Formative Encounters: Laboratory Life and Artistic Practice

Abstract

In recent years, the relationship between the arts and sciences has provoked a remarkable stir as it has been explored in books, lectures, exhibitions and conferences. Fundamental discussions have transpired, examining ‘art as science’ or ‘science as art’, and particular constellations, such as Laurie Anderson’s residency at NASA, have been prominent subjects in the media.1 The relationship between the arts and sciences is fascinating because, although these fields differ, they share several common features, in particular an orientation towards innovation. Artists and scientists are often seen as society’s creative core. From that viewpoint, considerations of artistic and scientific practices are typically combined in the hope of shifting boundaries of specific knowledge and of producing a decisive ‘enlargement of the universe of human discourse’ (Geertz 1993, p. 14). Significantly, at the opening of the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique IRCAM in Paris in 1977, the composer and program director, Pierre Boulez, characterized the cooperation of artists and engineers as a ‘utopian marriage of fire and water’ (Boulez 1986, p. 490).