Skip to main content

The SciArt Buzz

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Hey, yo, happy 2012! This edition of the SciArt Buzz features bacterial rocket science among other fascinating shows of intelligence. Get out there and enjoy some science art!

SCIART LECTURES/EVENTS**NEW**San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (San Francisco, CA): Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, 6-8pm | Opening Reception for Vast and Undetectable | This exhibition explores space that is either so large or so small we cannot conceive of it with our known processes of sight and comprehension. We have to invent systems and vernaculars (from physics to astronomy to science fiction to visual art) to be able to talk about these spaces. The artists in the show, from Jonathon Keat’s founding a Microbial Academy of Sciences for cyanobacteria to Heather Sparks’ lenticular photograph of pixelated scans of her own skin, are establishing systems dedicated to measuring and positing what exactly these kinds of space look like, how they behave and how they affect our daily lives. Additionally the artists strive to comprehend how time passes within these spaces and how objects move within them.**NEW**Cafritz Arts Center at Montgomery College (Takoma Park, MD): Thursday, Feb. 9, 2012, 6-8pm | Opening Reception for Our Small Rooms: Michelle Banks and Kendall Nordin | Two D.C. artists, Michele Banks and Kendall Nordin, focus on the delicacy and complexity of autonomic cellular processes: Banks through jewel-toned watercolors, and Nordin via a site-specific mixed-media installation.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (online & Philadelphia, PA) | Audubon Bird of the Day | Every Weekday at 3:15 pm, visitors can come into the Library to watch the daily page turning of John James Audubon's masterwork The Birds of America. Published from 1827–1838, this monumental work is arguably the most influential book on birds ever created. A prized holding in the Academy Library's extensive rare books collection, this Double Elephant Folio Edition contains 435 life-sized hand-colored engravings bound into five volumes. Less than half of the 200 original sets survive. This is one of them. Scans of the plates can also be seen on the Academy's blog.


On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.


Donate to Palaces | Here's a unique opportunity: Gina Czarnecki, a UK-based artist, is teaming up with the Tooth Fairy to create a palace of teeth. She's requesting donations from the public to make this artwork happen. In her words: "The Palace will grow over time like a cluster of stalagmites or coral, to form a fantastical palace-like structure made of thousands of milk teeth."

SCIART EXHIBITS**LAST CHANCE**The Bellarmine Museum of Art (Fairfield, CT): Oct. 21, 2011 - Jan. 20, 2012 | James Prosek: Un-Natural History | Artist, writer, and activist James Prosek made his authorial debut at age nineteen with Trout: an Illustrated History (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996). This work established his reputation as a naturalist as well as a gifted artist, whose remarkably detailed watercolors reflect a seemingly boundless depth of talent. Prosek's paintings range from the compellingly realistic to the inventively fanciful. Prosek's work as both an artist and writer is marked by a critical probing of accepted taxonomies and naming conventions. He is particularly interested in exploring the ways in which language not only serves to organize the world around us, but also to reify extant hierarchies, thus fostering a sense of a “natural” order of things; an order that is, in fact, entirely illusory. The exhibit will include Prosek's captivating watercolors that illustrate these and other novel classificatory schemae as well as the artist's whimsical hybrid creatures, including Cockatool and Parrotfishe. Not going to be in CT before the close? Download the exhibition catalog.**NEW**Cafritz Arts Center at Montgomery College (Takoma Park, MD): Jan. 12- Mar. 9, 2012 | Our Small Rooms: Michelle Banks and Kendall Nordin | Two D.C. artists, Michele Banks and Kendall Nordin, focus on the delicacy and complexity of autonomic cellular processes: Banks through jewel-toned watercolors, and Nordin via a site-specific mixed-media installation.**NEW**San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery (San Francisco, CA): Jan. 20, 2012 - Apr. 14, 2012 | Vast and Undetectable | This exhibition explores space that is either so large or so small we cannot conceive of it with our known processes of sight and comprehension. We have to invent systems and vernaculars (from physics to astronomy to science fiction to visual art) to be able to talk about these spaces. The artists in the show, from Jonathon Keat’s founding a Microbial Academy of Sciences for cyanobacteria to Heather Sparks’ lenticular photograph of pixelated scans of her own skin, are establishing systems dedicated to measuring and positing what exactly these kinds of space look like, how they behave and how they affect our daily lives. Additionally the artists strive to comprehend how time passes within these spaces and how objects move within them.

