I contributed to the Science and Art session at CAGE International Conference “Methane in a Changing Arctic” by presenting my artwork and giving a talk about the following subject.
For scientists, art is critically important. Why?
To many people, science embodies the rational and analytical end of human experience, while art derives from the empathic and expressive. Science can prove truths to us, while art makes us feel them. However, by using different methods and expressions, artists and scientists both observe and interpret the world around them, taking what is seen and creating a narrative. Art helps in the public’s understanding, or at least empathy with subjects shared with scientists – creating common ground, a common language. High-profile funders — including the National Science Foundation, the Simons Foundation, the Wellcome Foundation, and CERN — have promoted arts-and-science projects on a wide range of topics, including climate change and artificial intelligence. Where science meets art and the two work together, the result can be extraordinarily productive, as horizons are broadened and gaps in our understanding are filled.
Naturally, we form opinions based first and foremost on emotion. So, in order to assist the general public in engaging with science, it is useful to appeal initially to emotion. When our senses are dissociated from ideas, we see beauty without prejudice. Therefore, when art also has a component of underlying meaning, it provides a bridge between dissociated joy and, as its subject matter is revealed, with ideas. In my work, I express my thoughts and emotional connections with arctic environments. A branch of my art uses geological maps as an aesthetic experience. We marvel at landforms – their diversity, infinite shapes and emotionally-charged textures and colours. Geological maps are the scientific expression of this natural beauty. My art adds a further abstract dimension to geological maps, collided and re-formed – like the rocks they represent – aimed at guiding the participant who reacts with ‘here is beauty’ to understand that science is itself a celebration of beauty.
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