Art+Science Now

Thames & Hudson  (March  2010)
Stephen Wilson PhD, MFA
Professor, Art, San Francisco State University
swilson at sfsu.edu      http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~swilson/ 
ISBN - 9780500238684


A visual survey of artists working at the frontiers of science and technology.  Focus on work since 2000.  Covers artistic experimentation in fields such as biology, ecology, medical research, physics, geology, robotics, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, information visualization, and body sensing computer interfaces.  300+ pages ~280 color illustrations
 cover



A companion website to the book including links to artists, organizations, bibliographies and other resources not included in the book (see below).  Coming soon - live links from the book

Overview: Art/Science Convergence as Emerging Art Field


Science and art - twin pillars of creativity and innovation in any dynamic culture. Commonly they are seen as different as day and night.  Many contemporary artists reject this. They are creating revolutionary art at the frontiers of scientific research that is breathtaking in its creative reach and mind-stretching in its assault on traditional categories. They see art as an independent zone of research that pursues areas of science and research ignored by mainstream academic disciplines.  They are developing technologies that would be rejected by the marketplace but are nonetheless culturally critical.  They are pursuing inquiries that are seen as too controversial, too wacky, too improbable, too speculative for regular science and technology.  They proclaim that art must assume its historical position of keeping watch on the cultural frontier.

Some believe that the meeting place of art and science will be a major arena of 21st century art. This art may well give hints of what lies beyond video, computer and Internet art.   Art+Science Now offers a comprehensive guide - introducing and surveying these exciting developments in hybrid art.  It explains in easy to understand terms what the artists are actually doing, how scientific research and technological innovation become part of the aesthetics and what the larger cultural implications of this art might be.  It is highly illustrated, offering visual access to this new kind of work. It surveys experimental art works in fields such as biology, ecology, medical research, physics, geology, robotics, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, information visualization, and body sensing computer interfaces.

It introduces readers to critical and artistic issues inherent in this work. It explains how this artistic exploration of science and technology can be viewed as a next step in the expansion of the boundaries of art – continuing the ground breaking work of art movements of the last decades such as conceptual, performance, new genre, interventionist, and cross-media work. It considers the variety of critical stances artists take toward the research world – stretching from postmodern skepticism about science’s truth claims and institutional power, to celebration of the human quest to innovate and create new knowledge, to appropriation of the new tools to create new images, sounds, and objects. It investigates the challenges facing art in a scientific era and trajectories art may pursue in the future.

The visually oriented book provides both visual and conceptual access to this challenging work.  It provides illustrations from many different artists.  The book has several goals: Acquainting readers with a wide variety of art they may be unfamiliar with; helping them to become comfortable with the artistic agendas that inspire these sci/tech artists; encouraging them to think about the philosophical challenges these works pose to thinking about art and science;  and preparing them to become informed producers, viewers and consumers of future developments in the arts.

Topics covered in the book

Chapter 1 Introduction Art, Science, and Technology
Definitions
Science/Art Infrastructure
How do artists integrate scientific and technological research?
How were artists selected for this book?
Examples of historical Art-Science connections
What is the cultural value of artistic involvement with science and technology?
Learning more
How to think about hybrid art

Chapter 2 Molecular Biology, Genetics and Bioengineering
Breeding and Eugenics
Cloning
Bioengineering
Interventions to Critique the Influence of Corporate Motives in Research
Monsters, Mutations, Chimera
Research Processes in Biotechnology
Embryology and Proteins
Tissue Culture/Stem Cells

Chapter 3 Art and Biology of Living Organisms
Microorganisms and other small life forms
Plants
Insects
Animals and Fish
Relationships Among Species
Ecology

Chapter 4 Human Biology
Skin, blood and body systems
Brain Functioning, Cognition, the Senses
Body Imaging
Medicine, Disease, Body Conditions
Body Stimulation and Modification
Monitoring Bodily Processes

