CSM MA Art and Science Show 2024 (installation shot)

Humans are highly visual animals, we often think in pictures. When dreaming, we certainly do. From cave paintings to the computer, the visual image has assisted the human race in describing, classifying, ordering, analysing and ultimately reaching a greater understanding of the world. Images trigger an internal response, where the viewer transforms the static image into an intellectual or an emotional experience. Our ability to read visual images demonstrates our power to think in the abstract. If we look at their processes, art and science share many common grounds – observation, speculation, experimentation, visualization and the presentation of experience in particular modes – and the visual more often than not plays a central role.

Critical theorists would claim that there are cultural and philosophical reasons underpinning the coincidence in imagery in both science and art. When there are changes to cultural and political perspectives, it may be of no surprise that ways of analysing and representing the world reflect these new cultural stances.

Since the early 1990’s there has been a gradual increase in artists engaging with science, either directly or indirectly. Traditionally, this relationship has been regarded as art in the service of science, whereby artists use their skills to visually communicate and illustrate complex scientific ideas. However, a hybrid form of collaborative, experimentally driven practice has emerged over the last 30 years, where artists and scientists work closely together to explore the creative possibilities and speculative futures represented by the intersection of these two ‘cultures.’

The MA Art and Science at University of Arts, London is a pioneering course that explores the creative relationships at the intersection of art and science in their broadest forms, examined through an evolving interdisciplinary practice. Questioning established forms of knowledge construction, the course considers interdisciplinarity, co-creation, and knowledge-sharing as inextricable to the imagining of possible futures, bringing together a diverse group of students from different disciplinary and cultural backgrounds. The course structure encourages students to interrogate contemporary and historical systems of knowledge from both art and science contexts, emphasising critical and creative investigation, research and analysis, experimentation and peer exchange.

The MA Art and Science Post-Graduate final show took place on 25th-30th June 2024. Subjects explored include, among other things, biodiversity, ecology and environments; feminism, body transformation and cyberpunk art; cosmologies; biosonification; explorations of identity and extensions of self; interspecies communication; fashion and installation art.

Students exhibiting were XiaoXia Chen, Sam Milan Hewitt, Rowan elsie storm Affleck, Fawziyah Rahman, Jiali Dong, Weiyi Fan, Charlotte Bassadone, Silvina Maestro, Tavershima Vende-Hanongon, Katreena Dee, Junyu Qian, Di Liu, Morenike Caxton-Martins, Juliet Williams, Qinqian Li, Wanbo (Ember) Li, NeoMeta / Julia Shu, Elena Vittoria Bevilacqua, Gus(ki) Robins[], Bunmi Musa-Moses, Zhuoer He, Laura Madeley, Michaelle (LadyM) St Vincent, Poojan Gupta and Jane Scobie.

CSM MA Art and Science Show 2024 (installation shot)

The Symposium associated with the show took place on Friday 28^th June 2024. Introduced by Mia Taylor, Course Leader for MA Art and Science, the symposium was chaired by Gus Robins and Sam Milan Hewitt. Speakers included Jane Scobie, Laura Madeley, Juliet Williams, Poojan Gupta, Bunmi Musa-Moses, Silvana Maestro, Fawziyah Rahman, Sam Milan Hewitt, NeoMeta / Julia Shu, Michaelle (LadyM) St Vincent, Elena Vittoria Bevilacqua, Yuting, Liu, Gus Robins and Wanbo (Ember) Li.

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Some examples of post-graduate student work from the show.

Morenike Caxton-Martins

Arise (2024)
Photograph edited in Photoshop of:
Background (red/white highlights): Soap ground etching of pressed fruit (Starfruit, Medium Papaya, rotted Agbalumo (West African Star Apple) and Coconuts on polished zinc (metal)
UV printed (edited) childhood photograph on Photoshop wearing Gele (headpiece) and patterned Iro Buba (Nigerian traditional attire)
Ripe Starfruit and Agbalumo (composition inspired by childhood secret electronic journal- other inspirations include the raffia carpet in my room in Lagos and village houses) on polished zinc (metal)
30.5 x 22.7cm

“My practice is founded in introspective explorations and extensions of self. As a Nigerian diasporan residing in England, my journey of self-discovery includes the complexities of finding my own path while also preserving physical and emotional proximity to home (Lagos, Nigeria). I connect to my heritage through portraiture (of myself and my family) in order to navigate the space that is created by my distance from home. This path is marked by distinct childhood memories which now constitute the very fibres of my being. The fruits and flavours which hold memories from my formative years, reappear as the focus of my interrogation.

