Art In Science Museums

Art in Science Museums brings together perspectives from different practitioners to reflect on the status and meaning of art programmes in science centres and museums around the world. Presenting a balanced mix of theoretical perspectives, practitioners’ reflections, and case-studies, this volume gives voice to a wide range of professionals, from traditional science centres and museums, and from institutions born with the very aim of merging art and science practices. Considering the role of art in the field of science engagement, the book questions whether the arts might help curators to convey complex messages, foster a more open and personal approach to scientific issues, become tools of inclusion, and allow for the production of totally new cultural products. The book also includes a rich collection of projects from all over the world, synthetically presenting cases that reveal very different approaches to the inclusion of art in science programmes. Art in Science Museums should be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students working in the fields of museum studies, cultural heritage management, material culture, science communication and contemporary art. It should also be essential reading for museum professionals looking to promote more reflective social science engagement in their institutions.

The Art of Science presents the best of Museum Victoria’s remarkable collection of natural history artworks, currently on a national touring exhibition of the same name. Based on the museum’s collection of rare books, field sketches, art works and taxonomic studies, the book features some of the most exquisite, rare and important illustrations of flora and fauna ever created. In addition to the artworks, which tell a story of exploration, discovery, painstaking research and documentation, the book also traces the lives, curiosities and observations of the artists and explorers, whom throughout history often worked against the odds to gather and record. The Art of Science is a unique collection of exquisite images that will enrich our understanding of the history of art and science, the natural world, and the miracle of human perception.

A provocative call for the transformation of science museums into "idea colliders" that spark creative collaborations and connections. Today's science museums descend from the Kunst-und Wunderkammern of the Renaissance--collectors' private cabinets of curiosities--through the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851 to today's "interactive" exhibits promising educational fun. In this book, Michael John Gorman issues a provocative call for the transformation of science museums and science centers from institutions dedicated to the transmission of cultural capital to dynamic "idea colliders" that spark creative collaborations and connections. This new kind of science museum would not stage structured tableaux of science facts but would draw scientists into conversation with artists, designers, policymakers, and the public. Rather than insulating visitors from each other with apps and audio guides, the science museum would consider each visitor a resource, bringing questions, ideas, and experiences from a unique perspective.

A provocative call for the transformation of science museums into “idea colliders” that spark creative collaborations and connections. Today's science museums descend from the Kunst-und Wunderkammern of the Renaissance—collectors' private cabinets of curiosities—through the Crystal Palace exhibition of 1851 to today's “interactive” exhibits promising educational fun. In this book, Michael John Gorman issues a provocative call for the transformation of science museums and science centers from institutions dedicated to the transmission of cultural capital to dynamic “idea colliders” that spark creative collaborations and connections. This new kind of science museum would not stage structured tableaux of science facts but would draw scientists into conversation with artists, designers, policymakers, and the public. Rather than insulating visitors from each other with apps and audio guides, the science museum would consider each visitor a resource, bringing questions, ideas, and experiences from a unique perspective. Gorman, founder of the trailblazing Science Gallery, describes three scenarios for science museums of the future—the Megamuseum Mall, “the Cirque de Soleil of the science museum world”; the Cloud Chamber, a local space for conversations and co-creation; and the invisible museum, digital device-driven informal science learning. He discusses hybrids that experiment with science and art and science galleries that engage with current research, encouraging connection, participation and surprise. Finally, he identifies ten key shifts in the evolution of science museums, including those from large to small, from interactive to participatory, from enclosed to porous, and from subject-specific to cross-disciplinary.

Based on the landmark Radio 4 series, this beautifully illustrated modern history of the connections between science and art offers a new perspective on what that relationship has contributed to the world around us. __________ Throughout history, artists and scientists have been driven by curiosity and the desire to experiment. Both have wanted to make sense of the world around them, often to change it, sometimes working closely together, certainly taking inspiration from each other's disciplines. The relationship between the two has traditionally been perceived as one of love and hate, fascination and revulsion, symbiotic but antagonistic. But art is crucial to helping us understand our science legacy and science is well served by applying an artistic lens. How exactly has the ingenuity of science and technology been incorporated into artistic expression? And how has creative practice, in turn, stimulated innovation and technological change? The Art of Innovation is a history of the past 250 years viewed through the disciplines of art and science. Through fascinating stories that explore the sometimes unexpected relationships between famous artworks and significant scientific and technological objects - from Constable's cloudscapes and the chemist who first measured changes in air pressure, to the introduction of photography and the representation of natural history in print - it offers a new way of seeing, studying and interpreting the extraordinary world around us.

This book explores―at the macro, meso and micro levels and in terms of qualitative as well as quantitative studies―the current and future role of museums for art and society. Given the dynamic developments in art and society, museums need to change in order to remain (and in some ways, regain) relevance. This relevance is in the sense of a power to influence. Additionally museums have challenges that arise in the production of art through the use of permanent and rapidly changing technologies. This book examines how museums deal with the increasing importance of performance art and social interactive art, artistic disciplines which refuse to use classical or digital artistic media in their artistic processes. The book also observes how museums are adapting in the digital age. It addresses such questions as, “How to keep museums in contact with recipients of art in a world in which the patterns of communication and perception have changed dramatically,” and also “Can the art museum, as a real place, be a counterpart in a virtualized and digitalized society or will museums need to virtualize and even globalize themselves virtually?” Chapters also cover topics such as the merits of digital technologies in museums and how visitors perceive these changes and innovations. When you go back to the etymological origin, the Mouseion of Alexandria, it was a place where – supported by the knowledge stored there – art and science were developed: a place of interdisciplinary research and networking, as you would call it today. The word from the Ancient Hellenic language for museum (ΜΟΥΣΕΙΟΝ) means the “house of the muses”: where the arts and sciences find their berth and cradle. With the “Wunderkammer,” the museum was re-invented as a place for amazing for purpose of representation of dynastic power, followed by the establishment of museums as a demonstration of bourgeois self-consciousness. In the twentieth century, the ideal of the museum as an institution for education received a strong boost, before the museum as a tourism infrastructure became more and more the institutional, economic and political role-model. This book is interested in discovering what is next for museums and how these developments will affect art and society. Each of the chapters are written by academics in the field, but also by curators and directors of major museums and art institutions.

The tension between art and science may be traced back to the Greeks. What became "natural philosophy" and later "science" has traditionally been posed as a fundamental alternative to poetry and art. It is a theme that has commanded central attention in Western thought, as it captures the ancient conflict of Apollo and Dionysus over what deserves to order our thought and serve as the aspiration of our cultural efforts. The modern schi sm between art and science was again clearly articulated in the Romantic period and seemingly grew to a crescendo fifty years aga as a result of the debate concerning atomic power. The discussion has not abated in the physical sciences, and in fact has dramatically expanded most prominently into the domains of ecology and medicine. Issues concerning the role of science in modern society, although heavily political, must be regarded at heart as deeply embedded in our cultural values. Although each generation addresses them anew, the philosophical problems which lay at the foundation of these fundamental concerns always appear fresh and difficult. This anthology of original essays considers how science might have a greater commonality with art than was perhaps realized in a more positivist era. The contributors are concerned with how the aesthetic participates in science, both as a factor in constructing theory and influencing practice. The collec tion is thus no less than a spectrum of how Beauty and Science might be regarded through the same prism.

Examines how scientific objects in museums and other collections act as inspiration to contemporary art practice, its histories, curating and aesthetics. Cross-disciplinary essays from leading arts professionals explore how scientific encounters in museums provoke new modes of creative thinkingabout art, science and curating. 84 col. illus.