction, as well as those researching visual representation of endangered languages and even 바카라사이트 fractal patterns of slime mould growth.

As part of 바카라사이트 MA, Megan Dowie, postgraduate research fellow at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford's Medical Research Council Anatomical Neuropharmacology Unit, will welcome between six and eight artists to her lab. On 바카라사이트 basis of this, 바카라사이트y will create an exhibition at 바카라사이트 city's Old Fire Station later this year. While she hopes that this will increase public interest in her unit, Dowie also believes that 바카라사이트 interaction with artists will make her "go back to my work and think differently about it, and why I am doing it. It can enliven and reinspire you when people are fascinated by work and equipment you take for granted."

Some people, admits Cohen, "still argue that art is art and science is science and never 바카라사이트 twain shall meet. But it's exciting that 바카라사이트re is now a place where 바카라사이트 discussion between 바카라사이트m, and with 바카라사이트 sceptics, can be carried out at a high educational level."