ANTENNAE
ANTENNAE
THE JOURNAL OF NATURE
IN VISUAL CULTURE
THE JOURNAL OF NATURE IN VISUAL CULTURE
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae is a peer-reviewed, non-funded, independent, quarterly academic journal. All rights of featured content of website and PDF publication are reserved. Editor in Chief: Giovanni Aloi. 2017
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
Antennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture
At a time in which the obscurantism of political leaders and wealthy elites discredits scientific knowledge, the photographic evidence of a black hole stands as a major testament to science’s determination, drive, and ability to ask brave questions and to find answers. This accomplishment is an undeniable proof of the global collaborative spirit necessary to accomplish unthinkable feats and to envision the secret workings of the universe beyond our biological and conceptual boundaries. Unlike other images taken of more familiar celestial bodies, this image is drenched in an existentialist kind of poetic that transcends the purely scientific real. And could this image be considered art at a time in which many artists work like scientists, adopt scientific tools, language, and methodologies to produce their work? as
DOUGFOG GIOVANNIALOI GRAHAMHARMAN CAROLINEPICARD
LYNNTURNER
RONBROGLIO KATHYHIGH JESSICAULLRICH
HENRIKHÅKANSSON ANDREWYANG ERWINDRIESSENS
MARIAVERSTAPPEN
KENRINALDO MUSTAFASABBAGH CECILIANOVERO DOROTHYCROSS
ANGELASINGER
CAROL J ADAMS
SUZANNE ANKER
JONATHAN BIRTH
DOROTHY CROSS
CARSTON HOLLAR
GARY HUME
OLEG KULIG
ROSEMARYTROCCO
PAULINE OLIVERO
PETER SINGER
LOISWAINTERBER
CARY WOLFE
Sierra Adler | Gemma Anderson | Carolyn Angleton | Marnie Benney | Roberta Buiani
Helen J. Bullard Eugenia Cheng | Liz Flyntz
Jonathan Keats Aaron S. Davidson & Melissa Dubbin |Bettina Forget | Andy Gracie | Byron Rich | Alex May | Daniela de Paulis | Pei-Ying Lin | Jenny Rock | Jim Supanick | Margaret Wertheim | Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr
AND MANY MORE
ANTENNAE
THE JOURNAL OF NATURE
IN VISUAL CULTURE
ISSUE 47 — SPRING 2019
experiment
It is in this spirit that the next two issues of Antennae explore the rising interest in art and science collaborations. This project is co-edited in collaboration with American artist and philosopher Jonathon Keats whose bold experiments have raised serious questions and put into practice his conviction that the world needs more “curious amateurs,” willing to explore publicly whatever intrigues them in defiance of a culture that increasingly forecloses on wonder and silos knowledge into narrowly defined areas of expertise.
A team of scholars and artists has also helped us with the task of selecting some of the most exciting representatives of this ever-growing movement. As always, we would like to thank everyone involved in the making of this issue.
IN THIS ISSUE
Dr. GIOVANNI ALOI
Editor in Chief of AntennaeProject
34 essays and interviews
featuring key contemporary artists and scholars
329 pages
202 illustrations
ROBERTA BUIANI
p 148
p 69
p 72
They were leftover material that no longer drew the attention of the scientist and whose significance was no longer valued by the teacher. Once resuscitated as part of the artwork, they not only immediately reclaimed some long-lost qualities, but they also acquired new meanings, becoming once again part of an inclusive narrative that prolonged and enhanced their lives.
MICHAEL McCLURE: MEAT THYSELF
by Stefan Benz
This essay examines the – seemingly marginal – practice of occupying abandoned and/or neglected spaces (literally “squatting”) within university and institutional space. MORE >>
The authors argue the importance of under-standing the different forms of art and science interaction, and that precision of terminology matters for recognising respective validities and
pushing interactions further into common practice.” MORE >>
From ‘SciArt’ to
‘Art Science’
Text and Images by Jenny Rock
and Sierra Adler
Squatting for SciArt
Text and Images by Roberta Buiani
Jim Supanic explores the enlistment of the nonhuman animal as a conceptual model in the work of composer Alvin Lucier, and its vestigial presence in the installations of artist James Turrell. MORE >>
Move as Non-Human
Migrators...
