Make unseen seen: SciArt as a tool to interlink science and art

Abstract

Art and Science are usually thought to be opposite to each other, with their own separate history, philosophy and practices. But if we investigate deeply both faculty, they have much deeper connections that have intrigued philosophers, artists, scientists and laymen through centuries. Philosophically oriented literature highlights many similarities between art and science, such as a shared need to understand the world we live in and both need the same kind of creativity and innovation. These connections have not been investigated experimentally with artists, who have a strong intrested for science. The hypothesis or research question for this thesis is: Can these mutual similarities be experienced and found by making art from scientific topics?

Art inspired by the world of science is called SciArt (ScienceArt) and is the artistic trend applied in this research. This original art trend has been gaining popularity over the last few decades, is relatively well known globally and is a perfect context for experiencing art and science at the same time. SciArt is used widely in science education, and one well-known subcategory, scientific illustration, has existed for several centuries already.

For this research, a SciArt workshop was conducted that concentrated on scientific topics in microscopy physics, where participants practised art-based methods in the context of science and experienced both art-making and learning scientific phenomena at the same time. Qualitative nature art-based research and action-based art research methods were used in the analysis part. Participants, who were art students, experienced this deeper connection between Art and Science, and they also found common factors between both professions, artists and scientists.

Results from this thesis can be exploited in many ways. To develop SciArt workshops for different uses, such as galleries; for educational purposes, from elementary schools to universities, to teach scientific illustrations; and to promote science and art or SciArt itself.