Art and Science

Technology is wonderful for how it allows you to experience or re-imagine the places you've been. It can push away those inconsequential moments and pull you into the scenes that provide emphasis and meaning. Without careful adjudication, however, you can end up telling a story wholly different than what you originally intended or experienced.

I suppose there's a fine line between art and science. There's a certain level of atomicity that we expect in defining and understanding knowledge and a certain "lossiness" that we give ourselves when it comes to art. We appreciate the ambiguity of interpretation when it comes to a Vermeer, a Picasso, a Monet and the rigidity of definition when it comes to gravity. Push and pull, as they say.

Where it gets a little hazy is when we start to have the cross pollination of the two and this is currently the raging debate around Generative AI. It's maths and science rolled up together with art to create...something else. It's an interpretation and interpolation of the lossy nature of humanity combined with the rigidity of data, of science, of maths. We know these two to be at odds with each other so, it's a rather heady mix when presented as such.

There's a line, as I said, where it makes sense and where it doesn't. Take these two images, for example. Both are "real" in the sense that nothing about them has been generated from a formula, an algorithm, or a machine's dream. However, there are algorithmic touches to each: the monochrome background of the former and the bold red of the latter. While each is true to the environment they were taken, they're both playing fast and loose with the science of colour and the overarching veracity of the moment.

Here's where science helps tell my story, however. One of the most impressive features of the Faroes is the landscapes. Those swooping and diving hills, carved from glacial paths that position themselves "just so" to catch the wandering light of a waning day. They're smooth and curvy, not unlike the most sensual of bodies, and enveloped in verdant greens and stone grays. There's almost too much of it, in a sense, so to be able to call out a single section of it requires...well, it requires some fancy algorithmic footwork. And the result, as you see here, is the training of your eye to the subject at hand: that geologic wonder that exists in a fjord far away from where you sit.

So, too, the bird required an additional push. The simplicity of Nordic art belies the fundamental wonder of setting and place. To be fair, I could've found this in the aisles of the local Jysk or Ikea and for that, it's unremarkable. But, set against the board and batten siding, the stark surround of a composite and glass window set, it's calling for additional boldness. Like a phoenix from the ashes, it needed to have the surroundings fade to insignificance in order for it to assume the title role.

Regardless of how you look at these two scenes (and I'm happy to provide the originals if you ask), the role of science to enhance the art is important. We look at them as strange bedfellows, in similar vein to faith, reason, and science, but really, they're both attempting to explain the possible and probable.

As we wander the halls of this week, towards the exit that is the weekend, I'd urge you to ask yourselves where your art and science collide. Where does your storytelling find itself enhanced by the wonders of technology and where, do you feel, it's inhibited? Similarly, does the beautiful expression of a chaotically fascinating mind lend purpose and credence to scientific inquiry? I would posit (and give you room to ruminate on such) that perhaps we draw the distinctions a bit too close, a bit too rigidly and inflict needless worry on ourselves for it.

Be free to mix art and science together to create a new version of the story you want to tell.

May it ever be so.

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