By Jim Supanick
In this exclusive interview with Giovanni Aloi, Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr unpack the role played by different cultural institutions, research settings, cultural workers (artists, curators, and critics), popular media, and industry in their dealings with biotechnological artifacts. MORE >>
Oron Catts and Ionat Zurr:
Art and the Semi-Living
Giovanni Aloi interviews Oron Catts
and Ionat Zurr
An artist reflects on research-based practice, the conception of a special committee Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the privileges of working, learning, and teaching at the intersections of disciplines. MORE >>
But You Didn’t Come Here to Tell Stories!
Text and Images by Helen J. Bullard
Recent works by artists Melissa Dubbin and Aaron S. Davidson engage computing, geology and methods of forming sound. Here they present some thoughts related to their inquiries into stones, metals and data infrastructures. MORE >>
Metals Have Memory
Text and Images by Melissa Dubbin
and Aaron S. Davidson
Byron Rich and Liz Flyntz, the collaborative artist duo responsible for Epicurean Endocrinology, discuss food, gender, sex, product design, environmental degradation, and commun-icating scientific knowledge to non-professional audiences. MORE >>
Cooking Sex: Products and Porous Bodies
Marnie Benney Interviews Liz Flyntz and Byron Rich
This article situates the process of artistic enquiry within the realm of molecular biology and new biotechnological practices. Using a research-based format, the artist investigates how variegation is produced in plants and bacterium, and asks if natural biological processes can be artistically echoed, interfered with, and synthetically designed. MORE >>
In Pursuit of Variegation
Text and images by Carolyn Angleton
Jonathon Keats has founded the Reciprocal Biomimicry Initiative, a program dedicated to adapting human technologies to benefit other organisms. In this thought-provoking article followed by an interview, Keats provides original opportunties to rethink the world we live in through philosophy and science. MORE >>
Reciprocal Biomimicry
Text and images by Jonathon Keats
Pei-Ying Lin main research focuses on the combination of science and human society through artistic methods. She is particularly interested in building a common discussion ground for different cultural perspective regarding elements that construct our individual perception of the world. MORE >>
Smallpox Syndrome
Text and images by Pei-Ying Lin
Dr. Eugenia Cheng talks about the challenges and rewards involved in teaching mathematics to art students and tells us how mathematics can change the world. MORE >>
Eugenia Cheng:
The Art of Logic
By Eugenia Cheng
A unique nexus of art, science, geometry, and environmental reflection, Crochet Coral Reef is an ever-evolving archipelago of woolen instal-lations that not only emulates the structures of natural reefs but alsoenacts the evolutionary processes by which living things evolve.
Crochet Coral Reef
Giovanni Aloi Interviews Margaret Wertheim
This portfolio of work by Andy Gracie frames the notion of scientific experiment as both performative act in which anticipation and intrigue can play prominent roles, and as producer of new phenomena. MORE >>
Laboratory Life
Text and Images by Andy Gracie
Algorithmic Photography is an innovative technique developed by artist Alex May, which explores the concepts of motion and time within contemporary digital photography.
Algorithmic Photography
Text and Images by Alex May
COGITO in Space is an experiential narrative sending thoughts into outer space as radio waves. The project exists both as a mobile installation and as experiential performative event staged inside the cabin of the Dwingeloo radio telescope in The Netherlands.
COGITO in Space
Text and Images by Daniela de Paulis
What happens to the scientific process when mathematics is substituted with poetry? The German poet and amateur scientist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe did just that in his quest to formulate his own theory of colour in the book Zur Farbenlehre.
GOETHE'S COLOR THEORY:
OPTICS AND VISUAL POETRY
Text and Images by Bettina Forget
In this essay, Gemma Anderson advances an original outline of the relationship between Goethe’s concept of morphology and Klee’s art. Central to this is the atypical consideration of certain works by Paul Klee as morphological studies.
