Weird Science is a collection of essays to coincide with an exhibition of the same title at Cranbrook art museum, seeing an amalgamation of art and science. Artists include Mark Dion, Gregory Green, Margaret Honda and Andrea Zittel. The text includes an introduction to the history of the school (the Art and Science institute) and the exhibition on show. There are articles on the Artists and the work presented, along with an interview conducted by Michelle Grabner with each, and also a brief look at the coming of early science and its relation to religion.
Mark Dion presents us with “wunderkammern (cabinets of wonder)"Wittkopp Gregory pg8 Weird Science a conflation of art and science, Cranbrook Art Museum 1999 filled with various zoology and packages identifying scientific methods, collected from the Cranbrook institute, and displayed them in the manner of a natural history museum with taxonomic identification. As well as the methodology of the physical collection and identification being intrinsic to the work (earlier similar works has seen this element as performance pieces); Dion also puts historical scientific practitioners responsible for the original collection on display, questioning their earlier motives and the way in which they conducted the preservation and identifications.
Less relevant to my own practice is the work of Gregory Green, which sees him constructing bombs, missiles and nuclear devises, capable of causing large amounts of damage, each only requiring explosive compounds or relevantly little modification to make them fully functioning devices. Worryingly (and being the narrative of the work), Green was able to acquire all the needed instructions from libraries, mail order companies and the internet. Critics questioned the morality of his work, back in 1999. With the occurrence of more current events such as 911 and the threat of global terrorism, I feel Greens work has induced a new perspective.
Margret Honda displays “Terrapin Carolina Carolina” which is the living quarters of her Terrapin, and where the art work takes on the physical daily recording of the life of the creature in question, in the form of drawings which are left on the floor around the terrarium. Part of the work involves meeting the changing environmental demands of the terrapin and the construction of suitable habitats. This clinical observation is a method of interest to me, and the effects of creating an environment with a stable ecology.
Finally Andrea Zittel showcases earlier works where she aims to breed out the inter reproduction humans imposed on bantam cocks, to create ideal domestic birds. She aims to breed with a cross selection of birds thus ending up with what she believes to be a closer specimen to the true breed. Zittel has also researched into doing work with dogs and so called pedigree breeds, again a process implemented by humans. Like Green, ethical questions have been raised as the work makes use of live animals.
The exhibition as a Whole holds great interest to me, and the literature is well executed creating good sense of the exhibition even though I have not seen it firsthand. Although not directly linked to the areas of nature I am researching, the methodology described holds great relevance.
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