Science and Art

The Relationship Between Art and Science

Art and science underscore the importance of critical thought and experimentation and, at times, bring to the fore ethical and cultural issues.

Evidence, intellectual experiments, imagination and logical planning are all required to carry out scientific experiments, yet these processes are often required in the creation of works of art. Science often provides stimuli for artists, conceptually, aesthetically and practically. Progressive scientific discoveries are often explored through art as artists present ethical and moral dilemmas that science often raises, including the impact new discoveries have on the natural world. Some examples in the Gallery’s collecting include Schizophrenia by Ivor Francis, Big mother by Patricia Piccinini or Occupied territory by Fiona Hall. Similarly, at times, artists rely on the chemistry of materials to realise an artwork’s physicality, such as Infection by Justine Varga and Untitled (blue wedding gown #1) by Anne Ferran. Observation, elements and experimentation are terms that are interchangeable between the two disciplines, a subtle reminder of the similarities they share. In essence, art and science feed from one another in an attempt to understand the world’s complexities.

Both artists and scientists weave incredible stories, invent extraordinary hypotheses and pose difficult questions to their audiences, making clear parallels between art and science. Both disciplines anticipate and embrace the unknown and challenge the status quo. The works of art selected in this resource aim to bring to light the science that exists in art, highlighting a connection that has existed for centuries and endures today. These disciplines have long been perceived as occupying opposing ends of our culture, yet it is both the artist and the scientist that help us to understand and interpret the world in which we live.

Historical Context

Science has, across time, changed the way artists work. During the Renaissance artists were dedicated to scientific experimentation on a quest to find solutions to visual problems such as linear perspective. In the early 19th century inventions such as photography appeared to threaten artisans as machines could seemingly replace their skills. The machine age saw rapid advancement in. science and technology as means to equip nations with more efficient defence mechanisms during both world wars, inspiring many artists’ shift toward interpreting reality rather than representing it.

The bio-art movement gained global momentum in the early 2000s, with artists using biology as their medium or their subject to create works of art. These artists are developing cutting edge techniques, similar to the Futurists who explored notions of complex change, movement and speed. Bio-artists challenge our understanding of the environment by exploring advancements in biomedicine and technology to create works that blur the line between art and science.

The trend for art-science collaborations is accelerating in Australia. The opening of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) in Adelaide in 2013 instigated a partnership with the South Australian Living Artists Festival (SALA). Annually, artists are invited to produce a work of art that responds to the SAHMRI environment or its programs, with winning entries displayed in the SAHMRI building during SALA. The Australia Council for the Arts has also combined art with science through its support for Synapse Art and Science residencies, which are facilitated through the Australian Network for Art and Technology. Programs such as these reaffirm the intersection between art and science, revealing similarities in their methodologies: the capacity to observe, hypothesise, experiment and create. Universities are also beginning to tap into this trend, with the University of Western Australia establishing SymbioticA, an artistic laboratory dedicated to research, learning, critique and hands-on engagement relating to the life sciences, which includes the opportunity to study for a Masters of Biological Arts.