Horizons Fiche2-ROG

th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Inter-State: (2016)
Director: Dr. Keith Armstrong
Sound: Professor Roger Dean.
Original Imagery: Stuart Lawson
Overview:
Inter-State is a new media installation that presents a deep integration of art,
science and future-thinking. The work is presents an imaginary version of the
scientific periodic table of elements, comprising of four related components: a large
scale print mounted on a light box, a large screen animated projection, a microfichebased image presented on an old fashioned viewer, and a vibrant, connecting
soundscape.
These four components of the installation allow audiences different ways of
interacting with the work – either through examining the fine detail of the light box
print (see Fig 2) which sets all of the ‘elements’ in relationship to each other, or
through viewing long, slow scans across the fine details of the re-imagined periodic
table; or through the scientifically arcane but attractive microfiche print reader that
users can manipulate and move through at their will (see Fig 4). In all of these ways
this art/science work actively contrasts and combines modern scientific ideas and
processes of elemental organisation with the relational thinking of selected
contemporary artists and philosophers.
Intention:
Inter-State contrasts the historical tendency for the formal atomisation and
structuring of knowledge with relational understandings of our world as a series of
interactions and relationships between phenomena. Both ideas are incorporated
into the work, simultaneously finding a harmonious balance between the related
traditions of art and science. The visual form of the work mimics the periodic table
1
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
that is central to science classification – whilst the content ‘descriptions’ of each
element suggest fundamentally relational models of understanding, thinking and
acting. A powerful example of this relational process lies with the classic Wu Xing
model that suggests how (e.g. Wood (木 mù), feeds Fire (火 huǒ), creates Earth (土
tǔ), bears Metal (金 jīn) enriches Water (水
shuǐ) which in turn nourishes wood.
In many ways the periodic table resonates
with ideas of human development and
progress – and yet that progress, despite
its successes has often proven insensitive
to the underlying natural order that is now
in many cases far out of balance. Hence
the art-science artwork Inter-State
suggests that by shifting cultures towards a
profoundly relational ways of understanding
(as epitomized by the Wu Xing), we may
then be able to create more sustainable
pathways towards prosperous long futures.
The imaginary periodic table is presented
via the format of the
Fig 1: Five State Model.
worn microfiche (one of our earlier visual database technologies).
Moving through the imagery we witness a faded database, on old style
microfiche—blue grey images and defocused text. There’s a nostalgia evoked
by the monochromatic microfiche, reinforced by arranging the information into
cells, enhanced with micrographs and quasi-elementary chemical symbols: Er
for Erbium, and Ke for... what? But the nostalgia is not just for a look, but also
for a system of knowledge based on recording, codifying, naming—partitioning
the phenomenal world into atomic events.
Hence each imaginary element in the table draws us to reflect upon ideas and
quotes from futuring philosophers and artists, who call us strongly to develop our
relational imaginations, by a blending of the arts and sciences that was so aptly
demonstrated by Leonardo.
2
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Fig 2: The entire imaginary ‘periodic table’.
3
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Fig 2: Entire ‘periodic table’, and a single element ‘D’ taken from it.
4
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Fig 3: A range of discrete elements viewed from the entire periodic table.
5
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Fig 4: Vintage microfiche viewing unit allows users to interact with the visual database of art +
science thinking designed into the artwork.
6
th
Proposal for the 4 International
Art and Science Exhibition & Symposium
Dr. Keith Armstrong | embodiedmedia.com
Fig 5: Suggested Orientation in the Gallery.
7