Ideas: The Intersection of Art and Science.
The Nature and Inquiry artists group explores the interplay between natural phenomena and human consciousness, between the past and future, between image, sound, and information, art and science, medium and audience. The Nature and Inquiry group is dedicated to the principle that ideas are the intersection of Art and Science. Cate McQuaid, writing in the Boston Globe in a recent article: “The science-oriented Nature and Inquiry artists group has been meeting every Wednesday for more than 20 years. The conversation there is more philosophical [than technological]. Earlier this month, the group discussed open-mindedness, close-mindedness, and how they both might be genetically selected.â€The Nature and Inquiry group regularly presents their artwork to the public in a variety of formats. If you’d like to be informed of upcoming events please email info@artscience.org for updates.We have opened up our discussions to the public, performed in presentational settings, and created interactive events on location. We’ve produced events at the MIT Media Lab, Harvard Smithsonian Observatory, Habitat Institute for the Environment, Boston Cyberarts Festival, Copley Society of Art, Axiom Gallery, as well as various other art venues. In addition, members of the group present their work individually in a variety of galleries and performance spaces, on videos, books, CD’s, DVD’s, and on-line.
Read individual descriptions of group member artwork here. Direct links are listed below.
The Nature and Inquiry group collaboration comparing biological and cultural evolution.
Epochs of Consciousness by John Holland and Amy Robinson.
Invisible Ideas was an artwalk custom-made for the Boston Public Gardens and the Boston Common. It was the first project of its kind to combine GPS, Macromedia Flash and PocketPC OS. Invisible Ideas was part of the Boston Cyberarts Festival 2003 and has been awarded First Jurors Prize in Manifest2003: A Juried Exhibition of Visual Art in Digital Media, CoSo’s biennial exhibition of contemporary art.
Five Ideas: In The Mail, Online and In Person was launched in March 2001. This event included a live presentation at the MIT Media Lab, a postcard series, and a web site.
Other Group Presentations and Exhibitions
Art and Science: a symbiosis
A group show curated by The Nature and Inquiry artists group in September 2006. Gallery exhibit and 3 weeks of performance, presentation, and discussion on the subject of symbiosis. Featured artworks included Donald Burgy’s installation on the origins of writing, Margot Kelley’s photographic series Other Peoples Trees, Gail Wight’s video Crossing, Nathalie Miebach’s sculpture Tidal Rhythms, and John Holland’s performance Facts of Life, Essays and Poems on Symbiosis and Other Phenomena with Complementary Music. The 3-week-long event included 2 evenings of discussion, one devoted to the subject of cultural evolution, the other an open discussion centered on new issues in genetics and biology.
Nature and Inquiry artists series
In March of 1998 we began a series of informal programs held at the Massachusetts College of Art. The intent of each program is for artists involved in art and science to present ideas and new work in an informal exchange with audience members. Questions and open discussion are encouraged, followed by a reception with refreshments.
Friday, February 12, 1999, 7:00pm – Massachusetts College of Art
An Evening of Questions – Donald Burgy, John Holland, Amy Robinson, Nita Sturiale, and Ron Wallace posed a series of questions to be discussed jointly by them and the audience.The following questions were considered:What exactly is being represented when we translate experience into symbols?What are the evolutionary origins of kissing?Does art fail when the ideas upon which it is based fail?
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Friday, October 16, 1998, 7:00pm – Massachusetts College of Art
Donald Burgy, John Holland, Amy Robinson, Donald Burgy gave a talk on the subject of resonance. John Holland and Amy Robinson discussed their work, Epochs of Consciousness.
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Friday,May 15, 1998, 7:00pm- Massachusetts College of Art
Ron Wallace and Nita Sturiale. Ron Wallace read from a work-in-progress on the evolution of memory.Nita Sturiale showed images and presented ideas and information on brain maps, gene-culture co-evolution and waves.
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Friday, March 27, 1998, 7:00pm- Massachusetts College of Art
John Holland: Acoustic Wave Spectrum. John Holland introduced his recently completed Acoustic Wave Spectrum.
Parallels in Creativity
A symposium at Harvard University exploring the connection between art and science.Nature and Inquiry presented an evening of work on Friday, October 20, 1995in Phillips Auditorium at the Harvard College Observatory.
Nita Sturiale: Present
An exploration of how time is expressed in the physical world through slide images, readings, and audience participation.Ron Wallace: The Unasked Question
The artist reads a text which was written to accompany The Unanswered Question, instrumental music by Charles Ives. The text explores the human impulse to ask and answer questions.Amy Robinson: Sound and Meaning in Nature
A presentation of questions concerning the evolution of meaning in musical language of humans.
John Holland: Identity 9 Short Texts for Speaking Voice
Donald Burgy: Reading Paleolithic Symbols
Nature and Inquiry at Habitat
A series of five programs presented at the Habitat Institute for the Environment, Belmont, Mass. September 22 – October 22, 1993
Nita Sturiale: Movements of a Wave
A presentation of images, observations, and experiments concerning the autumnal equinox, the movement of time, and the structure of waves.
Ron Wallace: Walking
A series of meditations on the act of walking, given during a walk through the woods and fields surrounding the Habitat house and gardens.
John Holland: Conversations on the Ear
John Holland reads his text that is the result of his inquiry into the nature and function of the human ear. The text is based on a series of five ïconversationsÃ.
Donald Burgy: The Human Figurines of the Paleolithic
An examination and discussion of stone and bone statuettes that were found in hunter-gatherer sites from Spain to Siberia.
Gail Wight: Floraphobia
While the audience dines on a light repast of flowering plants, a presentation is given examining the similiarities in the social, psychological, and communication systems of plants and animals.