A person carrying the weighty
title of Distinguished Professor of Art and Technology has been asking
questions. This is what he asks of people – the recounting of experiences by
way of giving advice to young people who wish to follow a dual arts-science
career path:
1- What is your background as a
scientist? In the arts, design or humanities?
2- When and how did you become involved in a hybrid art/science practice?
3- What have been the major obstacles to overcome?
4- What have been the greatest opportunities/breakthroughs?
5- What would you do differently, knowing then what you know now?
6- Any advice for someone who may want to walk in your footstep?
7. Add other questions and your
responses you think are relevant.
We sense the
cult of Leonardo at work here! So, as art has no rules, and the words that oft
in my head sing, dance, and play, are today in cooperative mood, to these
questions, this is what we say:
Beware
Distinguished Professors of Art and Technology asking strange questions
grounded in rationality. Beware too, people who provide rational answers to the
professor’s questions. The excess of rationality found in the West is its great
flaw, and in continuing with this singular obsession, a cradle of woe is what
you will discover, if you have not so realised already. The evidence is all
around, but Narcissus would rather die than look away from his beautiful
reflection, and now he seeks ‘artists in residence’, who have also fallen in
love with the reflection, to convey his beauty to what he thinks are the
ignorant masses, who he believes, are experiencing a ‘science information
deficit’. His desire, is that they too can join in with the celebratory
‘dancing with glee’ while standing on the ‘edge of doom’. If you oblige you
will find yourself entering dangerous territory, so please, stay away, or be
with them condemned, by future generations, who may ask you: why did you
abandoned us to this illusion of a paradise to be attained that could never have
been, for it was, like all before, ‘such stuff as nightmares are made on’. We
are!
As for titles,
seek them not, for they are heavy millstones around the neck, which along with
other millstones, restrict movement, limit actions, and prevent the doing of
what now needs to be done. The priest called Copernicus and the citizen-scientist
known as Kepler will, in an indirect but related way, explain. Koestler will
act as your guide and their interpreter for he knows much about such things. The
citizen-scientist called Darwin
understood millstones, so he too can explain. C P Snow did not understand millstones
– although he had many – for he was a scientist with a fragmented and reductive
mind; hence he is unable to explain without making gross simplifications which
render his ‘opinions’ to be what they are: technocratic in the extreme. Artisans,
practical people of all kinds, thousands upon thousands of them that history
never recorded, living in the Renaissance period (which extended over several
centuries), could also explain, for they experienced the result of millstones
on a daily basis; these were the millstones of elitist groups, who kept things
apart, but this is not the Renaissance that you probably learned about, which
is partly another modern myth; a strange mix of facts and fictions, wherein you
believe that which suits you best, and where the contributions of learning and
knowledge from Islamic, Chinese, and other Asian scholars and artisans has been
quietly written out of history – it is a very European al-gorithm.
Beware also
those who say things such as “I think therefore I am armed” – they do not, they
are not. Such people are potentially very dangerous for they too are but the
children of ideology and dogma – but this time secular in nature. If any of
those who utter such a strange statement ever studied, through cognitive
psychology, the complexities of the workings of the human mind, then they did
learn very little. Our friend and colleague Will, from his pen, as is often the
case, conjured words to suit the theme:
What’s in a name? That which we
call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
Or … rot, decay, or be a barb.
Unless you
are oriented to psychological and sociological learning, it is unlikely that
you will know much about that of which I speak, but as these are one of the means
of illuminating millstones and the oddity of human beliefs, the study of the
social sciences should be on your life agenda; you will need that rarity of
things called an open mind to engage constructively with the complexities of multiple
truths.
When young
learn how to die; then you will know how to live. When young set yourself the
goal of reading all the great literature that humanity has produced; be humbled
by the impossibility of the task. Then learn how to choose wisely.
Master the
art of transcending disciplinary boundaries. Penetrate deeply into other
peoples’ territories. Leave a mark to show that you have been there. Observe
the reactions of those people whose territory you have entered, and recall this
every time you hear people speaking about multi-, cross-, inter- or
transdisciplinarity. Be amused by what you hear. Take the time to understand
what these terms mean, for such understandings will put you in a position to
see through the rhetoric that often surrounds such words, which take no effort
at all to utter. Then you will be able to act in ways that few others can.
