Artscience Problem Solvers Take On World Issues
How to Move Outside the Square and Save the Planet
Aug 23, 2008
World dilemmas--from economic disparities to protecting ecosystems--may require approaches that combine elements of what are traditionally thought of as arts and sciences. This article provides examples of individuals who have crossed such boundaries and made a difference.
While there are cultural and institutional barriers to problem-solving across disciplines, arts and sciences do have some things in common. In the book Are Angels OK? (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2006), editors Paul Callaghan and Bill Manhire consider grounds for the publication's collaboration between New Zealand writers and physicists. What the two groups share includes a belief in imagaination and inspiration; an understanding of the power of words (scientists are frequently called on to adapt language to describe what they see); and an appreciation of paradox and contradiction. Then there is the use of metaphor and analogy as "a bridge between unknown and familiar".
David Edwards in his book Artscience (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008) distinguishes between arts and sciences being used in symbiosis, to support each other, and a genuine blending of the two approaches to solve problems. An example of support would be in a dance studio, where the "technological servant" science is used to design bone-friendly training surfaces for dancers. In a science centre art can become a "communication service", used to translate mathematical equations and their implications to ordinary people.
Breaking Barriers
Examples of a closer blend of art and science provided by Edwards include:
- The work of Don Ingber, who adapted the "tensegrity structure" discovered by architect Buckminster Fuller and sculptor Kenneth Snelson to cell biochemistry. Ingber's work bolstered the theory that scientific chemistry and mechanics influence each other, and has had implications for cancer research.
- Anne Goldfield (known for research and practical work on AIDS and tuberculosis), with colleagues from Amnesty International wrote "the first peer-reviewed article in medical literature on how to document physical and psychological signs of torture".
- The political career of mathematician and philosopher Antanas Mockus. As mayor of Bogota, Colombia in the 1990s, Mockus reduced reliance on technological solutions to crime such as surveillance instruments. Replacing poliice officers with street mimes, marking murder locations with stars and adopting other unorthodox techniques, Mockus made a significant contribution to lowering the number of homicides in the South American city.
Edwards documents the tenacity required of artscience pioneers, who typically must pursue their ideas through study outside home disciplines, and test them in the face of significant resistance from colleagues.
"Constrained creativity" is Callaghan's description of the environment in which both artists and scientists work. Both need to be aware of context and history, but are determined to produce an original contribution to the artform or body of knowledge. Edwards' work on artscience offers fresh insights on how to remove the obstacles posed by culture and institutions to innovations that could make a social difference.
The Suite 101 article Creative Answers to Global Issues provides more context for the argument that complex problems may be best dealt with using processes that combine science and the arts.
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