L U I SC A M NI T Z E R

L U I SC A M NI T Z E R

Landscape as an Attitude, 1979B/w photograph, laminated28 × 35.5 cm

THE ARTIST, THE SCIENTIST, AND THE MAGICIAN

Art is a field of knowledge where problems are raised and solved, a place where one can dwell on subjects and situations that do not arise in other fields of knowledge.

We usually speak of artistic activity as if it were something totally unrelated to scientific activity. We demand that scientists be responsible and that they serve the common purpose, that they be rigorous in their processes of speculation, investigation and experimentation, and that they be capable of giving explanations of what they do, if needs be.

Artists, in their turn, enjoy absolute power and we tol-erate this. Once a work is declared to be art it becomes almost indestructible. The common good isn’t an important element; it makes no matter whether the work is a symptom of egomania, sociopathy, or the love for one’s neighbor. Here the concept of giving explanations is either non-existent or else it is cloud-ed by issues of censorship and individual freedom of expression.

However, leaving cultural distortions to one side, if we are speaking of cognitive concepts, the only difference between art and science lies in the fact that in art we can work without having to turn to logic and we can sus-pend the cause-effect relationship. This doesn’t mean, however, that removing these two conditions frees us from the demands we make on scientists. Artists too must be responsible and serve the common purpose, be rigorous and capable of giving explanations.

Yet when it comes to social responsibility, in order to better understand this connection between artists and

scientists we must introduce a third character: the magi-cian. As the essence of magic lies in the skill in conceal-ing its process and keeping it secret, it is the magician not the artist who stands at the other end of the spec-trum from the scientist. The relationship between magi-cians and cognitive tasks does not consist in expanding knowledge, as in the case of good scientists and good artists, but in challenging what is known in order to create an illusion. Their social responsibility is that of creating fine spectacles and making sure that these are not harmful. The young lady presented by the magician appears to be cut in two, but in fact she isn’t. The scien-tist analyzes what would happen if she were, and then decides it’s usually best not to dismember her. The artist uses the image of the lady cut in two as a metaphor for generating evocations, and therefore his work remains relatively free from ethical judgment.

The three characters also relate differently to the credulity that characterizes our interaction with the reality that surrounds us. Scientists try to explain the incredible. Magicians try to simulate the incredible. Artists try to present the incredible in order to expand the world of the credible.

Luis Camnitzer

Excerpt from “El artista, el científico y el mago”, Humboldt, 156, 2011.

Translated by Josephine Watson

Born in 1937 in Lübeck, Germany, raised and edu-cated in Uruguay. Lives and works in Great Neck/New York, USA, and Valdottavo, Italy.

A RT I ST S T RY TO P R E S E N T T H E I N C R E D I B L E I N O R D E R TO E X PA N D T H E WO R L D O F T H E C R E D I B L E .

This Is a Mirror. You Are a Written Sentence, 1966–1968Vacuum-formed polystyrene48.4 × 62.5 × 1.5 cm

Envelope, 1967 Series of ten etchings with

rubber stamp41 × 34.5 cm each