Sentinels of the Shore. Reconciling Art and Science

Abstract

The sea and coast feature prominently in the cultural identity of the Breton and Scottish people. As the maritime environment finds itself increasingly under threat, initiatives to explore ways for coastal communities to adapt and weather the coming changes take more hybrid forms, rejecting the old compartmentalising of disciplines to favour a more constructive cross-pollination. There is evidence of this synergy of art and science in the artistic production of several artists working in Scotland and Brittany, who borrow the tools and methods of science: data and modern technology are used to draw attention to rising tides in low-lying areas of Scotland, and installations made of stranded debris, organic for some, plastic for others, document the extent of pollution and current changes in a new coastal taxonomy of the Anthropocene. In Brittany, the same painstaking, meticulous collecting process yields other weathered, sea-rolled relics of human impact on the sea, which question provenance, history and fate when displayed as ‘memorial fabrics’, or put us face to face with the denizens of the 7th Continent – inciting us to see in these human hybrids what lies ahead for humanity. Science-informed art, science in an artistic guise: today different disciplines have much to gain from feeding from one another: combining different perceptions and means of expression, apprehending the world through multiple prisms, enables us to better apprehend what is threatening it. This paper explores the context that gave rise to such ‘science-infused’ artistic initiatives in Brittany and Scotland.