Short articles on the connections between Art, Science and Consciousness – thoughts on possibilities; exploring imagined futures; contemplations.
“This letter was sent to Dr Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain, on 6 December 2014. Although addressing what I see as problems with that particular gallery display, I believe the issues raised have a much wider application, not only in the visual arts but in a wider cultural setting. And I believe they are of profound importance”. Garry Kennard
QUESTION: How do you think future explorations into the mind/body relationship should go, from both the art and sciences? And how do you see any future interactions between these disciplines taking place to further our understanding?
“Most people think of evolution in physical Darwinian terms, from the perspective of the evolution of species. My purpose in this paper is to show evolution in a different light, from the perspective of the evolution of human consciousness.” – Richard Barrett is an author, speaker and internationally recognised thought leader on the evolution of human values in business and society
Light is fundamental. Its properties have been explored and used by both art and science (for example, Einstein’s ‘thought experiment’, James Turrell’s artworks, ‘Big Bang’ theory, laser technology, altering perception and changing brain behaviour).
What is YOUR VISION for the future exploration and use of light?
“Poets help us discover within ourselves such joy in looking that sometimes, in the presence of a perfectly familiar object, we experience an extension of our intimate space”. According to the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, inside and outside form a dialectics of division. Yet, despite their mutual resistance, Bachelard argues that both inside and outside depend upon one another for the sake of preserving their identities and that aesthetic experiences and “escapades of imagination” prompts a revision of the boundaries of inside and outside.
For the first time, an author with peer-reviewed published work in neuroscience, comparative religion, theoretical biology and many facets of cognitive science takes on the Big Issues of science and religion, as well as the current paralysis in real innovation. Seán Ó Nualláin’s latest book, One Magisterium, is here reviewed by the eminent scientist and thinker, Stuart Kauffman.
The exotic forms and colours of the plant world and the way in which they migrate into every aspect of our lives has been a source of inspiration throughout Rob Kesseler’s artistic career. Here he discusses the possible convergent territories of art and science, and a definition of art for scientists.
Creationism and Scientism appear to disagree on almost everything but, as B Alan Wallace examines, they share much more in common than either group would like to admit.
On a bright, still December day author, artist and poet, John Moat, meditates on the connection sea, streams and fountain have with the Imagination and the Sacred… and much more.
If the imagination is to transcend and transform experience it has to question, to challenge, to conceive of alternatives. Eco-poet, Helen Moore, provides a glimpse of a change of thinking that points to us visioning a new ecological age… to be continued in a future issue.