This NanoArt essay is published in the catalog, published by Skira
the exhibition held in Bergamo in October 2007. The exhibition - curated by Stefano Raimondi - presented for the first time in seven works of NanoArt Alessandro Scali and Robin Goode, made in collaboration with the Department of Physics of the Politecnico di Torino. Author of the essay: Alessandro Scali (LSSNDR). far from seeking and finding quality objective
man finds himself. "
Werner Heisenberg
Believing that art and science are worlds apart, without relations between them, almost the antipodes of each other is a mistake. In reality we consider art and science as two individuals of the same species but different in kind, drawn from one another and working together to generate knowledge. Other common elements emerge if you look at the fashion operandi of an artist and a scientist: both operate within specific contexts, but in research tend to transcend the aesthetic one, the other the paradigms of scientific data. Both - contrary to what is generally believed - methodically combine the creativity, the artist performs it repeatedly and systematically the gesture of painting, the scientist measure a physical quantity, to arrive at the opening of Revelation of discovery. Moreover, as the artist works on a strong knowledge base, so the scientist uses a strong intuitive component, or in other words, creative and artistic. Both art and science, then, aim to make simple what is complex, or intelligible what seems ineffable.
Other important considerations arise if, beyond comparison, we analyze the mutual influences and the concrete relations between art and science.
Under the impetus of science and technological progress, art, over the centuries, has undergone profound changes and has seen momentous steps. Just think of the impact they had on the art of the nineteenth century the appearance of the photograph, the ability of photography to reproduce the reality contributed to dismantle an idea that had existed for centuries and still does not cease to exercise his charm, that the concept of art as mimesis or reproduction of the world. What the artists could be a failure - a practical matter of survival - was transformed in the opportunity to redefine the very concept of art, going beyond realism. Leaving the task of photography to reproduce reality, artists - mostly painters - were focused on the representation of the inner world of feelings, emotions, differences in perception. Impressionism, abstract art, cubism, conceptualism are just a few movements that have marked this critical step in the concept of art, triggered by the discoveries of science and technology.
The constant relationship between art and science and technology is made manifest in contemporary art. If today's artists can express themselves not only through pictures, paintings, drawings, lithographs and sculptures, but also through photographs, film, video, multimedia installations, hardware and software, internet, etc ..., this is clearly the result of using the discoveries of science and technology in the field of art. For art science is thus not a distant world and against the contrary is a stimulus continuous, a seemingly inexhaustible reservoir of ideas and revolutionary forms of expression.
In an era such as the contemporary, characterized by continuous epochal discoveries, there is the risk of addiction to the great news: everything is constantly new, everything is revolutionary. This might not be able to distinguish between the multitude of alleged innovations, such as those that are practical and so profound affect on our lives and which, in contrast, are nothing more than flashes in the pan, destined to shine for a few seconds. The question that arises, in other words, if in a world that will amaze us every day with the constant proposition of new science and technology, there is still something that can really surprise us.
Well, nanotechnology has managed to surprise us. Just wonder can describe the range of feelings that we tested before the first images of nanoscale jet engines used on space satellites, or in front of images of a pair of pliers so small as to be able to take a single atom. We could not believe our eyes when we took the measurements of nanometer and we understand what is infinitely small compared to the size we are used to. A million times smaller than a millimeter. A unit of measure that our intellect is hard to represent. We were faced with something that surpassed our imagination nanobots that carried the drugs only to diseased cells, molecular computers and memories, so powerful and fast they can decipher any code in a few moments, and violate even the most sophisticated security systems. We wondered how it was possible that these things really exist and not just in the imagination of some writer of fiction, and what was the reason that he knew, after all, relatively little.
Our astonishment is diminished in front of the horizons that some of the most important Italian experts have described the industry about the impact of nanotechnology on our lives, our habits or possible solution to some of the most serious problems facing humanity. Suffice it to say that, as the prof. Pirri in his essay, "all the recent advances in life sciences, health, nutrition, environment, information, materials and energy have in common the study and understanding of physical phenomena and biophysical scales smaller. There is no industry that, ultimately, to escape the investigation of the properties of matter from its structures more minute. "
Nanotechnology, in essence, is a radically new approach, based on understanding and knowledge of the properties of matter at the nanoscale. On this scale the material has different properties, sometimes quite surprising, and the boundaries between scientific and technical disciplines fade, which explains the interdisciplinary dimension associated with nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is often described as potentially revolutionary in terms of impact on industrial production methods. They provide a range of possible solutions to current problems with materials, components and systems smaller, lighter, faster and more effective. Nanotechnology should also play a leading role in solving global problems as environmental and permit the construction products and processes for more specific uses, conserve resources and reduce the volume of waste and emissions.
