Art and Science. Eliane Strosberg

Nationale de France, Paris

      When a concept no longer holds up under critical scrutiny, analysis of its failings can point to the necessary changes. Any new concept constitutes a challenge to the existing ones, which must be surpassed. Fundamental changes rarely occur in a flash, but tend to evolve as the problems are being solved, one after another.

      To search … up to what point? According to the physicist Pauli: “The happiness that man feels in understanding seems to be based on inner images pre-existent in the human psyche with the external objects and their behavior.” While Braque noted that: “The painting is finished when it has erased the idea.”

      According to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit paleontologist: “The spirit of research and conquest is the supreme essence of evolution. It penetrates all those who have ever dedicated their intelligence and their lives to art or science.”

      

      Electromagnetic field lines, James Clerk Maxwell, 1871

      The physicist Maxwell visualized the concept of an electrical field, graphically, using “experimental lines of forces on paper.” This notion of a space capable of transmitting radiation emerged along with progress in electricity and magnetism. Fascinated by optical phenomena, Maxwell was also an important player in the development of photography, and produced the first color photograph.

      Education and new technologies

      Nowadays, specializing has become inevitable, but over-specializing destroys creativity, which thrives on open-mindedness. Play remains a primary form of learning, whatever the age.

      Goethe and Edison never had a formal education. Einstein and Picasso opposed the traditional school system, and other creators ignored academic training. It is thus tempting to assume that having no constraints provides a better chance of approaching the world creatively. However, the value of a formative but flexible training can never be understated.

      By expanding education beyond its traditional segmentation, it is being redefined. Psychologists suggest the existence of transversal forms of intelligence: spatial, social, verbal, etc., which would go beyond the set bounds of artistic or scientific concerns.

      Will researchers identify “creativity genes”? Creativity is surely not entirely determined by genetic heritage; in many ways, the social and cultural environment remains a key factor. Artists, like scientists, are increasingly drawn into multidisciplinary activities because of economic pressure, and sometimes by choice.

      Convergence is particularly strong during times of change, such as the present. Art and science use the same tools and materials; technology then becomes their main link. (Technology is a recent term denoting the industrial applications of science.) According to Marshall McLuhan, the visionary media specialist, “The medium is the message.”

      

      View of an installation by Joseph Beuys

      The German artist Beuys proclaimed that “everybody is an artist” and everything is art, including political and social processes. He used the most ordinary objects and materials in his performances, and displayed didactic skills to expound on his philosophy for a new democracy.

      Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

      Virtual Museum, Jeffrey Shaw, 1991

      Inside this interactive work of art, one can explore different rooms of an imaginary museum containing paintings, sculptures and computer-designed images.

      In a computerized and digitalized world, the spectator becomes a permanent student—whether willingly or not. The writer Arthur Koestler felt that: “Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and the pupil are located in the same individual.” “Creativity,” “education,” “entertainment” are now intricately woven concepts because new technologies favor the relationship between artist, creation and spectator.

      This link is considerably reinforced through modern means of communication, potentially transforming the social order altogether. Of course, technology will not bring all the answers. But, thanks to new media, it is indeed conceivable that everyone has a creative potential that can be explored, in art and science, or any other domain.

      Orb, Bill Parker, 1990

      Work of art, gadget or scientific tool? This glass sphere containing a combination of rare gases, reacts to heat when touched, by emitting light through an electrode at its center. To observe, play and learn was this creator’s intention.

      2. A dynamic history

      Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier and His Wife, Jacques Louis David, 1788

      Lavoisier was the father of the chemical revolution. His wife was an artist who studied with David, painter of the above portrait. She also illustrated Lavoisier’s laboratory notes and translated English scientific papers.

      Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, gift in honor of Everett Fahy, 1977 (1977.10)

      The artist-scientist

      Today, most artists and scientists live in distinct socio-economic worlds, but this was not always the case. It is of course impossible to know if the Stone Age artist was considered equal to the healer. The abundance of expertly executed cave paintings proves that some artists were highly skilled, and the mere fact that they were afforded the time and means to practice during the daily struggle for survival allows us to assume that the their role was important.

      A clue to the artist’s social status in ancient times is contained in the Hammurabi code (c. 1750 B.C.), one of the oldest written law codes. The architect and the sculptor were considered equals to the butcher and the metal worker, whose functions were closely associated with ritual practices. Knowledge and art—architecture, sculpture and painting—came under the authority of priests. The major task of artists, whose names were not recorded, was to master materials in a strictly prescribed manner.

      Creations bearing a signature first appeared in Ancient Greece; however, creativity in the contemporary sense was foreign to the Greeks, for whom arts and crafts were synonymous. The motivating force of self-expression was referred to as techne.

      Greek vase painting representing a foundry, fifth century B.C.

      The Greek god Hephaestus (Vulcan to the Romans) is said to have wrested fire from the earth’s bowels and used it to smelt metal. The union of the Prime Metallurgist with Aphrodite (Venus) symbolized the alliance of science with beauty. In Ancient Greece techne inspired art; the Greek verb tikein means to create.

      Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

      Aristotle wrote: “The nature of all techne is to understand the genesis of a work of art, to research the technique and theory behind it, to find its principles in the person who gave birth to it, and not in the creation itself.” Originally, “technique” did not simply designate methods of fabrication; also it carried symbolic and spiritual connotations.

      The Romans copied their Greek predecessors, and it is often thought that they excelled in feats of engineering rather than art. After the fall of Rome in the fifth century, interest in both art and science faded and their memory was obliterated by repeated invasions. Knowledge re-emerged slowly. During the