Work by Tim Lewis, Kinetica Art Fair

 

This past weekend, the Kinetica Museum hosted the Kintetica Art Fair in London. The fair was a thematic melting pot, mixing science and the arts, and featured exhibits from a variety of art organizations. The range of works on display was vast, including everything from robotics to light displays. The production of events like the Kinetica Art Fair truly speaks to the growing relationship between science and the arts. The gap between the two fields has been greatly narrowed by the internet in recent decades, as artists have been able to use the web as a platform to launch ideas and promote themselves, but the relationship has much deeper ties. Exhibitors at the art fair use technology as a medium—an idea that is quite complicated (and sometimes controversial), as the further merging of these concepts blurs the mysterious defining lines of “art.” At what point does something move from “design” to “art”? Should the two even to be counted as separate ideas? I have opinions about this, but I have to admit that they’re framed heavily by my personal tastes. In general I have one rule about defining “art”:

art = perception ± intention

With this logic, a great deal of what can be viewed as “art” lies in the hands of the viewer.

The art/science relationship isn’t limited to mechanics and technology. Kinetica Art Fair exhibitor, Anna Dumitriu, incorporates biology into her work. Dumitriu has worked with several institutions that highlight the scientific arts, including the Science Museum in London, Wellcome Trust, and her directorship at The Institute of Unnecessary Research.

"Communicating Bacteria," Experiments with Chromobacterium violaceum, Simon Park

In her current project with the Wellcome Trust, “Communicating Bacteria,” Dumitriu is working with Dr. Simon Park and Dr. John Paul to research bacterial communication. The project includes live bacteria, textiles, and video projections, and is based on the communication patterns of bacteria (which are apparently quite social). The Institute of Unnecessary Research explains a little more,

Dumitriu will work using this new area of research as a basis for the development of a body of new work that will include textile designs with dyes made from bacteria that change colour dependent on the behaviour and communication of bacteria, crochet patterns based on bacterial responses, interactive interventions that are modelled according to the behaviour and communication across bacteria.

The project is an interesting way of highlighting nature’s inherent artistry. In this way, the bacteria collaborate with the artists to produce the final result. Partnerships like these between science and art should influence the way that we talk about art as a concept.

Perhaps a Dada-esque revolution is waiting around the corner…

Work by Carlo Bernardini, Kinetica Art Fair

Work by Dianne Harris, Kinetica Art Fair