The second great discovery which immediately followed that of nanotechnology, has been meeting with that - if I may say so - behind nanotechnology. In particular, quantum mechanics, a complex of physical theories developed in the first half of the twentieth century that describe the behavior of matter at the microscopic level. At this size, in fact, the assumptions underlying the classical physics can not explain the phenomena observed during the experiments. But talk of new theories is limited: in fact quantum mechanics by a real perversion of our habitual way of observing the world, presenting a reality governed by a strange logic upside down they lose consistency in the fundamental laws that govern our daily reality. And it is precisely the strangeness - sometimes the absurdity - of microphysical laws of the universe to us, once again, amazed: we talk, for example, the concept of a wave of probability, the principle of non-locality, the EPR paradox Paths of research which is not or does not affect only the field of physics, but have a strong impact on our world view, particularly on the philosophy and art itself.
This digression into the world of microphysics we felt it was an essential step to understand as clearly as possible the conditions that led to the birth of NanoArt. The desire to bring together two worlds often seen as far away as the art and science can therefore be attributed to two main objectives. The first is of a truly artistic, which originates from the need to find new ways of expression to convey effectively and surprising new ideas, new concepts and new perspectives on the world. In this respect, science, and in particular nanotechnology, may make available to the forefront of the art tools and techniques able to overturn the traditional ways of expression. Through Nanoart want to propose an art that concretely demonstrate its openness to the world, news, society, culture, research and innovation; art careful progress, development, new possibilities offered by science and technology: an art not closed, self-referential and inward-looking, but otherwise open, dynamic, curious. The goal of the collaboration is that to integrate the technical aspect of micro / nanotechnology with a conceptual approach, aesthetic and artistic, so it will explode the potential of art and technology more advanced.
The second reason stems from the desire to bring the world of science, technology and innovation to the common people. Within the research laboratories are emerging ideas and revolutionary projects, which will undoubtedly play a leading role in our future and will also change the way we understand reality and to relate to it. Through the mediation of art these findings may leave the circumscribed world of the laboratories to become common property.
art has only recently begun to interact with nanotechnology. From this point of view, as well as Grit Rulhand, the only artist who has experimented costantemente con strutture micro e nanometriche è Cris Orfescu. Rispetto a quella di Orfescu, la nostra idea di NanoArte è diversa. Il nostro obiettivo non si limita a riprodurre il mondo microfisico a grandi dimensioni, ma utilizza le potenzialità offerte dalle nanotecnologie come mezzo per esprimere artisticamente nuovi punti di vista, nuovi valori, nuove interpretazioni del mondo. Partiamo cioè dalla necessità di veicolare un concetto o un’idea – per esempio l’invisibilità di un intero continente nel caso di Dimensione attuale , o una sfida alle leggi di Dio in Chiave per la libertà - e laddove ritieniamo che le nanotecnologie possano essere il mezzo più efficace per esprimerli, we use it.
In other words, we are not magnified images of a nanometer pre-existing universe, in which the works are themselves part of that universe. Our works are real physical objects of various forms - animals, objects, whole continents, words - but tiny in size, most often invisible to the naked eye. Also, thanks to the opportunity offered by nanotechnology to modify the nanostructure of certain materials, it is possible to create works that are visible only at certain points on the surface and only after interaction with the public. This is the case that the work waste of breath appears only after the viewer has blown across its surface. Another aspect to consider in dealing with an art project of this kind is the practical realization of departure. From this point of view, the contribution of the Physics Department of Politecnico di Torino has been crucial.
certainly produce works of art nanoscale leads to a kind of aesthetic embarrassment: some works are so small they are invisible to the naked eye. For example, if the work Beyond the Pillars of Hercules, what you see is nothing but a square of metal about an inch from the side. The prints lithographed on its surface are visible only with the aid of special instruments. NanoArt then breaks the taboo of visibility and perceptibility to the naked eye. It becomes possible to observe the work only indirectly, with the help of other instruments. There are extreme cases where even the light microscope is of no help to be able to see something, and you have to use the scanning electron micoscopio.
An equally significant event from the aesthetic point of view is the opportunity to create works that come to life only when a viewer interacts with them, as, for example, the aforementioned case of the work waste of breath. These possibility a series of questions inevitably arise: the art must necessarily be observable? You can talk about a work of art if it is not directly perceptible by our senses? And then, in the case of a work infinitely small and not visible to the naked eye, who guarantees that it exists and is not a joke instead of a couple of pranksters? We must rely on art and the artist?
is no doubt that the possibility of invisible art is a challenge to some of the concepts underlying the aesthetic experience and that poses a few problems on how to submit work: is to be presented nano works as they are invisible? Or is it necessary to accompany the images with that show, magnified, what the human eye can not see? Or, perhaps it is appropriate to display them directly under the lens of microscopes? These are questions that we ask ourselves today and we are trying to answer with this first exhibition.
And if, finally, the NanoArt represented a sort of reversal of contemporary art? In an era of artistic grandeur, based on the star system, with mighty works and exhibitions and fairs immense, perhaps we need a healthy and firm downsizing. NanoArt is an art that becomes small, which is resized to the point of becoming invisible to the human eye. The fact that you can not see does not mean it does not exist.
In the words of a joke, we are for an art that does not give too much attention.
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