editorial: celebrating the art, science and technology community
TRANSCRIPT
Leonardo
Editorial: Celebrating the Art, Science and Technology CommunityAuthor(s): Amy IoneSource: Leonardo, Vol. 40, No. 3 (2007), p. 219Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20206406 .
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Editorial by Amy lone
Celebrating the Art, Science and Technology Community
As my tenure as the chair of the Leonardo Education
Forum draws to a close, I find myself thinking it has
been a remarkable year! With this in mind, and in
light of Leonardo journal's 40th anniversary, I have
decided to use this space to reflect on our field in
general and on the Leonardo Education Forum
in particular.
Founded in 1967 with the goal of becoming an
international channel of communication for artists
who use science and developing technologies, Leonardo is now a
thriving community. Our group,
moreover, is a tribute to this objective. What impresses me most is the way the seed has matured. For exam
ple, the Leonardo community seems to mesh light with geology, sculpture with genetics, digital projects with group identity, ethics and more. As a painter with
academic interests that range from historical connec
tions among art, science and technology to recent
research combining art and cognition, I also find my
perspective is quite at home among our global, eclec
tic, cross-cultural interests. Indeed, our range seems
to underscore that Leonardo's mission absorbs "an
infinity of combinations." Looking for a metaphor to
describe this kind of actively unfolding connectivity, the multi-limbed figures frequently seen in Indian art
come to mind. The multiplicity of heads, arms and
eyes is a convention that grew out of imagery con
ceived by Vedic sages to explain creation. Art-science
technology people seem to embody this kind of
dynamic energy. It is as if we grow new appendages as we reach out to grasp diverse possibilities, simulta
neously turning sensed options into solid projects. The Leonardo Education Forum is an example of
this dynamic at work. Established in 2003-2004 as an
affiliate of the College Art Association (CAA), we ini
tially aimed primarily to integrate art, science and
technology with the CAA. We have done this?and we
have expanded our mission to many other academic
environments as well. Although young, our group has
sponsored several panels and exhibitions at CAA's
annual meetings, presented at the Society for Litera
ture, Arts, and Science, organized student mentoring
sessions, and has continued to brainstorm for venues
and projects through which we can further our mis
sion. (Visiting our blog at http://fm.hunter.cuny.edu/ lef/> will acquaint you with our activities.)
It is fitting that the Forum is an arm of Leonardo, since this organization's journal has always given space to innovative projects, circulated academic scholarship and encouraged commentary. Now, as the Forum
seeks to further integrate the art-science-technology
field within the larger academic community, we are
perhaps seeing the "Leonardo effect." Previously,
many academic disciplines were too narrowly defined
for the spectrum Leonardo embraces. Projects cen
tered within our paradigm are becoming more the
norm, as is evident at each CAA meeting I attend and
in many of the articles in CAA's Art Journal. Now that
the art-science-technology interface speaks to a larger
audience, it is easier to build the kinds of networks
that effective scholarship and project development
require. This is a welcome change.
With this in mind, I would urge others to participate in the Leonardo Education Forum. I would also hope to see us further broaden our appeal. It has become
more and more common for artists to work with engi neers and computer scientists. Increasing the repre
sentation of people from the natural sciences would
further advance our aims and objectives. I would also
like to see more discourse between art historians and
professionals in the history of science. Finally, in our
crazy world, it is noteworthy that Leonardo has not
neglected social issues. How we can most effectively
integrate creative projects that address societal con
cerns is no doubt a question for another day. Still, it
certainly is one worth including in our thoughts as we
celebrate the growth of the art, science and technol
ogy community.
AmyIone The Diatrope Institute
1312 Curtin Street
State College, PA 16803
E-mail: <[email protected]>
?2007ISAST LEONARDO, Vol. 40, No. 3, p. 219,2007 219
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