Art + Science Now – How scientific research and technology innovation are becoming key to 21st-century aesthetics
Art + Science Now – How scientific research and technology innovation are becoming key to 21st-century aesthetics
Stephen Wilson
In the 21st century, some of the most dynamic works of art are being produced not in the studio but in the laboratory, where artists probe cultural, philosophical and social questions connected with cutting-edge scientific and technological research. Their work ranges across disciplines – microbiology, the physical sciences, information technologies, human biology and living systems, kinetics and robotics – taking in everything from eugenics and climate change to virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Art+Science Now provides a dazzling overview of this new strand of contemporary art, showcasing the best international work produced since 2000. Featuring around 250 artists from the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, the US, Japan, Australia and elsewhere, it presents a broad range of fascinating projects, from body art to bioengineering of plants and insects, from music, dance and computer-controlled video performances to large-scale visual and sound installations, all of which challenge our assumptions about our relations with science, technology and the world around us.
Stephen Wilson, a leading authority in the field, neatly summarizes the latest scientific research for the lay reader, and supplements his text with a reading list and extensive online resources, highlighting the museums, festivals, research centres and educational programmes that support this new work. Presenting a comprehensive guide to contemporary art inspired or driven by scientific and technological innovation, Art + Science Now points to intriguing new directions for the visual arts and traces a key strand in 21st century aesthetics.
Available
2012
978-0-500-28995-2
Monography
Thames & Hudson
Stephen Wilson
Stephen Wilson is a San Francisco author, artist and professor who explores the cultural implications of new technologies. His interactive installations and performances have been shown internationally in galleries and SIGGRAPH, CHI, NCGA, Ars Electronica, and V2 art shows.
His computer mediated art works probe issues such as World Wide Web and telecommunications; artificial intelligence and robotics; hypermedia and the structure of information; GPS and the sense of place; synthetic voice; and biological and environmental sensing.
He won the Prize of Distinction in Ars Electronica’s international competitions for interactive art and several honorary mentions and in is Head of the Conceptual and Information Arts program at San Francisco State University.
He has been an artist in residence at Xerox PARC and NTT Research labs, a developer for Apple, Articulate Systems and other companies and a principal investigator in National Science Foundation research projects to investigate the relationship of new technologies to education.
Other publications include “Information Arts:Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology” (MIT Press, 2002), “World Wide Web Design Guide” (Hayden, 1995), “Multimedia Design with HyperCard” (Prentice Hall, 1991), “Using Computers to Create Art” (Prentice Hall, 1986), as well as numerous articles exploring the intersection of art.