Art(a)Science

The Arts and Sciences have long been regarded as separated disciplines. In the era of the rapidly developing computer technologies a novel interdisciplinary spirit has emerged that indicates a promising new collaboration between research and art. Computer Graphics, Interactive Arts, Scientific Visualization, Communication, Artificial Life and the Internet are areas where artistic thinking influences science and where scientific methodology reaches into the arts. "Art@Science” brings together the pioneer thinkers in this interdisciplinary movement into the 21st century and features articles by: Philippe Quéau, Maria Grazia Mattei, Ryohei Nakatsu, Donna J. Cox, Przemyslaw Prusinkiewicz, Demetri Terzopoulos, Thomas S. Ray, Louis Bec, Machiko Kusahara, Michael Naimark, Monika Fleischmann & Wolfgang Strauss, Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau, Jeffrey Shaw, Peter Weibel, Gottfried Mayer-Kress, Otto E. Rossler, Toshiharu Ito, Hans-Peter Schwarz, Peter Richards, Itsuo Sakane, Michael Klein, Cynthia Goodman, Erkki Huhtamo, and Roy Ascott. "... This cultural bridge-building is attempted either through learning the skills of the ‘other’ or through collaborative projects between artists and scientists/engineers ... a thought-provoking collection on good paper with high-quality illustrations.” (CIRCA)

"... This cultural bridge-building is attempted either through learning the skills of the other or through collaborative projects between artists and scientists/engineers ... Springer have spent a lot of money producing a thought-provoking collection on good paper with high-quality illustrations. " -- CIRCA, January 1999

For the time being, the best overview of this renaissance of interaction between art and science is furnished by the collection Art@Science, edited by Sommerer and Mignonneau. Art@Science provides a multifaceted view of the trailblazers of computer technology. Whether artist, scientist, historian or the director of one the new museums for media art, aptly selected international experts present their views on an advanced level but remain nonetheless generally understandable as they lead us through the extremely complex topics covered in this well organized volume. In recent years a new type of artist has appeared on the scene. This new breed is active in the main centers of research and part of an internationally well-connected polyglot scene that has access to current and state of the art materials. These artists participate, with aesthetic methods and objectives, directly in the further development of the computer medium. In pursuit of special effects and realistic virtual illusions, art and science are approaching one another on the most advanced levels of technology The kind of artist who is both artist and scientist is now returning. The slogan-like warning against a split into "two cultures," preached by Charles P. Snow forty years ago, is rapidly dissolving away and the well-worn separation of art and technology is dispossessed once again. -- DIE ZEIT, September 12 1998

The convergence of the natural sciences and the arts in the age of digitalization is the subject of this collection of essays in English entitled "Art @ Science", and edited by the media artists Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. The two dozen texts cover the fields of visualization, telecommunication, artificial life, complex systems and the chaos theory as well as metatheoretical considerations. The cooperation between artists and scientists during the European Renaissance can be considered as one of the historical models for the current situation, and its continuing influence is described by Donna J. Cox in her essay "What Can An Artist Do for Science: 'Cosmic Voyage' Imax Film". Visualization experts, film-makers, animation artists formed inter-disciplinary "Renaissance teams" to produce the large format film. Several of the essays deal with the cooperation between artists and scientists within institutions, and here mention may be made of the Exploratorium in San Francisco (Peter Richards "From London to Nagasaki - The Roots of Interactive @ the Exploratorium" or the Frankfurt Institut fur Neue Medien (Michael Klein: "The Evolution of Images Between Chaos, Art and New Media). In taking stock of this continuing process of disintegration of the dividing line between art and science, this volume is invaluable particularly for this sector. -- SCREEN MULTIMEDIA, July 6, 1998