International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge

[technolope]

in which I complain about how scientists don't want art and artists don't want science.I wish I had more time to properly express my displeasure at how difficult it has been to convince either side of the validity of my own special breed of art-science crossover. For all the talk of how important it is to bridge the gap between art and science, to

Comments

[airsucker]

I like your scientiart

[technolope]

Thank you. Every single word of encouragement pushes me to go farther. Using my work for your icon counts even more! =0)

[jesus_jeff]

Are you the only one?

I mean, it seems unlikely that you are the only artist that draws on science for creating. There's plenty of examples of things that qualify as both art and science; many of Leonardo DaVinci's works come to mind. Or images that we've all seen of sugar certainly qualify as art.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the definitions here. What is 'science-based art'? I always thought art was art, and your inspiration is your own business.

[keturah]

Put a damn scale bar on that. I have decided that materials science is not science; it's art.

[technolope]

Things like this remind me of photography, which has taken the long, hard road to acceptance as an art form. And even still, photographers are much more infrequently considered artists by the gatekeepers (who help dictate prices and longevity). Does this image tell you anything about the artist? Is this one person's style? Hardly. It's barely more than an attractive image.

But then I find myself appreciating relatively little art. The art that I do appreciate, I find threatening, and am envious of.

[keturah]

And I am tired of application forms that imply that one cannot possibly be a scientist and an artist at the same time . . .

Hmm. Is it not obvious that if you are both, you would mark the more exclusive one? Plenty of people (even without any kind of formal education) call themselves artists; not as many are scientists of any kind (and it is pretty hard to carry that title without having endured any relevant education, but in many cases education is not even sufficient). Choose science!

[technolope]

The second you label yourself as a scientist, you are immediately discounted in the art world. The only scientists in art seem to be ex-scientists, and those are still rare (and usually work in more traditional media).

[keturah]

Well, good riddance (from someone who thinks that art is what kids do to pass time before they have any analytical skill training).

Seriously, the "scientist" who assesses methane emissions from ruminant livestock is several tiers above the "artist" who sharts oil paint from a tube gripped by his sphincter. And still I am not sure who wins if we compare said "scientist" to Magritte.

Sorry, but I do not see how being a scientist can discount much of what else you pursue. Presumably, you have creativity as well as a concrete skill set. Them artists just be hatin'.

you're not the only one

[amnesiadust]

A book about this I picked up at SFMOMA last year sometime.

Short answer is yes -- people trying to do truly interdisciplinary things (not just "artscientists") are going to encounter a lot of resistance simply because people don't know how to parse what they're doing. Recognition and institutional support need to be built from the ground up. A lot of what you're saying here is echoed in this book. It's kind of annoying, but there you go.

Re: you're not the only one

[technolope]

Actually, I saw Edwards speak at Harvard two or three years ago. I was very excited, and he was a good speaker. But his talk was when I really started feeling this way. Underlying everything was the suggestion that scientists can't be artists and vice versa. His "La Laboratiore" in Paris really only brings scientists and artists togeher, with little recognition that they might be the same person. It's true that interdisciplinary work encounters resistance, but it's still always thought of as a collaboration among multiple people.

oh by the way

[amnesiadust]

... the point of all that was, don't give up, fight the good fight, and you may find some guideposts in the profiles of other people who have done similar things.