Through casting, printing and photography, I explore the physical nature of traditional Nigerian fruits. I examine texture, colour, materiality and sensory qualities. These investigations propagate new forms and representations while also unlocking, recalling and locating childhood memories. The ability of this organic matter to locate such complex emotions makes it central to my process – how do I extract from and infuse the fruit metaphorically and tangibly. My aim is to reclaim, capture and translate these moments which stand out in my subconscious.”

Jane Scobie

Ear of the Sea and other Stories (2024)
My ‘tentacle’groups are inspired by the tube feet, spines and pincers of marine invertebrates. The fabrics used are printed with enlarged microscopic images of ‘ocean natives’ – forms of life living in the sea. The sculptures are filled with sand, seaweed and recycled wool.

Jane Scobie is a sculptor working on environmental issues, her research areas include biodiversity, extraction and ocean literacy.

“This project responds to my experience of flooding and dune erosion in Norfolk and my research into the marine biology and nature-based solutions to climate breakdown. Storms wash up hundreds of starfish, sea urchins and piles of lemony horn wrack. In my installation a large willow sculpture –The Ear of the Sea hovers above the space communicating with groups of tentacles, larval forms and visitors. Through audio you can hear the chorus of sea urchins recorded at dusk. Our understanding of the sea is accelerating at an unprecedented pace and I imagine a language between human and non-human agents. This work is accompanied by a spoken word performance Strandline Deposition.”

XiaoXia Chen

Cyber Fertility

XiaoXia Chen is a cross-media artist whose main direction is to create with painting, digital art and multimedia interactive art, focussing on feminism, cyberpunk art, cosmic art, biological art and some immersive experience creation.

“In this project, I am drawing abstract illustration and making digital film to present some breakthroughs of women in the cyberpunk world that I envisioned. These breakthroughs involve the transfor- mation of the body, as well as the challenge to the long- standing issues of female collective spiritual suppression, brainwashing, fertility pressure and objectification of women in the traditional patriarchal society of China. At the same time, I also explored the possible futuristic visions in my future works.”

Silvina Maestro

Spheres of Love

Silvina is an interdisciplinary artist and researcher working at the intersection of art, science and philosophy. Her art practice incorporates elements from philosophy on themes of scientific theory creation, aesthetics and representation in science and art. She has a background in philosophy of science, literature, art and design.

“Spheres of Love is inspired by the images of black holes, Messier 87* and Sagitarius A*, released by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, executed in sculpture as a geometrical abstraction. Building on previous works on black holes, this piece incorporates new elements of colour and polarization patterns.”

NeoMeta* / Julia Shu

MetaLife: Return to Oneness

NeoMeta* / Julia Shu is a transdisciplinary multimedia artist and experimental researcher. Learning from, with and for nature, my works lie at the intersection of art and science, nature and technology and aim to create multisensory, universal metaphors that reconnect human and non-human beings to find the balance in-between and nurture a harmonious multi-species world.

“‘MetaLife: Return to Oneness’ is a speculative visual metaphor on the potential trajectories of our collective evolution, fostering empathy towards a balanced existence for all beings. Through its exploration of interspecies communication and the symbiotic relationship between living and non-living nonhuman, this work offers to redefine our interaction with/in ecosystems. Can our sustainability efforts withstand the test of time? How do technological advancements redefine our interaction with natural ecosystems? Combining found & discarded fossils, living and non-living into a multi-layered installation with sound, microscopy and media art, ‘MetaLife’ offers to rethink our relationship with the natural world and envision a harmonious ecosystem where coexistence and collaboration thrive.”

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Further Post-Graduate work can be found here

https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/fine-art/postgraduate/ma-art-and-science-csm

Art, Creativity, Education, Installation, Science, Technology