The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA): Dec. 10, 2011 - Feb. 26, 2012 | Beguiled by the Wild: The Art of Charley Harper | Known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters, and book illustrations, American artist Charley Harper (1922–2007) developed a strong love of nature as a child growing up in West Virginia. This fascination is clear in his exhibit, Beguiled by the Wild: The Art of Charley Harper. Through his delightfully graphic and distinctive use of geometric shapes and vivid colors, Harpers work continues to inspire and foster environmental stewardship in people of all ages.

**ONLINE**The Artists For Conservation International Exhibit (online) | The Art of Conservation | AFC's Annual Exhibit - The Art of Conservation - has become one of the most highly anticipated events among the nature-inspired art genres. This year’s inaugural Virtual Exhibit promises to break new ground in providing global access to some of the best works the nature-inspired art genre has to offer. We would like to thank over a hundred AFC artist members from around the world who have contributed to this Annual AFC Exhibits to support wildlife and habitat conservation.

Artway Invitational Gallery (Liverpool, UK): Dec. 9, 2011 - Feb. 19, 2012 | Gina Czarnecki Retrospective | Ground-breaking new media artist Gina Czarnecki makes films, installations, public art works and sculpture which emphasize human relationships to disease, evolution and genetic research. The exhibition features several film installations including the UK premiere of Contagion, a large-scale, interactive work that explores parallels between biological infection and the spread of information, knowledge, rumour and myth. The exhibit also features Czarnecki’s latest works such as "Wasted," a series of sculptures that explore the use of human tissue in art, the life-giving potential of ‘discarded’ body parts and their relationship to myths and history.

American Museum of Natural History (New York, NY): Nov. 19 - Aug. 12, 2012 | Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration | Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration, a new exhibition that offers a vision of the future of space travel as it boldly examines humanity's next steps in our solar system and beyond. The exhibition features a re-creation of a lunar habitat, a model of a space elevator rising up from the surface of the Moon, one of the world's largest color holograms depicting 1,000 exoplanets, and engaging, immersive simulations. The exhibition celebrates the pioneering accomplishments of both manned and unmanned space missions and considers the critical partnership of robotic spacecraft and astronauts as humanity journeys farther beyond Earth.

GV Art Gallery 49 Chiltern Street (London, UK): Dec. 2, 2011 - Feb. 18, 2012 | Trauma: Group Show | Under the banner of the Art and Science series, this new exhibition at GV Art seeks to expand cross-disciplinary collaboration amongst artist, scientist and community. This exhibition attempts to understand the various manifestations of trauma both natural and man-made; revealing the intimate experience of those who live with trauma while also investigating perceptions of sometimes concealed mental distress. The artists involved in this project employ a diversity of approaches, charting the full dimensions of trauma from the micro-molecular to those on a global environmental scale.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Ebling Library for the Health Sciences (Madison, WI): Sept. 16, 2011-Jan. 31, 2012 | Beyond the Edge of the Sea. Illustrations by preeminent deep sea watercolorist/illustrator, Karen Jacobsen | This traveling exhibit from The College of William & Mary's Muscarelle Museum of Art features the magnificent watercolors of expeditionary illustrator Karen Jacobsen. Jacobsen had multiple voyages in the Alvin submersible, with oceanographer Cindy Lee Van Dover at the helm, exploring the deep ocean and rendering these wonderful works of art. Reception on Nov. 11 will feature Jacobsen and Van Dover talking about their joint project.

SCIART CONFERENCES

ScienceOnline2012 | January 19-21, 2012 | North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC) | So soon - ack!

The British Science Association's Science Communication Conference 2012 | May 14-15, 2012 | Kings Place (London, UK) | Now accepting proposals for sessions

**NEW**The European Science Foundation's Conference 2012: Images and Visualization: Imaging Technology, Truth and Trust | Sept. 17-21, 2012 | Scandic Linköping Vast, SwedenSCIART DEADLINESSHAMELESS PLUGS

A paper on walking lungfish that Kalliopi illustrated was published in PNAS last month. Open access.

Every week or two, we post interesting exhibits, lectures, and other science-art related news we hear about. Know about something we don't? Shoot me an email at symbiartic.km-at-gmail-dot-com and we'll post all relevant events. This information is also available on a public Google calendar. Under "other calendars" click on "add a friend's calendar" and search for symbiartic.km-at-gmail-dot-com.