8/14/2019 Artsci99 Strange Bedfellows 111599

1/1

trange Bedfellows at ArtSci99 http://web.archive.org/web/20010721162418/www.wired.com/ne

of 1 1/13/07 6:55

Strange Bedfellows at ArtSci99by Arik Hesseldahl

3:00 a.m. Nov. 15, 1999 PST

NEW YORK -- It's not often that the worlds of science and art intersect in the academic universe. Physicsmajors tend to hang with other physics majors. Art students hang with other art students.

What happens when the two disciplines are brought together? For one thing, the often incomprehensibleworld of science can be made more accessible and meaningful to non-scientists when filtered through anartist's creative lens. For another, the painter's brush or the writer's pen can inspire scientists to pursue

new avenues of inquiry.

See also:

See also: When Pop Goes Tech

Such were the issues at ArtSci 99, which brought together artists, scientists, and people with interests in

both areas for a weekend at New York's Cooper Union. Sponsored by Art and Science Collaborations (ASCI),the program was designed to dispel the misconceptions and stereotypes that divide scientists and artists byfinding common ground in their approaches to creativity.

Dr. Laurence Smaje, director of the medicine, science, and history division of Britain's Wellcome Trust -- untilrecently the world's largest charity organization -- spoke about his program called sciart. The grantcompetition, now in its third year, brings artists and scientists together to collaborate on projects thatengage the public mind in the areas of health and medicine or biology.

One such project funded by the trust involved Helen Storey, a London fashion designer, and her sister, Dr.Kate Storey, a biologist at Oxford University. The pair collaborated on a fashion collection called "PrimitiveStreak", clothes inspired by the first 1,000 hours of human life.

Kate gave Helen a crash course in biology. The results included a dress inspired by the moment of

conception, and another by the formation of the spinal column.

Another sciart program, called "Exposing the Phantom," focused on the sensations some people experienceof feeling the presence of a limb after it has been amputated. The project involved using digitallymanipulated photography to describe the patient's perceptions of the limb that is gone but not forgotten bythe brain.

"That raised a whole series of scientific questions that had not been addressed before because it was sodifficult to articulate," the nature of the sensations, Smaje said.

Another speaker, John Maeda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab described his effortsto bridge the gap between computing and graphic design. He presented a series of short videos depictinghis experiments, including excerpts from his series of"reactive books" with titles like Flying Letters and TapType Write.

"I wouldn't have made them if there weren't such a conflict between print and digital media," he said.

Copyright 1994-2001 Wired Digital Inc. All rights reserved.