Dr Pamela Whitaker is an art therapist living in Ireland who practices under the name of Groundswell, a social enterprise working in the areas of art therapy, art and participation, environmental arts, and arts and health. She has written ‘Groundswell: The Nature and Landscape of Art Therapy in Materials and Media in Art Therapy’ (edited by Catherine Hyland Moon) and ‘The Art Therapy Assemblage in Art Therapy and Postmodernism’ (edited by Helene Burt).
Philip F. Palmedo studied art history and physics as an undergraduate at Williams College, and received his PhD in nuclear engineering from MIT. He carried out nuclear reactor physics research at the French nuclear laboratory at Saclay and at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He then initiated and headed the International Resources Group and the Long Island Research Institute. He has written extensively in many areas, including several books on modern sculpture. His most recent book is ‘Deep Affinities: Art and Science’, on which this article is based.
The lead author’s experience with AICAN and other art and artificial intelligence projects at Rutgers University has inspired the thought that the art world finds itself in a period of discovery and experimentation similar to that leading up to the original Renaissance. As artists navigate this new territory, there is hence much “flailing about”, but it can nonetheless be argued that there will soon enough emerge one or more techno/new media art schools of evident confidence and inspiration. The authors conclude by venturing an informed opinion as to a preferred course for future creative engagement with the emerging machine intelligence.
A global disaster might occur sooner than we ever could have anticipated. What will happen afterwards, no one knows. But in the art project ‘Universitas’, a veil is lifted. ‘Universitas’ explores what’s possible when creativity meets science and ecology.
Lynne Goldsmith’s first book, ‘Secondary Cicatrices’, won the 2018 Halcyon Poetry Prize, was a 2019 Finalist in the American Book Fest Awards, a 2020 Human Relations Indie Book Award Gold Winner and won a new Finalist Award in the International Book Awards. Her poetry has been published in Backchannels Journal, Spillway, Thimble Literary Magazine, Environmental Magazine, Red Planet Magazine, among others, with upcoming poems in Tiny Seed Literary Journal and Scotland’s 2020 Geopoetry Conference program. Her poetry book ‘Secondary Cicatrices’ recently won a Book Excellence Finalist Award.
Joshua Burraway is a medical anthropologist working at the intersection between social and political theory, cultural phenomenology, addiction medicine, and psychiatry. He is interested in how historical and structural forces shape different modes of subjectivity, in particular with regards to altered states of consciousness induced by psychoactive chemicals among homeless substance-users. ‘The Black Stuff’ and ‘The Sill’ are recent short stories he has written.
This is an article about land art that constructs habitats of refuge or survival shelters. The art of constructing forest sanctuaries, as a form of social media, is a resourcing of found materials transformed into personal and social places of significance. Amidst COVID-19 restrictions, nature became everyone’s place to be and public parks were an essential commonplace for combining and finding a place apart to come together. What emerged in the forests of Phoenix Park, Dublin was the construction of landmarks for protection and solace. As bushcraft and public artforms, these dens act as declarations of personal security and social constructions, occupying both a boundary and an invitation. They are landmarks for solitary pursuits and social encounters—transformative locations for introspection and the communal sharing of a forest.
Michelle Hunter’s ‘Brain Series’ deconstructs familiar themes related to how our brains function and is meant to help the general public gain a greater appreciation for this organ we don’t usually “think” about. Using a painterly technique, the artist transforms everyday objects with a subtle unexpected surreal approach.
Danial Arabali is an Iranian-German artist and Engineer. In one series of his ‘NeuroArt’ paintings, he takes a look at the neuronal networks from a more artistic point of view rather than realistic representations of existing structures, while in another series he attempts to apply the modern color theory concepts of expressionist German artists to visualize the beauty of neuronal connections in a more abstract manner.
Katharine Dowson’s inspiration comes from nature, medicine and the scientific world as she often collaborates with scientists as part of her artistic practice. These include researchers investigating genetics, dyslexia and Parkinson’s disease, producing intricate casts of her own heart and brain from MRI scans. Her sculptures are made in various media but especially transparent materials and glass, which she uses as a metaphor for a membrane, a fragile yet robust skin that allows light to pass through and reveal the hidden interior within.