Science-Art Interactions in Asia with Particular Reference to India - 1

Science-Art Interactions in Asia with Particular Reference to India

By Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa

Introduction:

“Life itself is a beautiful interaction between art and science. You cannot escape this reality no matter what you say or do!”

While North America, Europe and Australia are basking in the glory of new wave science-art collaborations and reaping all the benefits that these interactions are bringing, there are some parts of the world that are relatively untouched by these happenings! Asia, to which the Indian subcontinent belongs, remains almost immune to the developments happening around the world in this arena. With the exception of China, we find very few science-art projects in the region. In a coordinated study for this paper, an attempt has been made to (a) find the extent of science art interplays in Asia, (b) seek reasons for the little interest on science based art here and (c) explore ways to correct the situation.

Some interesting observations:

Science and technology are being used in Asian countries mostly as tools rather than as themes to create art [1,2,3]! Art is being used more frequently in schools as an educational aid to teach children Science in most of the countries here [4,5]. Art in the form of films and videos is also being used to propagate science knowledge among Asian communities [6]. Artists in the Asian countries where ‘science’ is being used as a theme (eg., Ecology) to create art are approaching it from a socio-economic point of view rather than dealing it as a pure subject [7,8,9]. Majority of the people who are venturing into the arena of science-art in Asia are from the field of science or artists who have scientific or technical backgrounds. Magazines and journals that are encouraging science-art and publishing articles on the subject also belong to the field of science and not art [10]!

Types of interactions noticed between science and art in Asia:

1. Creating art using Science and technology as tools(S&T assisted art) [11,12,13,14,15].

2. Creating art scientifically [16]. A few artists in the region are sensitive to the well-being of the environment and are using recycled or organic materials to create art. Some are also using eco-friendly printers, to have all their art pieces printed on recycled paper with soy-based ink [17,18,19].

3. Doing science-art (science illustrations- painting lab specimens and models in colours)[20].

4. Creating science based or inspired art (taking pure science themes and theories, connecting them to art and producing works based on them) [21,22] .

5. Scientific studies of the artistic processes [23].

6. Coming together of artists and scientists to solve some of the biggest technology development challenges in sectors such as health and the environment [24].

7. Approaching science by artists from a social point of view [25].

8. Using visual techniques like origami- paper art to teach science subjects [26].

Countries and the interactions happening in them:

In Asia, science-art interactions are mainly concentrated in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, India, UAE, Iraq and Israel. Interestingly these areas with healthy scientific backgrounds [27,28,29] are relatively high on the economic scales too in the region [30,31,32]. In other parts of Asia, except for instances of technology assisted art [33], there is no work based on pure science-art worth mentioning. As technology assisted art is ubiquitous in Asia like in the other parts of the world, I am not delving deep into the subject.

East Asia:
China: Although not as vivacious as the ones in the West, there is a vibrant activity in the Chinese science-art arena. Artists in China seem to have warmed up to the idea of science-art interactions and started working with enthusiasm to deal with projects based on the subject [34,35,36,37]. China is also conducting art-science symposia and international exhibitions regularly [38,39].TASML recently launched an International Artist Residence Program (TASML IRP) in collaboration with Institut Français, Goethe Institute (China) and Pro Helvetia which focuses on laboratory inspired artistic practice [40]. As another coordinator is discussing China’s science-art scene, I am not going deep into the details of interactions.

According to some of my Chinese artist friends the reason for these thriving science-art collaborations in China is the importance given by the Communist Government there to promoting science. The results could be seen in all areas [41] including art. An enviable economic growth combined with big art market boom in China seems to be fueling good funding mechanisms too for the artists to experiment with new tools and themes. Another important contributing factor could be artists there are more open to experimentation with Science. There is a sort of rebellion and new art movements are taking roots without any resistance in China [42].

Hong Kong’s close association with both Britain and China (a special administrative region of it) has a positive impact on its science-art sphere. A symposium was held in Hong Kong in March, 2012 during an art and science festival, titled “Art and Science Symposium – Conjunctions of Artistic and Scientific Processes” [43] Microwave International New Media Arts Festival, in partnership with the British Council, hosted a unique art-science lab exhibition ‘Laboratory Life’ by the leading UK arts agency Lighthouse recently at Hong Kong City Hall. Works by 21 international artists, scientists and doctors, which are an exploration of bioscience and the use of medical technology is the important feature of this show [44]. A show by the artist Yim Wai Wai under the categories of “Pseudo-science” and “Pseudo-myth” is worth mentioning [45].

Science art scene in Japan is similar to that of India-very little activity in the area of actual science based art and more importance is being given to tech-assisted art [46]. More over, according to some journalists, whatever science based art created there is being done in a state of confusion! [47,48]. A record of a hundred year old science-art pictures in Japan is catching the attention of the scientists in the region[49].