Chapter 5 Physical Sciences
Particle Physics
Invisible Forces – Gravity and Electromagnetism
Chemistry and Nanotechnology
Geology and Climatology
Water, Oceans, Wind, Weather
Astrophysics and Space

Chapter 6 Kinetics, Robotics, Ubiquitous Computing, Mixed Reality
Research Themes
Control of motion, sound, and light
Conceptual Kinetics
Do-it-yourself and hacking aesthetics
Autonomous and Transformed Objects
Mixed Reality
Force feedback
Robots

Chapter 7 Alternative Interfaces – Motion, Gesture, Touch, Facial Expression, Speech, Wearable Computing, and Immersive Virtual Reality
Motion Detection
Surveillance
Touch
Gaze
Face and Expression Recognition
Speech
Gesture and Complex Action
Dance and Performance
Experimental 3-D Audio and Visual Displays
Wearables, Smart Fabrics
Virtual Reality

Chapter 8 Algorithms, Code, Genetic Art, A-life, Artificial Intelligence
Algorithms, Code
Genetic Art and Music
Artificial Life
Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 9 Databases, Surveillance, RFID/Barcodes, Synthetic Cinema, Information Visualization
Databases
Surveillance
Barcodes, RFID chips, Smartcards, Credit Cards
Synthetic/ Computational Cinema
Visualization/Sonification

Chapter 10 Cultural Challenges in a Techno-scientific Culture

Author Bio

Stephen Wilson is a San Francisco author, artist and professor who explores the cultural implications of new technologies. His interactive installations & performances have been shown internationally in galleries and SIGGRAPH, CHI, NCGA, Ars Electronica, BEAP, and V2 art shows. His computer mediated art works probe issues such as Art and Biology, Physical Computing, Artificial Ingelligence, smart spaces and objects; World Wide Web & telecommunications;  hypermedia and the structure of information; GPS and the sense of place; synthetic voice; and environmental sensing. He won the Prize of Distinction in Ars Electronica's international competitions for interactive art and several honorary mentions. He is invited to give lectures and workshops in many international settings.  He is Head of the Conceptual/Information Arts program at San Francisco State University. He was selected as artist in residence at Xerox PARC and NTT Research labs.  He has been a developer for Apple, Articulate Systems and other companies and principal investigator in National Science Foundation research projects to investigate the relationship of new technologies to education.

He has published extensively including articles such as "Dark & Light Visions", Artist as Researcher", "The Aesthetics and Practice of Designing Interactive Events", "Interactive Art and Cultural Change", and "Noise on the Line: Emerging Issues in Telecommunications Art". He has published four books, Using Computers to Create Art (Prentice Hall, 1986), Multimedia Design with HyperCard (Prentice Hall, 1991), and World Wide Design Guide (Hayden, 1995), which promotes an experimental, culturally aware approach to Web design.  His book "Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science and Technology" published by MIT Press in  2002 surveys artists, theorists, and researchers working in advanced inquiries in fields such as biology, medicine, physics, artificial life, telepresence, body sensors, vr, artificial intelligence, and information systems. His newest book, Art +Science Now, to be published by Thames and Hudson in 2010.

Resources for Further Inquiry

These websites list artists' websites, organizations, publications, books, festivals, research Centers, etc. related to the development of hybrid art/science/technology.

Previous Book by Stephen Wilson

Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology    (MIT Press, 2002)
more information about Information Arts

Information Arts offers one of the only comprehensive international surveys of artists working at the frontiers of scientific inquiry and emerging technologies.  Its goal is to describe this art, explore its theoretical rationales, and alert readers to possible future directions.  It is also one of the only sources available that reviews cutting edge techno-scientific research in a way accessible to those without extensive technical backgrounds.  It will be of interest to artists, art historians, electronic media designers, technologists, scientists, researchers, and more general audiences interested in the future of research that will have significant impact on the culture. infoarts