[spectre] Arts and Sciences

[Simon Biggs]

I agree with Geert's comments about how the sciences are popularly
associated with lab coats and the physical sciences and thus diminished.
Note that in my previous post I explicitly refered to the social sciences,
commenting on collaborations between artists and those working in those
areas in the UK. One of the most productive collaborations I ever engaged
with was with an anthropologist. It might be that the professional demands
of that science tend to make the people who work in that field a joy to work
with (eg: they are professionally "nice" people - unlike most artists and
physicists ;)

Certainly, this last observation (about personality) is key to the success
of any collaboration. People who work together should also be able to play
together...and here I mean not only going out for a social drink but also
the "play" which is at the centre of any creative enterprise.

Best

Simon


On 28.02.06 08:22, Geert Lovink wrote:

> Hi, why is art & science equal to 'bioart'? Why are the social sciences
> excluded in this whole debate? They are not science and who has decided
> this? The whole fixation on the figure of the laboratory engineer and
> so-called 'hard sciences' (read: real, not virtual) always fascinated
> me as to me this whole contruct is nothing but a phantasma of (certain)
> artists (and their funders such as Langois) dreaming up some imaginary
> power in society that the arts sector lost, long time ago and now
> projects onto so-called hard sciences. Best, Geert



Simon Biggs

simon at littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Professor of Digital Art, Sheffield Hallam University
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/