Introduction to the Site

getItem(); $file = $attachment->getFile(); if ($file) { if (!isset($fileOptions['imgAttributes']['alt'])) { $fileOptions['imgAttributes']['alt'] = metadata($item, array('Dublin Core', 'Title')); } if ($forceImage) { $imageSize = isset($fileOptions['imageSize']) ? $fileOptions['imageSize'] : 'square_thumbnail'; $image = file_image($imageSize, $fileOptions['imgAttributes'], $file); $html = exhibit_builder_link_to_exhibit_item_file($image, $linkProps, $item); } else { if (!isset($fileOptions['linkAttributes']['href'])) { $fileOptions['linkAttributes']['href'] = exhibit_builder_exhibit_item_uri($item); } $html = file_markup($file, $fileOptions, null); } } else if($item) { $html = exhibit_builder_link_to_exhibit_item_file(null, $linkProps, $item); } // Don't show a caption if we couldn't show the Item or File at all if (isset($html)) { $html .= $this->view->exhibitAttachmentCaption($attachment); } else { $html = ''; } return apply_filters('exhibit_attachment_markup', $html, compact('attachment', 'fileOptions', 'linkProps', 'forceImage') ); } } ?>

Rona Pondick, Dwarfed Blue Pine, 2009-2010

When I first planned the site, I intended to focus on bioart projects, works in which artists manipulate living or organic matter (bacteria, tissue, etc.) and which often require collaborations between artists and scientists. (Hence how the name “Science Meets Art” emerged.) As I began adding projects to my database, I started to see connections between artists working outside the realm of “bioart” but who still engage with some of the core questions of this sub-discipline. What do we owe to other species? How is our relationship with other species and the environment changing? How do emerging technologies and DIY biology shape the evolution of mankind? How can we subvert the tools of biology to advance critical thinking through art production? How can these issues be explored through artistic practices?

Hence, as I continue adding projects to the Science Meets Art webpage, I include works from activist-artists, politically oriented artists, and artists working with more traditional forms of media (paint, ceramics, etc.). I also include resources on bioart (such as DIYsect and Bioart Laboratories, BL12) as well as on a range of organizations that address issues related to speciesism (such as the Institute for Critical Animal Studies). In this way, I hope to enable visitors to the site to make their own connections between the projects and resources presented here and to provoke sustained awareness of and reflection on the issues at hand.

Finally, thank you for visiting Science Meets Art. Please see the "Contact” page if you would like to be in touch with comments or questions. Further, please note that the “Map” function lists items by current geographical location of the artist to whom the work is attributed, if known (i.e., not to the location of where the work itself may be displayed or where it was necessarily produced). This is done so that site visitors can get a sense of where hubs of artistic production (as assessed through artists’ residences) are located. Organizations listed as references are also mapped by location, if known.