Interaction – Science and Art: Divergence and Convergence

Art and science are generally found to be the highest intellectual accomplishments. Creativeness, vision and abstraction are typical for both the artist and the scientist. Both of them are motivated by the desire for knowledge, so that they should belong to the same type. Many consider that works of " art " (derives from the Latin word " to fit, to put together "), should be appreciated for their intrinsic value or their innovative vision of the world. In the past, art served religion, magnified the power of patrons, and reflected skills aimed at producing elegant objects. Nowadays it is used for self-expression, and even as therapy. When it comes to the word " science " (derives from Latin word for " to know "), most dictionaries offer a description which seems, at first glance, quite obvious. Science is the knowledge of the law of nature. In other words, it embodies all studies which carry a universal meaning and which are pursued by research methods based on objective and verifiable facts. Since science and art come from what are thought to be opposite ends of the spectrum of human understanding, there seems to be an added energy released when they embrace. Whatever the reason, it is temting to conclude that contemporary science and art have found gaps in each other that require filling. The outcome of both science and art have then recently gained from the seemingly unlikely interaction of paintbrush and test-tube. The uses that arts have for science are possibly easier to identify. Any number of scientific tools has been employed as potentially rich new aesthetic techniques for the visualization of ideas and phenomena. Specific scientific findings have frequently thrown up challenging new ways of thinking about the world and our place in it, ripe for artistic interpretation. Now if some art can benefit from science might the opposite be true too? The world of science can gain in many different ways from the arts, bringing new perspectives and insights. What science can learn from art is building a more engaged relationship with the public. Art can provide unique, and often unpredictable, viewpoints from which to marvel or decry, inspect or challenge scientific ideas and assumptions – in their words, a rather a different pair of glasses through which to undertand science. Scientists and artists are each trying to make maps of the world, and of our place …