Ars Scientia is a series of events focused on collaborations between artists and scientists sponsored by the Chicago Cultural Center – accessrx.com.Last night, I participated in a salon called “Exploring Environmentalism with Art and Science”—the session started at 6pm and the discussion lasted in the auditorium until 8:30pm and at the bar next door until about 10pm.
Environmental scientist Liam Heneghan, co director of the Institute for Nature and Culture at DePaul University moderated the discussion and introduced the issues.He began with a thought provoking quotation from Gary Paul Nabhan: “If I had to choose five ambassadors for biodiversity, I would not select scientists; I would choose a singer, a herbalist, a photographer/gardener, and a craft’s promoter “(1997). This set the stage for the panelists to–ahem–prove themselves “worthy” of this statement.
All of the artists had about five minutes to introduce their work, and their interest in combining art with environmental stewardship.My co-panelist, artist Frances Whitehead discussed her recent project, “The Phenologic Forest” (see picture above) – accessrx.com.This project is pretty complex but displays the untapped abilities of everyday people to contribute to scientific research. The forest project is focused on what Whitehead calls “citizen science” or harnassing the power of the public to act as grunt data collectors to increase our knowledge of how global warming is altering the times that certain plants, like lilacs, bloom.
Choreographer Carrie Hanson discussed a recent project called “Monument” that her dance company, The Seldoms, recently premiered (picture at top of post). “Monument” is an entire performance based on trash and landfills. Carrie had everyone in the audience stand up and develop a brief “dance” that involved inventing gestures to depict one’s throwing out the most recent three pieces of garbage. What a sight to see about 100 persons doing interpretative dance with imaginary Kleenex and Coke bottles.
The next Ars Scientia event deals directly with visualization issues and thus should interest readers of this blog. The conversation will feature two fabulous Chicago-based artists and one scientist; accessrx.com.It’s happening in at the Cultural Center on February 9, 2009. More info below:
Conversation: Structuring Change on February 9, 2009
Artist Inigo Manglano-Ovalle’s technically sophisticated and formally elegant investigations employ forms and systems found in nature — like clouds, icebergs and DNA — to address issues ranging from immigration to cloning to gun violence and climate change He will converse with computational scientist Mark Hereld, Senior Fellow in the Computation Institute (Argonne National Laboratory and University of Chicago) and artist Siebren Versteeg; accessrx.com.