There is a single report of artists and scientists coming together in Korea [50].

South-East Asia:
Recently one university in Singapore has conducted residencies that dealt with science-art [51]. Science-art museum of Singapore exhibits science and tech assisted art [52]. Artists in this region are mostly dealing with sci-art from the socio-economic point of view [53,54,55].

Indonesia is the best example to quote in Asia where science and art are combining to help communities and societies. Honf foundation there works as a forum to bring artists and scientists together to solve some of Indonesia’s biggest technology development challenges in sectors such as health and the environment [56].

South Asia:
The paintings of historical scientists in a Pakistani gallery are worth seeing [57].
In India, the interactions between art and science were very poor till recently but slowly picking up momentum now. Artists here are mainly dealing with technology assisted art. Apart from me- who deals with science-literature, science based art and science-art [58], Mr. Sukant saran, a physicist turned artist, too deals with the artistic side especially patterns of the scientific objects using digital art technology and photography [59]. Dr. Sharada Srinivasan, with the support of her institute (National Institute of Advanced Studies), experiments with dance and science interplays [60,61]. Mr. Sastry of Bangalore uses Origami paper-art to teach Math [26]. Prof. Promod Rai painted a few pictures of fungal spores, chromosomes and genes copying from text books (science-art) [20]. Mr. Basant Soni creates art using organic material [17]. Ms.Aditi Kulkarni ‘s background in Physics makes her experiment with digital and installation combinations. Construction of a site-specific installation that will employ kinetic sculpture, photography and moving images to create an immersive sensory experience is her specialization [62,63].

ViswaBharatiUniversity(West Bengal) –started by Rabindranath Tagore-is about to start music with science course from next year [64].

Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology’s (CCMB, Hyderabad) ex-director, Mr. PM Bhargava’s interest in art made him invite artists to do works on his campus. They have a big collection of art works now [65]. They had an artist-in-residence programme too when Mr. Bhargava was the director of CCMB [66].But when you see the CCMB art work display you will notice that after the interactions with the scientists not one artist created works based on science on its campus! [67] When I tried to find out the reasons for the same, I drew a blank because both scientists and artists I contacted couldn’t pin point them! The same situation is true for other encounters between artists and scientists in India. For example artists have been visiting Vikram Sarabhai space centre in Ahmedabad during art festivals organized there [68]. But these visits by artists to the science centers are not leading to any significant outcomes!

SrishtiSchool of arts (Bangalore) says it too deals with science-art but after checking their work, you get the idea that they deal mostly with science and technology assisted art like media art rather than pure science art [69]. Their ‘sci-art project’ looks like a high school science project rather than a science-art one [70]. One or two young artists in India are also trying to create science related art [71] but it is too insignificant to add here.

This aspect of science not inspiring the world of art in India is really startling. Because, the Central Government in India too gives top priority like the Chinese Government to promote Science education here. But still the results are not the same! The main reasons for the situation described above will be dealt with after mentioning about the interactions in other regions of Asia.

West Asia:
There seems to be an interesting interplay between science, art and literature in the West Asian region in the earlier centuries [72]. However, there is no strong evidence of this continuing into the present times as art and literature works based on science are very scarce. The tastes and the expectations in this part of Asia might have changed now. My Arabic artist friends analyzed the reasons for the same in this way: Artists in the West Asian region experiment with a variety of techniques and styles that have roots in their cultures irrespective of the current international trends. Recent rise in religious fundamentalism that gives more prominence to religion and culture based on it is one of the main causes for this decline in interest in science. Present day artists in West Asia really have no choice as Science as a subject has less prominence than other themes of art there. However, some rebellious young generation artists are trying to come out of the shadows of these fundamentalists and are experimenting with science. They already have a young, enthusiastic, US-returned Iraqi, Mr. Bilal Ghalib, who started some steam projects in the region [73]. We will have to wait and watch to know how much these youngsters will succeed. Two positive aspects that can be observed in this region are: (a) schools in this region – especially in UAE – are trying to keep old traditions of science-art interactions alive [74,75] (2) science-art work from socio-ecological view point is thriving here too [76]. Taking old junk accumulated over the years, and then turning it into sculptures using the engineering, design skills and imagination is one example.

Israel: The closeness between the US and Israel seems to have affected positively the science-art scene of Israel as it has a sound science-art interaction arena [77]. Some important examples: art obtained from sci- photos [78], science-art interactions in schools [79], hosting science-art exhibitions of artists from other areas of the world [80] and Israeli sci-artists participating in the shows in the US. An Israeli university is providing an MA course in Art Therapy [81].