Abstract

Representation, Visualization, Art and Science

Annette Barbier

As basic science advances and new technologies become available, artists grapple with their meaning and impact. These new developments are rarely unrelated; many of them exist in the realm of what Larry Smarr in a Wired article refers to as “bioinfonanotech”. Artists frequently comment and raise questions using the new materials and processes, creating work which engages with processes rather than merely representing ideas. This paper will address some issues raised by new technologies: issues for the arts as well as for our culture. These include a suggestion that we are in the midst of a movement from virtual to embodied, from representation to engagement. But embodiment is belied by the fact that our senses are increasingly incapable of direct perception of some of the most fundamental discoveries such as nanoscale phenomena. However, amplified and mediated senses allow us to discover patterns at the nanoscale that are eerily similar in structure to those at the human scale, both structures that occur naturally and those that are human-made. What are the implications of these similarities? The paper also addresses the (visual) representations made by scientists of their work, and how these differ in context and intention from representations by artists. Finally, a discussion of the corporate nature of scientific discovery and how this ownership becomes evident in visual representations.