“
On the face of it, science and art seem such vastly
different enterprises as to appear antitheses. On the one
side is a discipline fundamentally rooted in discursive
reason, where, fueled by accuracy and precision, the
twin engines of observation and experimentation power
toward ever-greater knowledge, prediction, and control.
On the other is art, a distinctly non-rational vehicle
that necessarily traffics in ambiguity, mystery, and
contradiction and depends for its success on the
perpetual deferral of meaning...visualizing the
invisible [can be thought of] as the common
denominator... But perhaps the deeper link lies
elsewhere. For, speaking as an artist, neither beauty nor
visualization alone is what draws me to art, but rather
their invocation in the service of insight... But let's not
fool ourselves: the epistemologies of art and science are
fundamentally dissimilar, and their differences should be
preserved at all costs. The world needs more
discursive art about as much as it needs more
poetic cancer research. Rather than a merging or
synthesis of the two, then, what I'd like to see develop
is a mutually informed dialogue between two potentially
complementary disciplines. But first: to stomp out the
ignorance, for much exists on both sides.
Taney Roniger
SciArt in America August 2014
”
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