Separation is an illusion; a human construction; a social construction.
Spend time
with people who make a lot of noise so that you will discover just how empty
they can be, then, never waste your time with such people again.
Seek out
solitude and silence and learn to listen to the voice of your soul. Let it be
your guide for it will never let you down. Follow your dreams wherever they may
take you.
Observe life
to a degree that Dickens would admire, for this is the source of art’s endless
fountain. Learn to look into the souls of men – and women too as they are
increasingly being expected to behave like men, and are doing so!
You have
hands with opposable thumbs for a reason – use your hands to make things.
Travel in
time to discover why the European world creates futures very similar to the
past, only with more advanced science and technology, which are then used to
wage war on an industrial scale and to destroy the planet in pursuit of the
demands of one of their gods – money. Discovery for yourself the nature of
Europeans and their colonial offspring – they are but Ancient Romans doing what
Ancient Romans did, only more efficiently, which is their Enlightened way. Do
not be party to their collective delusions and denials. Visit Rome and stand among the ancient ruins – then
find understanding, because for such people there is only Decline and Fall.
Do not seek
fortune and glory otherwise you will end up like Indiana Jones: ethically
compromised, keeping company with bad people, and having to go to extraordinary
lengths to extract yourself from problem situations that are of your own
making. Do not seek to associate with people with power and influence: their
power has corrupted them and it will corrupt you too.
Seek the
answers to the question: why such advanced knowledge yet such simplistic
beliefs and so much ontological oversimplification?
Do not be
naïve about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) – there are
enough naive STEM people in the world already; we do not need anymore. Thwart
STEM peoples’ efforts to use art to project their imperial power on to
humanity. Wear camouflage and infiltrate their academies, funding agencies, organisations,
companies, institutions, etc. See what actually goes on and what people say
when they think outsiders are not present. Collect evidence and identify their
many weaknesses – these are not difficult to spot. But do not succumb to their
ideologies. Then use what you have learned to unleash the forces of creative
destruction against them, for the days of countermovements are over – now is
the moment for a new scientific revolution, the creation of a new science that most
of the ‘olden ones’, and their ‘artists in residence’, will, like the ‘scholastics’
before them, not want to see or to understand. And strangely, art is the means
to achieving this, but this not what you are expecting is it?
Do not
participate in the creation of new ideologies like art-science and art-technology,
for these are but more of those binaries, dualities, and dichotomies so loved
by the European mind. Never use words such as nexus, crossing, bridge, hybrid,
integrate, intersection, cross-fertilise, spill-over, and so on; these are but
the chains that keep you bound to a world that has already passed into history
– Prometheus’ invisible and silent chains. They are part of the
self-constructed prison known as your values and beliefs. Instead, set yourself
free and learn to fly like an eagle.
Spend time with
nature and in the summertime sit among the flowers and talk to the bees and
listen to what they have to say to you.
Work for the
benefit of future generations for they are more likely to understand and
appreciate your work.
Never accept
what people say – check for yourself. Always go back to the original source,
for it is surprising how much distortion and simplification takes place as a
result of material being passed from one person to another. Discover what has
been left out as a result of unquestioning acceptance. Go to extreme lengths to
track down original sources. This is why
there are National Libraries – use them.
Develop
critical thinking and writing capabilities as practised in the social sciences.
Be a gadfly. Write books about your work, and, if you indie publish, make sure
that copies of these books are placed on deposit in your National Library
collection. You never know who will look at your work in the future.
Set
unrealistically high standards for yourself which you will constantly fail to
attain – then learn. Keep on learning. Develop the self-critical skills and
intuitions needed to know when your work is poor and when it is moving towards
something else. ‘Paint fakes’ so that you will recognise when your work is not
a fake.
Work with
dead artists for they have much to teach you. Do not join grazing herds. If you
want to engage in collaborative activities, be very selective whom you choose
to work with.
Never place
scientists and artists on pedestals. These people are human and as such are
deeply flawed, just like everyone else. Do not use Leonardo da Vinci or C P
Snow as a justification for what you do – this will only demonstrate that you ‘do
accept’ what other people say without checking, that you did not learn to
choose wisely what to read, that you did not master the art of transcending
disciplinary boundaries, and that you have missed the point completely.
