Art and Science

ArtSci - ISSN 2515-8767 - © ISTE Ltd

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Recent articles

The article explores the interactions between performing arts and ecological sciences through the Imaginary Futures cycle, organized by Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and the University of Lausanne. It highlights how theatrical performances reinvest scientific knowledge by making it tangible and embodied. Three main axes are developed: the theatricalization of ecological knowledge (performed lectures, staging of knowledge), the animist transformation of ecological theater (decentering perspectives, body metamorphoses), and the (re)politicization of ecological knowledge (environmental justice, decolonial issues). The article emphasizes how these art-science encounters reconnect knowledge with lived experience, mobilizing emotions and imagination to transform perception and action in response to ecological crises.

Corneille de Lyon, a famous Renaissance portrait painter, is known for his many small-scale painted portraits. Analysis of six of his female portraits shows that each of them has an internal geometry. Corneille de Lyon’s geometric approach is close to that followed by Jean and François Clouet.

Black has always been enigmatic and paradoxical. Absence of light, and therefore non-color for physicists, it is indeed color for chemists and artists. Matter or energy (still in the form of lack) for astrophysicists, it has never ceased to inspire philosophers and poets. This article begins by examining the evolution of scientific and artistic disputes over the nature of black. It then looks at the forms of its presence on Earth (mineral, vegetable and animal), and describes its pursuit in the cosmos (black holes, dark matter, dark energy). Returning to Earth, it looks at the processes involved in producing the color black, up to and including Vantablack and outrenoir. Finally, it traces the artistic uses and functions of black in relation to light and other colors and concludes with the infinite quest for black in its poetic and metaphysical resonances.

This article explores phenomenological and enactive approaches in the fields of artistic creation and pedagogy. The author begins by sharing their personal and professional journey, emphasizing the importance of resisting "disciplinary capture" as well as the interdisciplinarity in their work. They describe their discovery of Francisco Varela’s enaction theory and how this theory has influenced their artistic and pedagogical practice. The author provides several examples of enactive practices in both artistic and pedagogical domains. For instance, they mention the use of mind mapping as an enactive practice "without knowing it", and a pedagogical experiment at the University of Evry where students were given great autonomy to create a collective performance. They also discuss their photography practice in the giant sequoia forest Muir Woods Monument Park, where they experimented with camera movement to capture the energy of the place. Finally, the author discusses intentionally enactive projects, such as their participation in a Cerisy colloquium on chance and creation, and The Haiku Project, where they explore the concept of haiku in various artistic practices.

Art is a means of communication and expression of important messages that need and want to be shared. This underlying relationship can be used to understand certain deep rules of the structural anthropology of the individual and of the structures of society, and to indicate changes. We have before our eyes the objects that are really important on this subject: those left to us by our ancestors, clear messages that we must learn to read in their true perspective. We are dealing with the representations of the female body that, in the words by Marija Gimbutas, “embodied the divine feminine principle that has survived several thousand years, which are immediately evident in the artifacts that have come down to us from the Upper Paleolithic”. Those figures always present a unitary vision of an ontological problematic core and of the coherent answer provided by different cultures in different times. In modern art the unity is lost and the representation of the female essence has become fragmentary and partial. What does this loss mean?

The question of temperament, the way in which keyboard instruments are tuned, has permeated western music for centuries. This article sets out the main aspects of this question and presents the highly original way in which the composer Ligeti has exploited it in a contemporary composition for viola.

This study focuses on an Italian Renaissance painting depicting Saint Mary Magdalene, dated circa 1505/1506. By combining their expertise, the art historian, the scientist, the restorer and the painting expert each contributes their know-how to deepen the understanding of this artwork and its historical context. The investigations undertaken have revived the memory of a portrait by Raphael Sanzio, considered lost since 1631 and which had sunk into oblivion.

Here are presented two letters by a young Ernst Haeckel, who became a major figure of biology, as well as recognized as a scientific artist, in the late 19th century. The letters, previously available only in German, are given here with his illustrations, in English. They were written when he was a medical student, addressed to his parents, describing his travels and impressions during one of his first voyages abroad. They show Haeckel with a character distinct from his latter years, somewhat insecure, eager to share his experiences with his parents. Haeckel’s talent as a storyteller and travel writer were evident early on. During his stay in Nice he saw, for the first time, living specimens of organisms that would later be the subjects of iconic illustrations. In a companion article (Migon et al. 2024), the letters are presented and discussed in French.