Science in the service of art (and vice versa)

摘要

The Center for Art/Science Studies (CASS) was established at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1974 in order to foster formal interactions between students and faculty in the arts with students and faculty in the sciences. The majority of these cross-disciplinary activities have involved members of the Schools of Visual Arts, Theater, Oceanography, Physics, Medicine, Chemistry, Space Sciences, and Applied Mechanics. In its early years CASS developed into a program of "science in the service art". Technologies such as isotopic analyses, holography, laser illumination and surface modification, digital-computer image processing, ultrasonic imaging, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were applied to art in the areas of display, history, interpretation, performance, restoration, conservation, and creation. For the most part the stimulus for developing such connections came from searching for ways of applying current scientific innovation to the arts. However, it was a surprising revelation to eventually realize that the artists were contributing to the sciences, as well. This reversal that we experienced has roots going back to the earliest civilizations and includes notable recent artistic contributions to general relativity, quantum electrodynamics, and cosmology. At the present time the activities of CASS are being carried on by the Center for Research in Computing for the Arts (CRCA).