The
reputations of these two are mostly not of their own making, being modern
constructions – strange beliefs and ‘superstitions’ about what they were but
never were, or what they said but never said, or what they did but never did,
or what they wrote but never wrote, or what is known but is not known. The myths
that now surround both of them are like the haze of dust that gathers on hot
summer days, just waiting to be blown away on the breath of the wind. Be that
wind.
And if you do
not take note of this, you might end up like those STEM people from prestigious
institutions, who recently expressed, in a ‘review’ paper entitled
Art on the Nanoscale and Beyond, simplistic
justifications for art-science convergence, based on – simplistic notions of
Leonardo and Snow. But what matters learning and knowledge when fortune and
glory, power and influence, are on your mind? This is the nature of the ethical
melt-down occurring in the world STEM, for it is in any case a shallow ethic,
very easy to ignore when convenience demands – disassociate yourself from this
and speak-out; condemn all such forms of moral corruption.
Of such STEM
people one can say that, here be conquistadors, the existence of which Edward O
Wilson denied, who are now rewriting and simplifying (as is their way) history,
in support of their colonising agenda. It is but a timely reminder of the sand,
the lack of foundations, the intellectual emptiness, and the lack of knowledge,
upon which much of the STEM world’s interest in the ideologies called art-science
and art-technology is built. The European Commission’s DG CONNECT is a star
performer in all these this respects.
Thus, in
speaking of creativity, communication, the promotion of science and technology,
and things most sinister with Orwellian undertones that Joseph Stalin and other
tyrants would have understood, STEM people disclose their ‘will to power’ and
their staggering lack of vision and imagination with regard to art’s role in
research, and thus do all such people become the source material for the
fountain; they will discover to their cost, that the pen is far mightier than
the Scanning Electron Microscope and other such ‘boy's toys’, which is why
Stalin and others exercised strict control over the arts. STEM people will do
the same, and it begins with the ‘cheque book’ and words like “you can use this,
but our permission comes with terms and conditions attached”. And thus too do
they become like the medieval Church of Rome – oh dear you are making another
future just like the past; it is a very European algorithm.
On the matter
of Edward O Wilson and his strange notions of consilience – steer clear of this for it is deeply flawed
thinking, being as it is a product of a man, a scientist, with several
millstones around his neck. Do not look too optimistically to the consilience
‘second wavers’ for they too have millstones around their neck. Avoid becoming
‘entangled’, for there are more millstones to be found here too. Instead,
reinvent the world of knowledge by creating new ‘Theories of Knowledge’, suited
to 2016 and beyond, for what exists today is more appropriate to 1916, 1816,
1716, 1616, 1516, 1416 … and BC in Ancient Greece as well.
Now is the
time, after the deconstruction of the post-modernist era, to put the world back
together again in a different form. Thus, being as you are, an artist, and not being
constrained by rules, conventions, boundaries, and such forth, use your
imagination to imagine the unimaginable, and then watch with delight as they
wriggle and squirm and then a heretic proclaim you to be, for they, the people
of STEM, are but ‘people of the book’, the products of a Western secular Abrahamic
culture whose time is done, although someone needs to tell them this, for they,
to their beautiful reflection, are still bound; feet and minds firmly planted
in the past.
Discover the
mysterious East. Travel there – literally and figuratively. Come to understand
that in the motion there is stillness and in the stillness there is motion, and
how this insight can be used to transform science and humanity. And to the East
I now turn my face and speak: See their weaknesses. Stand on the shoulders of
giants to see further than they can, to discover the coming age of the Tao, and
in the names of two giants, Howard Rosenbrock and Joseph Needham, two of a
kind, you will find the beginnings of what you need. Art in a different way,
will make a difference too.
Now cometh to
an end these words of guidance and in closing I say, to the discovery of all
the ways of knowing turn your attention, and practise as many of them as you
can. Above all, learn the hermeneutic way of knowing so that you will be able
to understand what I write.
To those who
understand the words that I speak in silence, does the future belong – it is a
place where no Ancient Romans (or Greeks) will be found for a different kind of
person will there dwell, and a different type of science will they practise as
well. And to our dear friend and colleague Will, we yet one more time do
appeal, for words of ending to provide:
And
gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
And thus the
world turns …
