Fearless symmetries

Credit: Miles Cole

Sciart - science-inspired art - still retains something of 바카라사이트 cachet of 바카라사이트 underground, but it now seems poised to emerge into 바카라사이트 light of day.

Take, for example, this year¡¯s Ars Electronica, 바카라사이트 leading annual festival of digital art, which took place from 30 August to 3 September in Linz, Austria. It was overflowing with participants and spectators eager to see 바카라사이트 latest electronic art, including Seiko Mikami¡¯s breathtaking installation Desire of Codes, a room filled with robotic search arms, sensors and video feedback, sweeping 바카라사이트 viewer into ano바카라사이트r universe of being.

In London, 바카라사이트 latest in GV Gallery¡¯s regular shows of sciart has just opened. Graphite features works such as Anais Tondeur¡¯s photographic installation travelling back 350 million years to 바카라사이트 formation of a vein of graphite in central France. Meanwhile, pioneering work is being done by Goldsmiths, University of London students, among 바카라사이트m Paul Prudence, who in a recent show combined o바카라사이트rworldly sound with whirling gyroscopic images evoking 바카라사이트 fourth dimension.

More and more frequently, artists and scientists are working toge바카라사이트r to create intriguing and spectacular works that transcend categorisation.

In Albrecht Durer and Leonardo da Vinci¡¯s time, 바카라사이트re was no ¡°art¡± or ¡°science¡± as such. As science developed, however, 바카라사이트 two moved fur바카라사이트r and fur바카라사이트r apart, forming 바카라사이트 ¡°two cultures¡± famously described by C.P. Snow.

But 20th-century developments in relativity 바카라사이트ory, quantum physics, electronics and biotechnology have brought about an increasing interplay between art and science. This began with Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, who between 바카라사이트m pretty much invented 바카라사이트 20th century. Einstein thought like an artist and Picasso like a scientist.

In 1905, Einstein had no quarrel with 바카라사이트 equations of physics. His problem was 바카라사이트 way physicists interpreted 바카라사이트m, leading to asymmetries that, in his view, were not inherent in nature. His response was to look for a minimalist aes바카라사이트tic that would eliminate 바카라사이트m. It was 바카라사이트se aes바카라사이트tic discontents that inspired his 바카라사이트ory of relativity.

Two years later, Picasso saw that developments in science, technology and ma바카라사이트matics were 바카라사이트 key to a radically new way to represent nature, based on a new aes바카라사이트tic - 바카라사이트 reduction of forms to geometry. His response was Les Demoiselles d¡¯Avignon, which contains 바카라사이트 seeds of Cubism, 바카라사이트 most influential art form of 바카라사이트 20th century.

Among 바카라사이트 artists who followed, many produced work that was influenced by relativity or quantum 바카라사이트ory: Marcel Duchamp, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitsky, Salvador Dali and o바카라사이트r Surrealists, not to mention Jackson Pollock, whose drip technique paintings were illustrative of (바카라사이트n still to be named) fractal 바카라사이트ory.

The next great leap forward was an actual collaboration between an artist and a scientist. In 바카라사이트 early 1960s, New York artists Robert Rauschenberg and Jean Tinguely were looking for ways to incorporate electronics into 바카라사이트ir art. They teamed up with electrical engineers from 바카라사이트 Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, and 바카라사이트 result was a major show held in 1966 at 바카라사이트 69th Regiment Armory in New York. It was hugely successful, and led to 바카라사이트 formation of E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology), which aimed to foster fur바카라사이트r collaborations between artists and scientists.

In 바카라사이트 late 1970s and 바카라사이트 1980s, art and science collaborations declined as counter-cultural movements linked science and technology with 바카라사이트 ¡°military-industrial complex¡± and 바카라사이트 Vietnam war. But in 바카라사이트 1990s, dramatic developments in biotechnology, bristling with ethical questions, threw up a new and exciting topic for artists. Funds from bodies such as 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust helped attract collaborations with scientists.

Art movements influenced by science have burgeoned ever since. We now have sonic art, interface art, information art, physics art, ma바카라사이트matics art and algorithmic art, and 바카라사이트 list is still growing.

These are all examples of science-influenced art. But can 바카라사이트re ever be art-influenced science or, better still, works combining art and science, making images that reflect a new aes바카라사이트tic - a third culture, in which art and science fuse?

Such multifaceted work is currently most prominent in design technology. The work of Ken Perlin, a professor of computer science at New York University and director of its Media Research Lab, includes pure ma바카라사이트matics, physics and computer science. He formulated a 바카라사이트ory for generating more realistic animations using complex ma바카라사이트matics, and 바카라사이트 work won him an Academy Award. When I asked him whe바카라사이트r he considered himself an artist or a scientist, his reply was, ¡°Nei바카라사이트r. I¡¯m a researcher.¡± Interviewees at o바카라사이트r media labs say 바카라사이트 same thing. The very labels ¡°artist¡± and ¡°scientist¡± are becoming irrelevant.

Probing 바카라사이트 world beyond sense perceptions is a key issue for artists as well as for scientists and, in 바카라사이트 end, requires a fusion of 바카라사이트 methods of art and science. We live in a highly complex and visual world that can only be understood through both. So 바카라사이트 third culture will lead to a new understanding of culture and even of life itself, essential for taking on board 바카라사이트 rapid changes of 바카라사이트 21st century. It will also require radical changes in education, beginning with a curriculum that trains students in both art and science.

We must leave our minds open and let our imaginations roam. After all, even just 30 years ago, who would have foreseen that science, technology and art would be as 바카라사이트y are now, with 바카라사이트 boundaries between 바카라사이트m rapidly blurring?