Friday, August 9, 2013

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] DOES ART SCIENCE COLLABORATION CONTRIBUTE IN ANY WAY TO SUCCESSFUL SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTION

Hi all,
I'm the director and a teacher in the school of "New Art Technologies" of
the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara, Italy and this is my first reply to
this list.
I've been reading many interesting discourses, and decided to write right
now about the general art-science topic because it seems we're getting to
some important point.

As stated by Paul we don't need to convince ourselves, we all agree on the
positive value of collaborations between artists and scientists, but what I
would like to add is about the "positiveness" of being an artist AND a
scientist... I mean today we are living a sort of "digital mannerism" that
touches all the fields of human activities, and you cannot hide the
necessity, for (effective) art, to deal with science and technology, and on
the other hand for (effective) science you can't hide the need of a broader
view oriented to the "positive and beautiful" future of mankind, so I can
see the inevitable loss of differentiation between scientist and artist...
the only good scientist HAS to be also an artist, and viceversa

I don't think "art" is just what the art world (market, critics, museums,
faires, etc) can put on pedestals, rather it's something you can put inside
everything you can do in your life that accomplishes some sort of artistic
result to the world, and sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not... just
like for science... the fusion of the two figures is something we've been
testing since Leonardo da Vinci, and maybe before, and now, after having
been only a possibility, it's becoming more and more a natural necessity.

Thanx for your attention
Massimo Cittadini


On Wed, Aug 7, 2013 at 6:23 PM, Paul Fishwick <metaphorz@gmail.com> wrote:

> I really like Kevin's point below as I think he hits the nail on the head
> with his comments, particularly where he points to a need for
> artists to be able to "convince them [scientists] of the value of
> art practice and theory."
>
> Everyone on this list is already sold on the philosophical leanings
> involving the value of the arts, sciences, and their intersection so
> no need to continue to use this as an argument.
>
> I think a much stronger argument is needed for the future. That
> argument is based on scientific literature to show that under
> a variety of circumstances, the arts can improve something
> fundamental about cognition: for example, attention, memory,
> or a higher level execution function such as learning. If we
> build up this literature to include such findings, this will be
> most convincing to the scientist because all endeavors (inc.
> science) require effective cognition function. If you want to
> teach someone about organic chemistry, students will need a
> good memory, and the ability to command attention during the
> learning or communication activities involved.
>
> Anything short of this makes for "preaching to the choir"
> scenarios we find ourselves in often as we continue to explore
> this interface.
>
> -paul
>
> Paul Fishwick, PhD
> Chair, ACM SIGSIM
> Distinguished Chair of Arts & Technology and Professor of Computer Science
> The University of Texas at Dallas
> Arts & Technology
> 800 West Campbell Road, AT10
> Richardson, TX 75080-3021
>
> On Aug 6, 2013, at 5:59 PM, roger malina <rmalina@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
> > DOES ART SCIENCE COLLABORATION CONTRIBUTE IN ANY WAY TO SUCCESSFUL...
> >
> > In collaborations with scientists, I have often found, as an artist,
> > that it is difficult from the outset to convince them of the value of
> > art practice and theory. I agree with the papers quoted by Roger.
> > There is real asymmetry. I think that this in part arises because most
> > scientists operate in very a different academic, institutional and
> > financial environment from most artists. That may well be okay, but it
> > also means that artists will most likely never come to nourish
> > scientific research.
> > By Kevin McCourt
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