
The Art, Science, and Environmentalism of Deformed Amphibian Research
By Brandon BallengéeVisual artworks like Malamp offer an innovative form of environmental outreach and a means to engage audiences about the global amphibian crisis.
More »I stopped trying to deconstruct poetry back in my undergraduate days, when I realized the analysis of art left me feeling hollow, and chose instead to be on the receiving end of that same analysis (as though that feels any better). But, as I thought about this issue of Art Practical, on the occasion of the 2015 AICAD Symposium—examining the place, purpose, potential, and role of science in contemporary [Art + Design] education, hosted by California College of the Arts—I kept coming back to these lines and wondering why. My irrational interpretation, and the one that serves our needs in this moment, is that a perpetual state of wonder, of not knowing (that “beautiful but bleak condition”), is absolutely integral to our health and well-being. In other words, without it the stars would collide and all life as we know it would cease to exist.
It can be argued that every discipline carries with it the potential for great wonder, but the arts and sciences scream the value of not-knowing from the rooftops, and I believe this is the reason that they have been considered kin almost as long as civilization itself. In Ancient Greece, worshippers in the Cult of the Mousai sought inspiration from the nine daughters of Zeus (the nine Muses), who each personified a distinct discipline in the arts and sciences. Euterpe, for example, represented and distributed knowledge of music and song, while Urania was responsible for astronomy.
As evidenced, art and science have been in conversation for a very long time, these essays are presented here as a means of moving us toward a future more like the past, when each discipline, like each muse, is related by birth. Together, these contributions create a contemporary arc cross-disciplinary exploration, leading us through a portal of potential into what the relationship of art and science has in store for us. —Selene Foster
Visual artworks like Malamp offer an innovative form of environmental outreach and a means to engage audiences about the global amphibian crisis.
More »Corporeal expressions of wonder are the basis for my series of data-driven sculptures.
More »Moscovitch understood that whether time is real or illusion is at once a pressing scientific problem, a question a composer must address, and a question for all of us professionals who also aim to be good parents.
More »An exploration of the recent drive to pair art and science and counters with a constellation of interactions made visible as a Venn diagram.
More »Cat is fifteen, and she is not a scientist. She is absolutely sure of this.
More »Maybe that’s why exceptionally quiet moments—late at night under the stars, or a hot and still afternoon—are so strange. Without wind, we are lost.
More »Not knowing where you are and what you’re doing is a sign of success because it shows that you’ve gone through a journey, that you are questioning some of the things that you came with.
More »To a certain extent, we all have the ability to put ourselves in another person’s place, and, emotionally speaking, this is not just about feeling sorrow for someone or feeling the other person’s pain...
More »In 1969, [Frank] Oppenheimer’s vision manifested as the revolutionary Exploratorium, a museum of “science, art and human perception"...
More »Anti-disciplinarian Piero Scaruffi explores interactions across art and science, a history of interdisciplinarity in the Bay Area, and the future.
More »I’ve come to believe that, presented with the perspectives of both artists and scientists on a given topic, the wonderment experienced by audiences increases exponentially.
More »This issue of Art Practical aims to take nothing for granted while providing a different venue for collaborations between visual artists and poets.
Our intention is to demonstrate the prevailing concern artists and writers across the U.S. (and beyond) have for the effects of economic violence, how it shapes the representation and reception of culture, and where the boundaries of accessibility are drawn.