Unfolding Realities
On May 24th I had the pleasure of viewing Central Saint Martins Degree Show 2016, Show 1, which presented works across courses including MA Art & Science, MRes Art: Theory & Philosophy, and BA & MA Fine Art, amongst others.
Of the many and varied concepts explored, ideas and themes in and of nature were especially prominent this year. Standout graduates and postgraduates of the Class of 2016 included:
Sarah Craske - a British artist working at the intersection of Art, Science and Technology whose research interests coverage in Biological Hermeneutics. Craske presents her research across "writing, installations, performance or sculpture using a range of media including archival material, bacteria, fungi, DNA, resins and collected specimens". Craske's MA exhibit, titled 'Metamorphoses in Art & Science' asks "Can we impregnate pages of the book [a 17th century copy of Ovid's Metamorphoses] with microbiological growth media to produce a living map of its microbiological history?".
Lucy Crowder - An MA Art & Science 2016 graduate, Crowder has been "exploring the processes involved in the formation of ice; creating drawings and installations documenting the ephemeral nature of water as it changes states between a liquid and a solid". Having undertaken residencies in Greenland and Scandinavia, Crowder's exhibit examined the "possibilities and effects of shorter winters and receding ice sheets, to create work reflecting on the nature of the changing climate in the North".
Mellissa Fisher - Working at the interface of art and microbiology, MA Art & Science graduate Fisher's interests "lie in the interrelationships between illustration, sculpture and living organisms", and in particular the "connections with nature and the self, posing questions to an audience regarding their relationship with their bodies as well as their link to nature". One of Fisher's works that has recently gained media attention involved her "creating bacterial sculptures of her own body", which "represent the idea that our bodies are an ecosystem, using the body as a landscape for growing different organisms".
Emese Wu - BA Fine Art graduate Wu presented an exceptionally powerful exhibition piece that explored the relationship of life and death, and the subtle interplay between the two. Viewers were left wondering if her tantalising exhibit was a living or lifeless, was it alive or dead, a performance piece, or sculpture? Highly sophisticated and original work, Wu is one to watch.
"Since its inception in 2011 this pioneering course [MA Art & Science] the first of its kind, has provided a unique global platform for students across a wide range of fields, on which they extend and contribute to the expanding interdisciplinary branch of knowledge - Art and Science. Responding to this fast emerging territory for collaborative practice which redefines creativity across disciplines, UNFOLDING REALITIES practitioners from fine art, design, photography, neuroscience, art history, mathematics, choreography and architecture have been inspired by their individual connections and observations of the world and the challenge of interrogating this beyond disciplinary boundaries." Central Saint Martins, April 2016.
Find out more about MA Art & Science at: http://www.artsciencecsm.com