Art As Inquiry

Art as Inquiry : toward new collaborations between art, science, and technology Marga Bijvoet. 1997 New York : Peter Lang, ISBN:0820433829

Art as Inquiry is an investigation undertaken by Marga Bijvoet, into how artists have taken a transdisciplinary approach to their practice. The book starts with a historical introduction as to how this new way of working (at the time) came into existence with the foundation of groups such as The Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT with its beginnings routed in visual communications.

As far as relation to my own practice this introduction plus chapters four and eight are of most relevance. Chapter four entitled Hans Haake Systems Artist takes a fairly fleeting look at Hans Haake’s career, and as the title suggests, his ecological systems approach to his work. Chapter eight, The Artist as ecologist, concentrates on Alan Sonfist using Crystal Globe and Crystal Enclosure as examples, and the Harrisons, who I find particularly interesting. For the Harrisons Bijvoet runs through two main bodies of work the Survival series, enclosed man made systems and Lagoon cycles much larger scale pieces. Interestingly it turns out that many of the Harrisons early pieces did more environmental damage than good, both of whom are now lectures in the subject.

This text is very informative but its use seems to be more of a historical significance than that for researching contemporary artists. For references of the beginnings of the integration of practices this book holds the most information I have been able to find in a single book. It is however a little dated, as the mixing of art science and technology has advanced quite significantly since this title was written, with practitioners such as Brandon Ballengee lending science as much as science lends his art, something that seems to be more of a one way science to art discussion in this book.

Biogenous Interpretation

These are some examples of models i am currently producing. Through making I have also discovered an echo in the struggle to physically produce the objects and that of the real things. In the process I found that the sculptures would often collapse and break, which i feel gives a poetic resemblance to the struggle of the organisms producing their own shells. An important moment which can only be captured through practice based research and first hand experience, intrinsic and vital information.

Biogenous Sediment

After my last exhibition I have spent the last few weeks developing my ideas around ocean acidification. I came to the decision that at this stage of my research corals were too high up the marine scale, and I wanted to start at the beginning of the chain.

I had read in the weather makers about the Ocean drilling programme and a very significant project that took place at Shatsky Rise, where core samples were taken revealing deposits at a certain depth that up until this time had been missing from other records. These findings revealed a distinct lack of foraminifera, micro organisms used to construct an image of ocean conditions in the past. This meant that the oceans at this time were highly acidic and these creatures couldn't calcify to produce there shells, a trend that we are currently seeing. Being highly important on the food chain, it is believed the lack of foraminifera plus poor ocean conditions would have caused a mass ocean extinction.

Foraminifera along with other biogenous sediments and shell building plankton's trap carbon when they build shells. The increase in atmospheric carbon is causing more acidic oceans resulting in their shells dissolving and the inability to calcify at full capacity. When these organisms die they sink to the sea floor trapping vast amounts of carbon (50,000,000gt), only now, due to increased acidity these dead organisms are dissolving releasing the carbon back into the ocean, thus increasing acidity, and so a spiralling cycle has begun, which I believe to be very bad news indeed for the state of the worlds oceans.